2014 A Bad Year for the NFL. They'll Take More, Please.

2014 was a bad year for the NFL, right? Problems with domestic violence, drugs, rampant repeat cheaters won the title, the commissioner is loathed by most everyone. Bad news, no doubt. And all true. The league has problems. Question is, does anyone care?

Do a quick google search - after you read this, of course. For now take my word. None of this is anything new. Hollywood Henderson, a DB for the Dallas Cowboys, reportedly had a cocaine habit rivaling Tony Montoya's in the 1970's. Brandon Marshall has been accused of domestic violence as often as the Patriots have been accused of cheating. Paul Tagliabue, patron saint of commissioners, started the NFL's ritualistic cover up of brain damage caused by playing football. All of this information is readily available.

Image Credit: Forbes.com

2014 was a bad year for the NFL. Only 113 million viewers, on average, watched the Super Bowl. This doesn't count people steaming the game, parties of multiple viewers, or packed bars. 30 second commercials (most of them awful) only raked in $4.5 million for NBC. Ticket sales and prices were up. Jersey sales were up. Television coverage of everything NFL related, good and bad, was up. Oh, and, although the numbers aren't in yet, revenues are, no doubt, up. 

So why were things bad for the NFL? Because saying 2014 was a bad year for the NFL implies 2015 will be different, will be better. Because $7,000,000,000 of the NFL's revenue comes from the networks that carry it. Because if 2014 wasn't a bad year, it was a normal year. And no one wants to believe that. Next year will be better.

Article by: Josh Henderson

Twitter: @verybadwrong