Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban last night said that he "believes the NFL is 10 years from imploding," according to Eddie Sefko of the DALLAS MORNING NEWS. Cuban said of the NFL's expanded TV package, "When pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. And they're getting hoggy. When you try to take it too far, people turn the other way. I'm just telling you, when you got a good thing and you get greedy, it always, always, always, always, always turns against you. ... They’re trying to take over every night of TV. And initially, it’ll be the biggest rating thing there is. Then, if they get Saturday, now they’re impacting college. And then if they go to Wednesday, at some point, people get sick of it." He added, "It was just so easy when I could plan on Sunday or maybe Monday. And if you get no days off in football and your team is playing one of those days, it’s just one of the rules I use: when pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered" (DALLASNEWS.com, 3/23). Cuban said that the NFL is "making a mistake by valuing television money over the convenience of fans who are used to planning for their NFL teams to play on Sundays with the occasional Monday night game." He compared it to the "decline in popularity of 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire' after the game show expanded to air five days a week" (ESPNDALLAS.com, 3/23). But ESPN.com's Kevin Seifert wrote, "Ubiquitous football won't turn fans off on its own." There is an "undeniable weekly rhythm to a football season, but as long as most games are played on Sunday, it's difficult to see a widespread revolt." Seifert: "Here's what will send people looking elsewhere: Ubiquitous bad football" (ESPN.com, 3/23).
