Football to a lot of family's has become a family tradition. Grandpa took your dad and your dad took you. Maybe you even take your kids to the game. While the X's and O's are about the same as in the past. The NFL is resembles very little of what it did in your dad's day.
I remember getting to the games hours before the kickoff just to take in the atmosphere inside the stadium. Music would blare across the PA system as kids lined up to get their face painted. The league was marketing heavily towards the average Joe football fan and the family man in those days. Giveaways were given at every game as you entered the stadium. The adults had a cold beer and the kids enjoyed a hot dog and a big finger shaped #1 foam souvenir.. The crowd would become deafening as players would line up for the kickoff with Ozzy or the Rolling Stones blasting over the PA system.
Past hero's like Dick Butkus, Ronnie Lott, Ray Nitschke and Lawrence Taylor shined in your daddy's day. Today we have no hitting with your helmet and pass interference penalties if a defender breathes on a receiver. Ronnie Lott once cut his finger off during a game on the sidelines so he could get back on the field. Most of todays players would go to the trainers table with a hanged toenail.
The giant stadiums that to a young fan was like a sacred piece of land that should be a national landmark. The memories shared inside these stadiums brought family's and friends together. Today most of these stadiums don't exist anymore. Apparently, the new NFL needs new state of the art facilities. I always thought NFL owners were rich but here they are often asking for tax payers to help build their new facility so they can profit more in running their private business. These new owners want my grandpa and dad to help pay for a stadium that they can't even afford to go to anymore. They threaten to leave the city that loved them so loyally over the decades if money isn't donated to their lust of revenue. I guess people can't see like they use too anymore either. Every stadium now has multiple jumbo trons that go from one end of the field to the next. Tailgating which is as much a symbol of America as apple pie has become extinct in this new NFL.
When I was a kid the players would interact with a few lucky fans in the stands. The fans who stood out in the hot sun while screaming the names of their idols that were stretching just feet from where them. Win or lose, it was always memorable and one of the best days of the year growing up while attending a National Football League game.
The average Joe is not marketed anymore by the NFL. The NFL has decided that there is more revenue in marketing their money to corporate executives. These new fans couldn't tell you the difference between the Cubs and the Bears. The seats your grandpa and dad sat in probably were removed to build luxury box suites with the all you can eat buffet for the uppity business crowd. The crowd that use to make so much noise it was deafening has given way to the wall street executive crowd. They probably don't even make into the stadium until near the game near Halftime.
The prices of the parking, tickets and the food has made it so less and less families can attend games. It's a game that is all about TV. Which is where your grandpa and your dad watch the games together now. Some stadiums have to pump in fake crowd noise as the new NFL fans are not emotionally into the game. Those frisky business types replacing the beer drinking, face painted warrior fan that lives football 24-7.
The NFL is dreams of new teams in Mexico and England. While cities such as San Diego, St. Louis and Oakland have lost their teams that represented their cities and brought civic pride within the city. Civic pride is nothing more than a old fashioned slogan now. Corporations hang there signage all around the stadiums that use to proudly hang the jerseys of former star players for that team.
The season tickets holders of 20 plus years have now slowly disappeared. Their old seats are now a standing room only section. That way the league can make more revenue. The aging loyal fans of decades probably did receive a phone call from the team. This after informing the team they couldn't afford to live on their monthly budget with the teams new pricing structure. No thank you for 20 plus years of loyalty. Just a young telemarketer stating "If anything changes feel free to contact us."Fan loyalty has been replaced with franchise value.
As longtime season ticket holders disappear and today's youth can only afford to stream the games the rituals of the past has died. Over this time, most of our grandpa's have passed away. Now dad complains about the players kneeling and that the new rules that have changed the game so much recently. Instead of commercials on TV showing the previous years highlights. Now commercials have been replaced with ads selling the new PSL seats to the new fans of the NFL. Parents worried about CTE have turned to baseball instead of pop warner.
Our family still loves football but it's lacking the passion we all use to share. It's become like a body with no heartbeat or a soul with no life. The passion remains in college football but it's hard to find in today's new NFL.
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