The NFL Experience

We went to an NFL football game a couple of weeks ago.  We got tickets to the first Chiefs game with San Diego through our daughter in law, whose mother knows someone, etc…  We had a parking pass for THE prime parking spots directly between Kauffman Stadium and Arrowhead Stadium, and went early to soak in the pre-game stuff.  We also stayed after the game because it would have been fruitless to try to leave given where we were parked until all of the other areas of the parking pretty much emptied out.  In any event, we had great tickets in the club section and could see pretty much all that went on before, during, and after the game.

Let me tell you now; NFL games are choreographed, planned, timed, and executed down to the smallest detail…down to the second…down to the n^th degree.  What you see on television is precisely what the powers that be want you to see.  What you see and experience in the stadium is precisely what the powers that be want you to see and experience.  The NFL goes to extraordinary lengths to create another world…another existence…a fantasy world if you will, that rivals anything Disney can do or has ever done.  No expense is spared.  No stone is unturned.  No detail is forgotten or overlooked.

When you go to an NFL game, you are entering a world that is under the total and complete control of the NFL.  You are seen as a source of income for them; walking dollar signs, if you prefer.  And they know very well how to manipulate your thoughts, feelings, and emotions in such a way that you willingly part with your money not only right then, but in the future as well.  It’s their purpose to “hook” you into the fantasy that is the NFL and submerge you into that culture.  And you are doing that by the multiple tens of thousands.

You paint your face.  You bring big signs.  You yell loudly.  You buy NFL merchandise.  You get a second mortgage on your house to buy season tickets.  You idolize the players and the teams.  You join fantasy leagues.  You dissect each play…each fumble…each pass.  You know game stats, individual and team stats, and you know all about the players.  You may grumble a bit about the enormous salaries, but you willingly pony up ever-increasing ticket prices (virtually 100% of ticket sales go to the players) to support them.

Up until I attended the game, I had moderately good thoughts about the NFL.  It seemed to be a mostly wholesome enterprise that provided good entertainment.  After the game, I see it more for what is, and for what it is not.

The NFL is, like most professional sports, a religion wrapped up in a culture, which in turn is a fantasy bubble in an otherwise mundane, routine, “going to hell in a hand basket” existence.  No wonder we would sell our firstborn for season tickets.  No wonder we consume an entire day going to, attending, or returning from an event that has no lasting value and accomplishes nothing of true importance.  No wonder we spend tons of money to support the dream world that is the NFL and the fantasy that somehow, we belong  to it all along with the players, cheerleaders, coaches, and mascots…and that they might actually wish to have some kind of relationship or kin bond with us (other than taking our money).

Will I attend another game?  Probably.  Will I continue to watch on TV.  Yes.  After all, if the fantasy is there for the taking…