Everyone praises the NFL for its parity and hard salary cap as the reason why it is so popular. Well the NHL has probably has more parity than even the nfl and it has a hardcap. It is about to go into 2nd lock out in less than 7 years. I think NFL is popular because people just like violence. They basically want gladiators and the nfl is pretty much gives them that. Ray Lewis is the lion. Tom Brady is like gladiator trying to slay the lion. I also think race has something to do with it. While most of the league is black the face of the franchise guys like rodgers, Brees, brady, manning etc. are white. Tom Brady is always praised, but a guy like lebron who is probably less of douche than brady (he left his pregnant GF) gets lambasted for a silly television show. I don't think even if we had a hardcap or whatever it suddenly would make the NBA more popular. At its height when 27million people watched each finals game it was the bulls winning every series.
i know little about how and why the NFL works. but i generally agree. parity helps getting home crowds / local TV interest / raise popularity in smaller markets. It's extremely important if you are building the league from the ground up and have no juicy national / international TV contracts. Think Major League Soccer. Parity helps you attract local interest in smaller markets and maintain hardcore local fanbases. It's also important for a league like the NHL, which is extremely local in its nature / dependent on local TV deals. when you get to the point where national / international TV money is the biggest source of income, I don't think parity matters much. At that point, your main target is a casual fan clicking through channels in his living room. In that situation, it's easier to market a Lakers-Heat game when there are 8 All Stars involved.
You're twisting 2-3 different topics into something confusing. Hard cap... white people... NHL. Not sure what you're getting at. Nobody says the NFL is popular because of the hard cap. It's competitive because of the hard cap. Popularity is something else completely.
This is such a stupid comment. There are tons of up and coming/current black stars in the NFL. Hell 2 of the most anticipated quarterbacks are black. Vick was esentially forgiven after he had his comback year. And Tom Brady may be a douche, but the guy is a flat out winner. 5 superbowls and multiple top teir stats/records. Lebron hasn't won anything up until that point and essentially **** on an entire city. Stop trying to make an issue out of nothing.
You are trying to fit 3 - 4 different topics in a paragraph post under a topic header that is completely misleading. WTF did I just read?
If the QB position for whatever reason went majority black.. the viewers would drop instantly i have personally seen comments hoping that black qb's fail... it is what is and i agree with the OP The NBA has P4P the best fans in sports.. no racism thrown at stars, and the playerrs are likeable. Just not enough white for americas liking.. although( thats a small minority of fans who think like that)
Carson Palmer basically refused to play for his team despite being the franchise QB and was like screw this team. And he barely got any heat for that.
Palmer was more than justified. First, he played for a franchise that cared more about making money than winning. Mike Brown never made the necessary moves to put the team in contention, just enough to keep them relevant enough to sell tickets. Secondly, after he was slow to recover from his knee injury, the fans turned on him. He would come home and find his front yard filled with trash and get booed regularly for problems that weren't his. Chad and the other receivers would clearly alter the routes leading to interceptions and bickering on the sidelines. Palmer didn't want to play for a bad team and wasn't respected by the majority of fans anymore. LeBron, on the other hand, was the savior of his franchise, and the owners at least tried to make him happy and win at all expenses - even if they weren't making good moves in hindsight. They are totally different cases.
So if the Knicks play badly next year and Melo is like "I don't want to play because Dolan is an idiot and can't manage the team" he won't get killed?
The Knicks have the worst fans and they already crap on Melo now. I think Jeremy Lin knocked Melo down a few pegs. A better example would be Kevin Martin asking for a trade. The team is rebuilding, he is in his prime, and fans seemed to have turned on him. No, I don't think a huge uproar would happen. It depends on the situations.
I hear you loud and clear Carson Palmer basically retired asking for more money, and refused to play for the Bengals and forced a trade to the Raiders. Terrelle Pryor i believe with the way he has performed this preseason should be mentioned as a legit starter, or at least #2 especially ahead of Leinart. Terrelle Pryor reminds me of Cam Newton, and he would probably be starting in the NFL if he namely have that scandal at OSU, and if he were white. Ryan Tanehill was a reciever for 30 games at Texas A&M and was a LEGIT backup to Jerrod Johnson( who isnt even a QB in the NFL). Now if Ryan Tahenhill were black and he played that many games at reciever, is their anyway he goes that high in this past draft On the flip side i have come to the conclusion that Todd McShay is paid by agents of certain QB's to hype them were they should bbe hyped at. He was pushing for Blaine Gabbert as the #1 pick, and gave Cam Newton after the success he had at a Auburn a 91(overall draft grade)... on the other hand he just gave Ryan Tahenhill a 95( draft grade), and he gave both Sam Bradford, and Matt Ryan (98 overall draft grades)
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7uEySdy2bMo?list=PL745B008EA0713835&hl=en_US" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nSKfuol-yX4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5w5hM1Cx178" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Its almost like the Raiders would rather lose with Palmer than give the young kid Pryor a shot. I know they gave up a lot for Carson, but with the potential Pryor has showed in the preseason, i think more LIVE game expiernce would help him. His talent has never been questioned, but now he is working hard, and wants to live up to his potential. He is Al Davis last draft pick... maybe this could be FATE watch that video and tell me you dont see another Cam Newton, he has been working very hard
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NFL is most popular because it is by far the easiest sport to follow. even the most casual of bandwagon fans can keep up with their team once a week. also theres that whole violence thing.
Its also why MMA is growing from what i hear.. violence, and that gladiator crap sells with the american audience
hard cap, and the draft lottery to be shown in its ENTIRETY.. would help the league's image out even more. The 1 and done rule i like, but could be 2-years I hope Adam Silver addresses that
1. Hockey is more violent than football. 2. Hockey has a larger proportion of white people than football. So why is the NFL more popular than the NHL again?