Falcons stadium proposal begs a look at football’s future
Before spending a few hundred million taxpayer dollars — for example, on a new stadium for the Falcons — it is worth mulling worst-case scenarios. The worst of the worst cases for the stadium is that, within a few decades, football as we know it is extinct.
Get this straight: I’m not predicting football’s death. The NFL and college football have never been bigger. Projecting the sport’s demise would seem to put one in the company of Harold Camping, the nonagenarian preacher who (twice!) last year forecast Doomsday, not among UGA football’s season-ticket holders.
That said, there are some dark clouds on the sport’s horizon. What better time to pause and consider those clouds than before a deal is signed and the bonds — for which Atlanta’s hotel tax revenues would be committed until 2050 — are sold.
The place to start is with the dominant story this NFL offseason, which concerns player safety. The NFL faces 70 lawsuits covering more than 1,800 ex-players who claim the league knew the dangers of concussions but didn’t fully inform players about them. A few cases were filed here in Georgia.
These legal filings provide context for the NFL’s biggest headache: the bounty program run by the New Orleans Saints. Coaches and players alike chipped in thousands of dollars to reward hits that knocked opposing players out of games, or worse. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell hammered the team in response, suspending coaches and players, and taking away precious draft picks.
Only the willfully blind could believe the severity of the penalties was unrelated to the pending lawsuits. Or that the same motivation didn’t lead the NFL this week to release a study suggesting former players have longer life expectancies than average. The league clearly is taking the suits seriously.
In a way, though, the suits and potential damages are the least of the NFL’s concerns. If each of the 1,800 players was awarded $1 million in damages, that wouldn’t exceed the league’s reported profits for even two seasons.
But as the NFL changes rules to enhance player safety, including reducing the speed and frequency of collisions on kickoffs and penalizing hits against “defenseless” players, fans grumble. NASCAR, which has seen its popularity drop sharply since emphasizing protections for drivers, is an ominous comparison.
Even the players are leery of the changes. “This is football. It’s not powder puff,” Bernard Pollard, a safety for the Baltimore Ravens, recently told CBSSports.com. “When Nike unveiled their new uniforms, I’m surprised they didn’t have flags on the side. … You’re taking away the game of football.”
Players like Pollard know football is popular chiefly because it is so violent. Imagine a game in which every player is protected the way quarterbacks are now. Be honest: Would you watch?
There are other threats. Only a fraction of those who play football are pros. What if colleges or high schools are sued by concussed ex-players? How hard would schools — which, unlike the NFL, have a purpose beyond football — fight? Or might they be more inclined to fold their programs, costing the NFL its de facto minor leagues?
The supply of players could also drop if fewer parents let their children play the game.
A watershed moment may have occurred last week with the suicide of Junior Seau. He was one of the NFL’s best, most popular players from 1990 to 2009 — when many parents of young children, like me, were young fans.
Those of us who grew up watching the big-hitting Seau — fittingly pronounced “Say Ow” — will want to know if brain injuries played a role in his death. Many will think twice, at least, before letting our kids play his sport.
Still think football is invincible? As economists Tyler Cowen and Kevin Grier noted in a recent article at Grantland.com (“What would the end of football look like?”), the nation’s most popular sports in the early 20th century were baseball, boxing and horse racing. The latter two have lost much of their following.
They added, “If you look at the stocks in the Fortune 500 from 1983, for example, 40 percent of those companies no longer exist.” They’re not smaller, mind you; they are gone, 29 years later.
These concerns may not rise to the level of killing a proposed stadium (though there are other arguments against it). But given the pace at which they’re rising, it’s worth asking if football’s future might not be as rosy — that is, not $300 million in public funds rosy — by the time that new ballpark would open.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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128 comments Add your comment
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
May 10th, 2012
11:59 am
If football doesn’t work out we can use the stadium for professional Ultimate Frisbee!
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/ultimate-frisbee-pro/story?id=16135771
yuzeyurbrane
May 10th, 2012
12:05 pm
Touch football anyone? I suppose Kyle’s story could play its way out—after all we no longer have real gladiators or Christians fight wild animals or each other to the death and even bullfighting is on a trend of being outlawed in many places that it has traditionally been. One could (and many have) argue that American football is a descendent of these 2 violent and quite popular sporting activities. My own view is willing to assume that football will remain immensely popular but that Artie Blank should build his own stadium with his own money if he wants to make even bigger revenues and if he does not like that but takes his marbles and goes to another city then just fine. After all, the full bells and whistles mega-stadium is just a stage prop for a massive tv event. I can continue to live just fine watching it on tv wherever the stage is set.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
May 10th, 2012
12:09 pm
Just remove the roof from the Georgia Dome. Stupid to play football in doors in Georgia, anyway.
