For those of you who don’t like to hear me bash the government, listen up. Another monster is on the block today – the National Football League. For those of you who don’t know, the Carolina Panthers are in the playoffs this year, and they have a game against the St. Louis Rams, to be played in St. Louis this afternoon.
Some folks here in Charlotte put together a nice fund-raising idea for the Make-a-Wish foundation to try and wind up collections on $1 million. Local folk hero Hope Stout, featured on the NFL telecast of the Panthers victory over Dallas last week, cast her wish to have the wishes of all other Make-a-Wish participants granted. The cost? A cool $1 million.
Yet the NFL has apparently blocked the broadcast of the playoff game this afternoon (free registration may be required). No game, probably not much – if any – of a turnout for such an event. The reasoning of the NFL? That large public broadcasts like this can hurt ratings.
What sort of logic is this? It seems to me that if you have hundreds or even thousands of people gathered in one location to intently watch a game and realize the unifying ability of the city having a football team in the playoffs, you’ve got all sorts of goodwill, you’ve got ratings out the wazoo. Instead, the NFL has started to generate just the opposite.
Rather than look forward to an event such as this one, now people will have other words on their mind. I wouldn’t be surprised if people at home simply turned off the set, rather than continue to participate in the enriching of an organization that obviously values the almighty dollar over the wish of a (now deceased) 12 year old cancer victim.
As much as I want to cheer on our home team, this decision by the NFL just made me realize how badly we have all been suckered into their world.
Instead of lounging around in front of the TV this afternoon, turn it off. The game will go on. You’ll be able to see the results in the paper tomorrow. Listen to it on the radio while you spend time with the family if you must. Do anything you like, just so long as the NFL gets the message that they made a royally stupid decision, one that will cost them more goodwill than they can possibly hope to recoup in dollars.