Roger Goodell said some bullshit yesterday that, I swear, the Serious Football Media would've tsk-tsked as "counterproductive rhetoric" had anything so disingenuous come out of De Smith's mouth. Here's what the commisioner told Tampa Bay season ticketholders in a conference call:
"We can't continue to shift the cost, whether it's the rising player cost or the rising cost of operating an NFL franchise, on to our fans,'' he said. "That's why we're trying to get a better economic model.
"And I think everyone understands that. You are not being left out of the equation. The fans are a big part of that equation and a big part of the success of NFL football.''
Owners set ticket prices not to recoup expenses but to maximize revenue; prices are based on anticipated demand, not rising player costs; etc., etc. You know this already. Goodell knows this, or at least had his dad explain it to him once. Between Roger's pandering and the Mara spawn's whole "Whoa, whoa, what's with all this Norris-LaGuardia fancy-talkin'?" bit, I think it's clear that management's public strategy is now wholly premised on the notion that we're all crayon-eating dumbasses.
Blackout rule a 'balancing act' for NFL, Goodell tells Bucs fans [TBO]