Call it the Georgia UnDomed.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
May 10th, 2012
12:17 pm
House Armed Services Committee Passes $642 Billion Defense Bill, Ignores Pentagon’s Cost-Saving Request
Fiscal conservatives my arse. You have ALL been conned and you don’t even know it.
Hillbilly D
May 10th, 2012
12:22 pm
Can’t we all just admit that maybe NASCAR is suffering a reduction in attendance because people are finally wising up to the fact that watching cars go around a track in one direction for hours on end might possibly be the most boring “sport” of all time?
I’d disagree with that. I’m sure that the way some folks see racing but a lot of others don’t To each their own. In my opinion, the reason racing is losing popularity is because those running the sport made some very poor decisions. Back in the golden era, late 60’s to late 70’s the emphasis was on winning races, rather than championships. That made each event, a stand-alone event, of sorts. You had teams who had no interest in the championship and showed up just to win that race. That made for more competitive racing because the “Big Picture” that they like to talk about was to win the race. The sport started to get more popular in the early 80’s but it was a double edged sword. NASCAR, in it’s quest to expand, catered to the new folks, who largely were just looking at the latest trendy thing. That continued on and what has happened is that they alienated the people who were actually race fans. So, in their infinite wisdom, the France family created today’s problems. The trendy people have moved on to the next trendy thing and the old time race fans no longer have any interest. Bad decisions, is what caused their problems.
On concussions, I’ve had some and they’re no fun and the effects never completely go away. Football in the last couple decades, has marketed “the Big Hit”. How many times do you see a player miss a tackle because rather than wrap a guy up, he’s going for “the Big Hit”. Of course, the NFL uses this in all their marketing, so the chickens are coming home to roost there. I think, both the competition and the safety of the players would benefit from getting back to playing sound, fundamental football and dropping the assassin mentality, which the NFL has promoted in the chase for the almight $$.
As for us being no different from the Romans and their gladiators, of course we aren’t. Basic human nature never changes. Every generation thinks it’s the most modern and enlightened, from now back to the beginning of time. We have a lot more accumulated knowledge now but people are no smarter or refined now than they’ve ever been or ever will be. True we don’t burn people at the stake anymore; we’ve just grown more slick in how we abuse each other.
Shamese
May 10th, 2012
12:29 pm
Story over on the WSB website this morning about the sport of Drifting, which apparently has a big following here in Atlanta. Seems the idea is to accelerate your car to high speed then cut the wheels so that it skids around. To each their own.
Anyway, in case the NFL fades as Kyle suggests we have a fallback plan for our new stadium – a Drifting venue, plus there’s always the tractor pull and monster truck events. A retractable roof would be ideal for the exhaust fumes.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
May 10th, 2012
12:39 pm
Each sport has nuances that fascinate different folks – racing has its nuances, soccer has its, etc.
Some people love baseball for the small things that happen but aren’t supposed to. Others just see a sport involving throwing a ball, hitting a ball, and catching a ball.
@@
May 10th, 2012
12:39 pm
after all we no longer have real gladiators or Christians fight wild animals or each other to the death
Maybe no gladiators…we do have fishermen who go after big game fish…some weighing over 1,000 pounds…the fish, not the men.
jconservative
May 10th, 2012
1:20 pm
Changing the subject to Congress and today’s scheduled vote on spending:
“The bill up for a vote Thursday would save about $310 billion over 10 years and is designed to help offset a scheduled $550 billion cut to the Defense Department that was set in motion by last year’s failure of the bipartisan deficit-reduction “supercommittee.”
Help me on this guys. Cuts of $550. billion are going to go into effect if no one does anything. If this bill passes the House and Senate the cuts would be reduced to $310. billion. So passing the bill is increasing the already out of sight deficit by $240. billion. Right?
Now I am real sure if the defense of the country is at stake, as some claim, then every real American would be happy to see a special defense tax taken out of his paycheck starting next month. Right?
Right!
@@
May 10th, 2012
1:40 pm
I have no problem with cutting Defense, however, both Panetta and Hillary have expressed concern with the “the trigger”.
Panetta said the Pentagon is prepared to make $350 billion in cuts over the next 10 years, as agreed by Congress. But he warned of dangers to the national defense if bigger reductions are required.
