NFL Treatment Of Officials A Cheap Shot
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By DERON SNYDER
The NFL’s stranglehold on our collective sports’ psyche is almost incomprehensible. In a Harris Poll released earlier this year, 36 percent of sports fans chose pro football as their favorite, more than twice the number of the next two sports combined (baseball and college football, at 13 percent apiece).
The league’s Midas touch is legendary, proved again recently when it fetched an increase that’s more than 50 percent higher for broadcast rights from NBC, CBS and Fox, and a 73 percent increase from ESPN. Throw in DirecTV, and the NFL collects about $4 billion per year from TV rights. Combined with other assorted and sundry revenue streams, the league is a $9 billion beast.
But despite its majesty, might and money, the NFL is poised to start this season without its regular officials.
That’s like embarking on a trip in your luxury sedan with a set of temporary “doughnuts” on the wheels. It not only looks terrible, but the ride won’t be nearly as smooth.
