Much ado about decibels
Worrying about opponents’ crowd sizes is plain silly
Is this really a topic — whether NFL teams with less than a quarter of their fans on hand will have a “competitive advantage?” Don’t coaches have something else to whine about?
“I think there are some unfair things going on,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said recently. “I think there is a competitive disadvantage in some of those areas.”
Paranoia runs deep with these guys.
Bills coach Sean McDermott is outraged that his team will have to contend with high school- sized crowds in Miami while current New York state rules will keep his stadium empty.
“I honestly think it’s ridiculous,” McDermott said, before calling it a case of enforcing policy “inconsistently across the league with the different away stadiums.”
Yo, Sean, that’s the way it is every year. Has this man ever played a road game? Trips to Kansas City and Jacksonville aren’t the same. If the goal is to make it even everywhere, then lobby the league to enforce a stadium capacity limit.
But that’s not really the point here. The point is, what’s right for the NFL as a whole?
McDermott must have noticed that the Los
Angeles Chargers played “home” games last season in a soccer stadium filled with opposing team’s fans. Like it or not, that was done for the league’s long- term, economic well- being. The Chargers were forced to play there while their new palace of a stadium was under construction.
Sometimes you sacrifice for the common good. In this case, there’s a pandemic happening ( no, really, there is), so any and all revenues that can safely be cultivated should be cultivated. Remember, every bit of revenue helps increase next year’s salary cap — and might help your team keep a player or two.
If that means 13,000 fans in Miami and none in Buffalo, or 10,000 in Cleveland and none in Pittsburgh, so be it. The league’s financial well- being should take precedence over complaints from coaches, fans and media types ( many of whom also are calling for more piped- in noise for home teams than road teams, so as to create a more realistic atmosphere).
You’d think coaches would be thrilled with getting a season off the ground, considering the circumstances. You’d think this would be the last thing on their minds.
In that vein, much love to Broncos coach Vic Fangio, who was asked about the prospect of some teams ( including division- rival Kansas City) having fans and others not.
“I really don’t give a damn about that,” Fangio said. “If we can play in a stadium that’s full, half- full, a third- full, home or away, we’re happy. That shows progress with the COVID. Otherwise, I personally don’t care, other than that I would like to see fans.”
So would I. And eventually, we might see more. The Boston Globe laid out the current landscape …
• Three teams ( Dallas, Kansas City, Miami) are allowing fans, with Dallas up to 50% capacity and the other two less than 25%. And you better believe Jerry Jones envy is rampant.
• Five teams are “hopeful” of having fans for Game 1, depending on government regulations — Arizona, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Jacksonville ( insert Jaguars fan apathy joke here) and Tampa Bay.
• Two teams ( Las Vegas, Washington) have ruled out fans this season.
• The other 22 teams, including the Steelers, are in wait- and- see mode with no fans until further notice. The Steelers remain optimistic that fans eventually will be allowed at Heinz Field.
In the meantime, the competitive advantages are barely measurable. These guys are used to playing in front of 80,000 people. An offense is going to be discombobulated because of 15,000?
Is that what we’re talking about, as the league prepares to kick off its season Thursday in Kansas City, where some 16,700 fans will trickle into Arrowhead Stadium?
Deshaun Watson, the opposing quarterback, played in front of five times that many in college.
“I would probably take issue with the fact that it’s a huge competitive advantage,” Commissioner Roger Goodell told CNBC, speaking generally of the attendance policy. “As you know, our stadium sizes are different. The attendance is different in a normal season.” Exactly.
So how about we suck it up and play?