The National Football League, like every sports league, is a business first and foremost. And just as in any other business, the people leading it want the results that are best for for the financial bottom line. Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are what’s best for the NFL, business wise, right now.
As pointed out in RG, the Chiefs are one of the best developmental franchises in all of pro football, somewhat similar to what the Illinois Fighting Illini are currently doing at the collegiate level. But the Chiefs, despite being the team that’s in the best interests of league, is inspiring a massive backlash, and today we’ll look at why.
What is Up With These Calls?!?!
If you’re mad that the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, and your team is not, well, don’t hate the player, hate the game. There is a lot of “they hate us, because they ain’t us” going on with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.
However, the amount of questionable calls that continue to go their way, again and again and again, is astounding.
I’m not a “NFL is rigged” guy by any means.
I think the idea of actually rigging an entire football game is similar to Dana Carvey’s classic stand-up bit from 1994: “We’re framing O.J. Are You In?”
It’s just next to impossible, logistically. However, another comedian Bill Burr, said it best when he appeared on Rich Eisen’s podcast: “it’s not rigged, but it’s massaged.”
While it’s not fixed, it’s also not totally pure, and on the up and up. You’d be naive to think that the NFL wouldn’t try to help out their primary cash cow, in situations where it’s possible. Of course, they’re gonna make sure the Chiefs catch a break here and there.
Patrick Mahomes is “That Dude” and he is the NFL’s only Current “That dude”
Missouri politician Jason Kander said it best, why would the NFL rig the Super Bowl for a smaller market team? He’s absolutely right, no question, but there are other factors involved.
The Super Bowl is going to get ratings, regardless of who plays. All those people on social media saying they’re going to boycott the Super Bowl, right after the Buffalo Bills got shafted on some really bad calls in the AFC Title game, they will watch the Super Bowl.
And what drives ratings more than anyone else? The individual brand name superstar. The NFL wanted an heir apparent to Tom Brady, and they got one in Patrick Mahomes.
More importantly, they do not have anyone else that is regarded to be on par with him. Hence, they want Mahomes on the biggest stage, as much as possible.
Dynasties Get Ratings
You will have people tuning in to watch Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs simply to see history getting made.
Yes, that’s a terrible reason to sports fan, and yes, there is no bigger fair weather fan on the planet than the person who roots for a dynasty to get even stronger, but it’s true.
On top of that, dynasties attract people who “hate watch,” so that brings more eyeballs to it as well.
Taylor Swift Factor
As the last Super Bowl showed us, Taylor Swift (for the story of her being on the sidelines, with Selena Gomez, at Notre Dame go here) brings more fans to the NFL.
Her presence in the skyboxes, in support of boyfriend Travis Kelce and the screen time that it generates, is enough to bring in additional new viewers. Of course the NFL wants that!
Casual Fans Don’t Have Chiefs Fatigue Yet
And those kinds of viewers, the Swifties who don’t care about football otherwise, will be tuning in. That’s also the demographic that comprises a very large portion of the Super Bowl viewership.
And these people are not sick of Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs fan yet.
For these people, the Chiefs haven’t reached over-saturation point yet. It’s only for regular NFL fans and the sports media types (like me/us/you the reader) the Chiefs are overly fatiguing.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.