Everyone has their pet reason for the sinking NFL ratings. They range from player protests to excessive replays to poor quality play or too many entertainment alternatives. I believe a big reason for the slide is largely unaddressed.
Carnage!
It seems that after every play, someone is being administered to or carted off the field. Insensitive types tune out because the pace of play has been disrupted. Those who still see these men as human beings with families are appalled by the physical wreckage the game causes. Even so called “clean” hits can end a player’s season and destroy his career.
Star players have been sidelined. Can Philly win it all without their starting QB? Can Aaron Rodgers’ return and be effective? More than ever, the game has become a war of attrition.
What can be done? Easy answer. Eliminate fumbles. Without the incentive to separate players from the ball, carriers would be merely tackled, not maimed.
This will never happen, of course, because it would change the fabric of the sport. Weight limits? Good luck with that. And better equipment can only go so far.
As long as we celebrate these bone crushing hits, the carnage will continue. It may finally be affecting the game’s revenue, and owners won’t stand for that. But until this is proven fact, not theory, things will stay as they are.The prophets of doom for the sport may be correct. Football could share the same fate as boxing thirty years on.