The recent deficit compromise reached between the White House and Congress set up a special bipartisan committee to draft legislation to find more government cuts. If the committee cannot agree on a deficit-reduction plan by year’s end or if Congress rejects its proposal, it would trigger some $500 billion in additional reductions in projected national security spending.
“This kind of massive cut across the board, which would literally double the number of cuts that we’re confronting, that would have devastating effects on our national defense; it would have devastating effects on certainly the State Department,” Panetta said.
Clinton said Americans should understand that in addition to preserving military strength, it is in the nation’s security interests to maintain the State Department’s role in diplomacy and development. She suggested that the political stalemate over spending cuts has put that in jeopardy.
Maybe it’s a compromise.
A vent:
Zoo chimp makes elaborate plots to attack humans
At first Santino was famous for throwing rocks and other projectiles at visitors who annoyed him. Now he has improved his technique, which requires spontaneous innovation for future deception. Researcher Mathias Osvath, lead author of a paper about Santino in PLoS ONE, explained what the clever chimp did:
“After a visitor group had left the compound area, Santino went inside the enclosure and brought a good-sized heap of hay that he placed near the visitor’s section, and immediately after that he put stones under it,” Osvath said.
“He also appeared to have placed projectiles behind, just before he went in after the hay. After this, he sat down beside the hay and waited. When the visitors came back, he waited until they were close by and, without any preceding display, he threw stones at the crowd.”
Why I have an aversion to monkeys/primates/apes….what-EVAH!!!
@@
May 10th, 2012
1:53 pm
Could it/he be any more obvious!!??!!
WASHINGTON — President Obama’s campaign sought on Thursday to capitalize on his new declaration of support for same-sex marriage to raise money while characterizing Mitt Romney as intolerant on the issue, even as top Republicans tried to shift the political conversation back to the economy.
Mr. Obama sent out an e-mail appeal to his supporters labeled “Marriage” that asked for campaign donations following an interview on Wednesday in which he revealed his personal beliefs about the divisive social issue.
“I believe that in the eyes of the law, all Americans should be treated equally. And where states enact same-sex marriage, no federal act should invalidate them,” Mr. Obama wrote. “If you agree, you can stand up with me here.”–NYTimes
Now I’m just embarrassed for him.
iggy
May 10th, 2012
1:58 pm
Dept of Education needs to be abolished as an offset for more $$$ for the military.
iggy
May 10th, 2012
2:02 pm
Obama endorses gay marriage, however, its a States Rights issue. Could one be more shallow?
Then there is “Hoof in mouth” disease, Biden.
getalife
May 10th, 2012
2:05 pm
“House Armed Services Committee Passes $642 Billion Defense Bill, Ignores Pentagon’s Cost-Saving Request” aol.
You cons got punked on spending.
willard wants to increase it.
getalife
May 10th, 2012
2:08 pm
Now it is your turn cons.
We will discriminate against you.
Karma.
Edward
May 10th, 2012
2:14 pm
So when I point out Kyle’s (and the rest of you) convenient silence on Mitten’s BLATANT LIE, I’m accused of hijacking the thread. But, then you “conservatives” change the subject and it is just dandy and fair game. Man, you people are pathetically transparent. BTW, I don’t subscribe to anyone else’s “talking points”, I will point out hypocrisy and LIES wherever they may originate. But, the ones from you people are just so glaring and obvious. And yes, Kyle is a pathetic sycophant.
Ayn Rant
May 10th, 2012
2:17 pm
Professional football has become just another Big Business with the overpaid, underperforming executives and customer rip-offs.
I’d like to see professional football and baseball totally revised so that the players are trained, recruited, and hired in the metro area attached to the team name. For example, the Atlanta team would be managed in Atlanta, by Atlanta area residents, and the players would have been recruited from Atlanta area schools and colleges. Then, when Atlanta plays Los Angeles, we could be rooting for true Atlantans and not a hodge-podge of overpaid prima donnas from God know where.
It would also be great if the players performed shirtless, in skimpy shorts only, with no silly costumes and heavy gear.
md
May 10th, 2012
2:18 pm
As long as there are big bucks involved, people will play.
Boxing went from pure boxing to no holds barred kick the crap out of them “boxing” because the money is there.
They can’t all play the same sport and expect to make the team……and the money.
getalife
May 10th, 2012
2:21 pm
“ROBIN ROBERTS: Mitt Romney just said that he deserves credit for the revival of the U.S. auto industry.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: (laughs)
ROBERTS: How do you respond to that?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, you know I think this is one of those Etch-A-Sketch moments. I don’t think anybody takes that seriously. People remember his position which was “let’s let Detroit go bankrupt.” So, had we followed his advice, at that time, GM and Chrysler would have gone under, and we would have lost probably a million jobs throughout the midwest.”
