Renewed focus on social justice will be a higher priority for the NFL heading into next season GETTY IMAGES
Despite a thrilling Super Bowl LII on Sunday, there are still "questions about the NFL" heading into the '18 season, according to Sam Farmer of the L.A. TIMES. There is "uncertainty about stars and stripes -- the future whereabouts of standout players, and where officiating is heading -- the sale" of the Panthers and the league's "renewed focus on social justice." The NFL is "going to take a hard look at what is and what isn't a catch, a vexing issue that seems to crop up on a weekly basis." Commissioner Roger Goodell has "formed a committee to clarify the rule, and intends to start from scratch in looking at the definition." Not only has Panthers Owner Jerry Richardson "put the team up for sale, but he's under investigation by the league for his alleged inappropriate workplace conduct and comments." It is "unclear what the league will do about the investigation if or when a sale happens." Farmer: "Regardless, it's a dark cloud" (L.A. TIMES, 2/6).
SCORING PLAY: In Phoenix, Dan Bickley writes Super Bowl LII was "the most entertaining championship game" he has ever seen. The game "became the model of how NFL officiating crews need to operate in the immediate future." They "need to be ghosts, inconspicuous, restrained." They "need to serve the spirit of competition, not the letter of the law." After a season when the definition of a catch "became a front-burner issue, Super Bowl LII got it right" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 2/6).
NOT THE SAME: HBO's Bryant Gumbel said one problem being overlooked with the league is that on-field play is "not a very good entertainment product anymore." Gumbel: "It's become a very uptight, corporate league ... and people just aren't as drawn to it as they used to be. ... The college game is growing, the college game is not as much of a copycat league, it's not as much of a corporate league. It's not a stop-and-go league where you have to turn an instant replay every other second. I think it's a more attractive product" ("Meet the Press," NBC, 2/4). THE UNDEFEATED's William Rhoden wrote there are "questions abound about the health of the game, the future of a league that continues to print money but has been forced to rethink its business model in the face of changing tastes and a waning appetite for the NFL’s violent product." While the NFL "reassesses itself," the NFLPA "needs to reassess itself as well." Health and safety concerns will "continue to plague the NFL." Among fans, politicians, NFL owners and the players themselves, however, "nothing has been as divisive as the player protest movement." Colin Kaepernick "represents a complex but clear labor issue." Yet, NFLPA Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith has "remained on the sidelines, allowing what clearly is a labor issue to be defined, framed and reframed as an issue of social justice and patriotism." The Kaepernick labor issue is a "battle the NFLPA has chosen to avoid" (THEUNDEFEATED.com, 2/5).
