New England Patriots TE Martellus Bennett has been one of the more vocal and enjoyable additions to the franchise and he just went on a Twitter rant about how the NFL is oversaturating its product without actually increasing appeal.
“Has the NFL oversaturated it's market?,” Bennett asked. “Monday. Thursday. And Sunday. There used to be something special about waiting to watch a game. I keep reading that ratings are down of course they are. Lol. You can watch the game on twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, tv, Morse code etc.. There were 3 games on Thanksgiving. S—t by the time the 3rd game came on I was in a food coma.
“Then you have fantasy football as well. Which gets its own coverage just as much as the real games. Hahaha. That's kind of funny actually.
“Trying to expand the global brand of the NFL like the NBA with games in London and Mexico. Lol football isn't even a global sport. At least not like basketball, soccer and baseball.
“NFL is at the same bridge as Apple. They’ve been successful creating the same product for so long and now are looking for ways to grow A little more. Apple gave you different color phones NFL gave you different color uniforms. Lol. Apple wants in on the China market. NFL is looking for a place to expand overseas. Hoping for London but that has its issues and doesn't seem very realistic.
“If the Walking Dead came on Monday. Thursday and Sunday. Could you really keep up with a full season? It’s a great product. The game of football that is. But myspace was once a great social media platform. Hahaha.”
Bennett has a great point about playing too many games. The quality of Thursday Night Games is generally lacking because players don’t have the time to heal up and prepare to play on just three days of rest.
Additionally, the league’s intent to stifle individuality of players is one of the biggest hindrances in creating a global brand. Players are the best product ambassadors. No one wants to grow up to be a cog in a machine, even if the Patriots are the most successful franchise. Kids want to be Rob Gronkowski or Tom Brady or Lionel Messi or LeBron James. It is the player that inspires the future, not the franchise.
Also, I haven’t watched a single episode of The Walking Dead this year. Haven’t seen who Negan chose. Don’t really care to find out, either. That’s what happens when a product feels like it’s treading water and not heading in any direction- people stop following along with the ride.
The NFL is at a point where it seems to be treading water. The big changes in the NFL involve modifying the extra point attempt from an unentertaining play with no risk, to an unentertaining play that could change the outcome of the game.
But so long as television stations are willing to fork over billions of dollars to show low quality games on a weekday, then the NFL will gladly accept and put forth an ugly product.
At least the uniforms will be brighter, so that’s something to enjoy.