Owned.
claytondawg
May 10th, 2012
2:37 pm
@JohnnyReb. Great post concerning Atlanta’s infrastructure and education. I’m a huge football fan and a former teacher of 35 years. Somehow, a new stadium will be built; however, the state of education in GA will stagnate for many more years.
Dusty
May 10th, 2012
3:15 pm
Well, for a country that is uptight over smoking and over eating, it does seem that using your head for a battering ram might have been noticed. But it wasn’t. Not in football.
It was noticed at our house. No sons were allowed to play football. No concussions at our house. Parental oversight is a wonderful thing.
Kyle is rightfully worried about outdated football in a new expensive stadium. Stupendous cost for a shaky future. He is quite correct in reminding us of the cost and human damage..
Use your heads for thinking, not beating them into a clogged conundrum for a blown up pigskin party.. .
Dusty
May 10th, 2012
3:18 pm
Getalife,
Did you play a lot of football when you were younger?
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
May 10th, 2012
3:31 pm
Proctor & Gamble Moves Headquarters from U.S. to Singapore
——–
Singapore isn’t hostile to business, job creation, and profit.
Dusty
May 10th, 2012
3:32 pm
Hillbilly D @ 12:22
You say you have had some concussions. Must not have been many ’cause you obviously have no bad effects.
Maybe it’s all those home grown ‘maters you eat. All of them grown in good mountain soil and full of vitamins & minerals! Now that’s a cure for many things.
fitzgerald
May 10th, 2012
3:39 pm
Nobody makes the guys play the game of football. Perhaps it is money that glazes over eyes and blocks the brain from thinking that it will, one day, be turned into mush.
GT
May 10th, 2012
4:08 pm
No joy in Mudville…
Awesome....
May 10th, 2012
4:09 pm
Ah…. politics, sports and money. These are all great topics to write about.
Wouldn’t mind seeing you delve into that section of the newspaper and talk about the business of sports, too.
Bradley and Schultz better watch out!
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
May 10th, 2012
4:27 pm
Now you see it, now you don’t-
“Well, party platform issues are for the party to decide,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said when asked if Obama would call for the repeal of DOMA and endorsement of pro-gay marriage language in the party platform. “That process is underway, and I refer you to the DNC on the question about the platform.”
Looks like he might be devolving, hahahaha, suckas.
carlosgvv
May 10th, 2012
4:32 pm
GO FALCONS!!!!!!!
and take the braves with you
the red herring
May 10th, 2012
4:42 pm
kyle–while i am not sure of all the ins and outs of financing something like the proposed stadium, i am
against so much taxpayer funding of all these type investments. I would agree that some incentives and some selling of bonds would probably be o.k. but to be financing arenas, etc. 5 to 15 yrs longer than their life expectancy is foolishness. i am not sure about how the proceeds of tickets are used but it would seem to me to be prudent to put a $5/ticket surcharge on each ticket on every event held in that arena in order to lessen the amount of time necessary to pay for it. after it is paid for if it is still being used then they could drop the surcharge. just a thought.
Jefferson
May 10th, 2012
5:03 pm
This makes a 2nd mortgage interest deduction look tame as far as wellfare for the well heeled.
Don Abernethy
May 10th, 2012
5:35 pm
Over the years I have lost interest in professional sports. They are very much overpaid. It would not bother me at all if professional sports were discontinued. I will not pay the price they want for tickets. I can find better ways to use my time.
@@
May 10th, 2012
5:43 pm
The House approved the Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act in a party-line vote of 218-199. The bill reduces the deficit by 243 billion dollars in 10 years, and would serve as a Republican marker for post-election budget talks with the White House. It overrides the sequester that’s going into effect next year, a 600- billion-dollar cut on defense programs after a bipartisan panel failed to find ways to slash 1.2 trillion dollars of spending over the next decade.
“We believe the purpose of the sequester was to replace the fact that Congress isn’t governing,” said House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan during the opening debate on the bill. “That’s why we’re doing this.”
It’s getting difficult to figure out who’s on offense and who’s on defense. Always butting heads.
Maybe we oughta put ‘em all on a football field. Gridiron instead of gridlock.
Tiberius - Banned from Bookman's and proud of it!
May 10th, 2012
6:07 pm
Edward, let me point out something to you. If you want a column written about what you perceive to be a lie on Mitt Romney’s part, I suggest you find someone who would be willing to pay you for the rather juvenile tripe you might write. Otherwise, I suggest you deal with the fact that Kyle has both obligations of his own, and particular interests that probably disagree with yours.
