Goodell letter to fans promises fewer commercials

[UOK]

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Dear Fans,

Here at the NFL, we have a relentless drive to improve—particularly when it comes to the way fans experience our game.

In order to understand how we might deliver a better and more exciting entertainment experience for you, we embarked on a specific project before the start of the 2016 season to gather feedback about the in-stadium and live NFL game viewing experience.

Consistently, we heard from fans that we can improve in two key areas: the flow and pace of the game, and commercialization and the number of unnecessary disruptions to the game on the field.

Today, I want to tell you about some of the ways we are working to address that.

On the football side, there are a number of changes we are making to the mechanics and rules of the game to maintain excitement and also improve the consistency of our officiating.

For example, next week clubs will vote on a change to centralize replay reviews. Instead of a fixed sideline monitor, we will bring a tablet to the Referee who can review the play in consultation with our officiating headquarters in New York, which has the final decision. This should improve consistency and accuracy of decisions and help speed up the process.

Regarding game timing, we're going to institute a play clock following the extra point when television does not take a break, and we're considering instituting a play clock after a touchdown. We're also going to standardize the starting of the clock after a runner goes out-of-bounds, and standardize halftime lengths in all games, so we return to the action as quickly as possible. Those are just a few of the elements we are working on to improve the pace of our game.

Together with our broadcast partners, we will be working to meaningfully reduce down time and the frequency of commercial breaks in our game. We will also be giving our broadcast partners increased flexibility to avoid untimely breaks in the action. For example, we know how annoying it is when we come back from a commercial break, kick off, and then cut to a commercial again. I hate that too. Our goal is to eliminate it.

We also know that you feel there are too many elements in the broadcast that aren't relevant to the play on the field. With our partners, we will be looking to instead focus on content that is most complementary and compelling to you–whether that is analysis, highlights or stories about our players.

All of these changes are meant to give you more of what you want: a competitive game with fewer interruptions and distractions from the action.

There is much more work to do in the coming seasons as we continue to listen and learn. But these positive changes are intended to create a better experience for you, our fans.

We hope that you will continue to give us feedback on how we can improve.

Thank you for all that you do for our players, our teams and our game.

[Boris13c]

Dear Roger Goodell,

Your words have proven over the years to be as worthless as the empty plastic bag a 6 pack of socks came in.

Go fuck yourself with a barb wire covered baseball bat.

Sincerely,

A Fan You Have Lied to Before

[southdakbearfan]

Dear Roger Goodell,

Your words have proven over the years to be as worthless as the empty plastic bag a 6 pack of socks came in.

Go fuck yourself with a barb wire covered baseball bat.

Sincerely,

A Fan You Have Lied to Before

Well, that escalated quickly!

I love it.

[RING4CHI]

Right now NFL game broadcasts take 5 commercial breaks per quarter. (That's why late in the fourth quarter sometimes one isn't taken after a late score because all ad space sold has been used.) Say each commercial break lasts 3 minutes. Equals 15 minutes of commercial breaks a quarter. What will probably happen is the commercial breaks will be reduced from 5 to 4 a quarter but last 3 1/2 to 4 minutes each.

There's no way the NFL or retailers actually allow the most popular sport to reduce the number of commercials that run. Too much money to be had.

[LacertineForest]

Money does talk, and that's why they're doing this: viewership was down last year.

While I'm no fan of Gooddell, I think many of the changes proposed are for the betterment of the game from a fan's perspective.

Does anyone here think these ideas shouldn't be implemented? Judging by the responses, everyone is skeptical that anything positive will actually come of this.

I love the idea of centralizing reviews and having professional refs. I am optimistic it will speed things up and provide more consistent calls. I've been wanting pro refs for years, and could never understand the NFL's opposition to it.

As far as the ads go, I agree they're not going to do anything to significantly reduce them, but I could see more product placements on the field or during the broadcast as ads in conjunction with reduced commercial time per slot or perhaps fewer slots. Like others, I'm less optimistic we'll see drastic changes to the overall advertising since that's the entire point of networks paying so much for the broadcast rights.

[RING4CHI]

As far as the ads go, I agree they're not going to do anything to significantly reduce them, but I could see more product placements on the field or during the broadcast as ads in conjunction with reduced commercial time per slot or perhaps fewer slots. Like others, I'm less optimistic we'll see drastic changes to the overall advertising since that's the entire point of networks paying so much for the broadcast rights.

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