Mark Cuban warns NFL “hogs” risk eventual “implosion”

[papasmurfbell]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/03/23/mark-cuban-warns-nfl-hogs-risk-eventual-implosion/

 

 

As NFL owners are gathering in Orlando to count their money and plan on how to make more, one of their NBA counterparts is firing a warning shot.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told reporters tonight that the NFL is bordering on over-saturation of the market, with dire consequences.

“I think the NFL is 10 years away from an implosion,” Cuban said, via Tim McMahon of ESPNDallas.com. “I’m just telling you, pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. And they’re getting hoggy. Just watch. Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. When you try to take it too far, people turn the other way.

“I’m just telling you, when you’ve got a good thing and you get greedy, it always, always, always, always, always turns on you. That’s rule number one of business.”

Cuban was speaking specifically of the NFL’s expanded television package, which will put NFL games on CBS this fall on Thursdays, with the games being simulcast on the NFL Network.

“They’re trying to take over every night of TV,” Cuban said. “Initially, it’ll be, ‘Yeah, they’re the biggest-rating thing that there is.’ OK, Thursday, that’s great, regardless of whether it impacts [the NBA] during that period when we cross over. Then if it gets Saturday, now you’re impacting colleges. Now it’s on four days a week. …

“It’s all football. At some point, the people get sick of it.”

So far, there is no indication of that, as the league has shown its greatest ability is to make money. This week’s discussion of expanding the playoff field is another step toward expanding potential broadcast revenue.

And while there’s an element of sour grapes in Cuban’s comments, he’s also a smart enough businessman to make it worth considering.

 

[deeshopper]

Sorta like the NBA.

[papasmurfbell]

Yeah they over expanded and now I think th eNBA is at an all time low of influence in my lifetime.

[thesteelhurtin]

Man I wish the MLB would have let him buy the Buccos

[ravinmaniac52]

Don't care about Thursday games, Monday games, they can even have Friday games.

 

What they don't need to do is add playoff teams, do not become the NBA and the NHL that way. It is a joke.

And they don't need to add anymore teams!

[papasmurfbell]

Agreed. Also do not go to London. But they will do all of it.

[cravnravn]

I honestly don't like Thursday night football, it's not needed. They should go back to Sunday football, not Sunday night football, and MNF.

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They are in this to make money and will not stop even if warned by a guy who is more successful than most of them.

[OutsideRzAcE]

I agree with Cuban. Goddell and the owners keep wanting to mess with a good thing and ultimately they are going to ruin the game. Season long Thursday games, 18 game seasons, expanded playoffs, these dumbass defenseless receiver rules....all terrible ideas.

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http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/category/rumor-mill/

 

Tom Lewand: NFL has to be mindful of “limit to how much we can be out there”

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban made some headlines last month when he said that the NFL was overloading the market with its product.

“I think the NFL is 10 years away from an implosion,” Cuban said. “I’m just telling you, pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. And they’re getting hoggy. Just watch. Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. When you try to take it too far, people turn the other way.”

There wasn’t much public agreement from around the league with Cuban’s comments at the time, but Lions president Tom Lewand doesn’t sound like he views things too differently than Cuban. While Lewand didn’t predict doom in a decade, he did say at a Monday meeting with season-ticket holders that it is good to be involved with such a popular league but that the NFL has to be mindful of overdoing it.

“It is, but we have to be careful, too,” Lewand said, via the Detroit Free Press. “It’s still about the game of football, and there’s an old saying that pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. I think we have to be mindful of the fact that, particularly in a place like our city, where the fans mean so much to us. We have to show them that respect back. And I’m a big fan of this expanded Thursday night football package that’s coming on CBS this fall, but there’s also a limit to how much we can be out there, and we want to make sure that it’s a game that people can enjoy, and they can enjoy it in a way they want to enjoy it.”

Expansion to more days of the week during the season is impractical in terms of both the quality of games played with short turnaround times and because of antitrust exemptions that keep the NFL from playing on Friday or Saturday, but hearing the line about hogs getting slaughtered from someone firmly entrenched in the league sounds different than it does when it comes from the owner of a team in a different sport. The NFL isn’t likely to start rolling anything back, but overreaching should be something on the mind of decision makers as the league continues to try to grow in both the United States and around the world.