Roger Goodell is back in the news with an email he wrote to fans on Wednesday. The email spelled out changes he wants to make based on consumer feedback about commercials that are said to be a major distraction for fans. The league wants to give NFL fans a better TV viewing experience similar to the plan they previewed during the Super Bowl news conference.
The biggest point, of his email, is to the increased flexibility for broadcast partners to avoid unneeded breaks in the action. Roger Goodell mentioned in his email “how annoying’ when commercial is followed by a kickoff then followed by another commercial.
What did the plan include?
The plan the NFL has will finally take the review out of the referee’s hands during the game. Roger Goodell will shift all the replay final authority to league officials in New York City. The refs on the field will no longer good under the hood on the sideline. They will have tablets brought out to them. There will also be more attention paid to time passing during game clock stoppages.
The NFL will add a play clock following extra points and possibly touchdowns. They are looking to standardize the time between those plays and kickoffs. These constant stoppages during play really affect the player most of all killing any type of momentum brought up on those plays.
NFL hopes to stop ratings fall
The push for all this comes after the NFL ratings fell eight percent compared to the previous year. The NFL owners will discuss these proposals from Roger Goodell and others during their annual meeting in Phoenix next week. The owners will have a big choice to make with these proposed changes. Taking less Commercial Breaks means less ad revenue.
The question will be will these billionaires turn down money to help the pace of play during these games. The other big topics that will be on the agenda is the Oakland Raiders proposed to move to Las Vegas, making referees a full-time hire, the relaxing of rules for spontaneous celebrations, and the possible automatic ejections and suspensions for certain types of dangerous hits.