In short, sod off, son.
carlosgvv
May 10th, 2012
6:24 pm
Tiberius – 6:07
Are you the umpire here now?
Tiberius - Banned from Bookman's and proud of it!
May 10th, 2012
6:28 pm
No, carlos, just setting reasonable expectations for Edward.
@@
May 10th, 2012
6:33 pm
I now know why I was banned. Another aJcBlog columnist saw me as a bully when actually, I was intervening to stop a blog bully.
A sacrifice I don’t regret.
Weird things going on over <——— there.
@@
May 10th, 2012
6:34 pm
…to the left.
(ISH)
Dusty
May 10th, 2012
6:51 pm
@@ 6:34
Sounds like Bookman and josef are running a mild feud over there. I think both of them are enjoying it. Just to fuss. .
The subject is Bachmann who faded from the spotlight long ago but she is a Republican. Maybe Bookman keeps a hit list and forgot to upgrade it.
@@
May 10th, 2012
6:57 pm
Dusty:
I’m not allowed to mention “his” name. Based on what I’ve read, it’s more than that. It went from Bachmann’s dual citizenship to Romney’s bullying episode in high school. Even many of his loyal followers have told him it’s a non-issue.
Now shhhhhhh.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans continue to express near-record-low confidence in newspapers and television news — with no more than 25% of Americans saying they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in either. These views have hardly budged since falling more than 10 percentage points from 2003-2007.–Gallup
(IW&SH)
Aquagirl
May 10th, 2012
7:09 pm
No, carlos, just setting reasonable expectations for Edward.
Tiberius was much nicer than I was.
Blog drift is one thing, that happens in real conversations. You start talking about the weather and somehow end up somewhere else, like the Geologist’s Riots of 1837. Kyle, on the other hand, writes about a current topic of his choice. DEMANDING Kyle write about your pet peeve of the day is incredible @$$hattery. You think it’s so important, honey, nobody’s stopping you. What, you don’t have the audience he does? Well golly gee, maybe he knows something you don’t.
I think the Edwards of the world rush through their Cheerios every morning, composing all sorts of brilliant, witty observations they just can’t WAIT to share about the Geologist Riots of 1837, or whatever bug is up their bum. When they rush to Kyle’s blog and—-gasp!—that’s not the topic! something snaps.
These are the same folks that barge into a real-world conversation at a party and 10 minutes later the entire group has evaporated. And they never understand why.
@@
May 10th, 2012
7:21 pm
I can’t stay on topic…it’s FOOTBALL…about which I know little.
There’s a ball, referees and players. The field is divided into five yard stretches totalling 100? There’s a scrimmage thingy. The offensive team’s goal is to push the ball over the scrimmage thingy. The defensive team’s goal is to prevent them from gaining a specified amount of yardage within a certain number of plays. If they can’t, the punter team comes in and kicks the ball away.
A field goal gets ‘em three points, and a touchdown gets ‘em…..
Oh crap!
Somethin’ gets ‘em two points…but I’m pretty sure it’s not a touchdown.
Hillbilly D
May 10th, 2012
7:51 pm
@@
This might help.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I42JIgfnMYE
Tiberius - Banned from Bookman's and proud of it!
May 10th, 2012
8:06 pm
Well, I look at it this way, folks.
The more drivel Bookman writes the less chance his malcontent adolescents have of coming over here to bother the grown ups.
Wingnut
May 10th, 2012
8:27 pm
It’s Bush’s fault.
@@
May 10th, 2012
8:35 pm
“What it was Was FOOTBALL”
Too funny, Hillbilly.
I’m determined not to google. 7 pts for a touchdown? 2 pts for a touchback…a safety sump’n other?
Hillbilly D
May 10th, 2012
8:49 pm
@@
You’re close. Touchdown is 6 points. Kick the extra point makes it 7 or 2 point conversion (run or pass ball in) makes it 8 points. A safety, getting tackled in your own end zone, is 2 points. A touchback is no points, you just bring the ball out to the 20 yard line. I prefer baseball, myself, a run is a run is a run.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
May 10th, 2012
9:06 pm
Kick the ball in between the uprights, it’s 3 points.
Not trying to confuse things, @@.
Hillbilly D
May 10th, 2012
9:15 pm
IRYW
Yeah I forgot that.
Dusty
May 10th, 2012
9:41 pm
Looks like footfall might be interesting after all. Is that possible?
That’s all I’m gonna say before Aquagirl tells me I busted up the party.