Mike Freeman's 10-Point Stance: Will Falcons Start a Concessionary Trend?

1. Food fight

There are three well-known facts about stadium food.

First, stadium food is awful.

Second, stadium food is overpriced.

Third, stadium food is awful.

This has been the case at almost every NFL stadium for a long time. Hot dogs that taste like dog food cost $8. Second mortgages are required for drinks that taste like they're watered down.

The Atlanta Falcons are going to try to change all of that. It's an ambitious plan. It may never work. The fact they are trying it, though, is fairly remarkable. If it succeeds, it could change the way stadiums and teams treat fans when it comes to food. Stadiums might finally have decent food that isn't overpriced.

The Falcons' new home, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, opens in 2017, and when it does, the team announced that it will offer:

"

$2 – Non-alcoholic beverage products with unlimited free refills (at freestanding refill stations)

$2 – Dasani bottled water; hot dogs; pretzels; popcorn

$3 – Peanuts; pizza; nachos; waffle fries

$5 – 12 oz. domestic beer

"

That's actually, well, kind of reasonable. More than reasonable. Damn reasonable, considering that in 2015, the average price of a small beer at stadiums was $7.42, according to Statista.

Why is this important? Why did I suddenly become a food critic?

Because of the reason they did it. They listened to the fans.

Rich McKay, the Falcons' president and CEO, explained to me in a telephone interview that when the team polled its fans, it found that voters consistently gave their worst rankings to the food experience.

It's likely that would be the case across the NFL and maybe much of sports. So the Falcons decided to do something about it.

The NFL has long been worried the technology on televisions and smart devices is so Star Trek-y fans won't bother with the hassle and expense of attending a game live. The expense and quality of food at NFL stadiums is part of that concern. Fans can make a sandwich from the comfort of their kitchens instead of selling a kidney to afford a burger while at a stadium.

This is why—while I don't want to make too big a deal out of what the Falcons are doing—it is significant, in that if it succeeds, other teams could follow suit.

This is also, to me, a sign the NFL finally realizes it can no longer take packed stadiums for granted. Before, it did.

David Goldman/Associated Press

The interesting part is Falcons owner Arthur Blank will definitely lose money doing this. McKay acknowledged that fact, and since I don't know many billionaires who purposely lose cash, I do wonder if the Falcons will make up for the lost revenue in other ways. Will they charge more for game tickets or parking? It doesn't sound like they will.

"We look at it as an investment in our fans," McKay said.

When's the last time a franchise genuinely cared about its fans? The fifth of never.

The Falcons are able to cut the prices "by 40 to 50 percent compared to some revenues," McKay said, because they will be the ones setting price points, not the concessionaires. In some ways, the Falcons will be doing what the Masters does, where the most expensive sandwich is $3. I've eaten the food there. It's actually pretty good.

The stadium will have the same food policies for the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, the SEC Championship Game, the College Football Playoff National Championship in 2018 and the NCAA men's Final Four in 2020. The same applies basically to other events at the stadium like concerts.

It's novel, almost revolutionary. Can it work? We'll see.

2. NFL kickoffs to be eliminated?

I think it's only a matter of time. McKay said nothing is on the horizon, but the elimination of it might be "considered in the future." He meant, if it did happen, it'd be a decade or longer from now.

McKay has been part of the competition committee for 22 years and either chairman or co-chairman for 18 of those years. No one knows the league better than he does. If he says kickoffs won't be eliminated anytime soon, I believe him. He would know.

That said, I think it happens a bit faster—maybe as soon as four or five years.

McKay also emphasized the NFL will do whatever it takes to protect the safety of its players.

Yet Pop Warner's decision says a great deal. The league eliminated kickoffs in its three youngest divisions. I don't see how the NFL ignores the unnecessary brutality of the kickoff for much longer. Some of the nastiest hits happen on kickoffs, and I believe the league will one day deem the game is violent enough and dump them.

3. NFL teams still adapting to new landscape

Matt Hazlett/Associated Press

ESPN.com's Jamison Hensley reported Monday that the NFL will investigate the Ravens for having rookies and first-year players wear full pads during a recent non-contact punt-protection drill.

Not a big deal. At all. Except it does signal that some teams are still having difficulty grasping the new offseason rules. An even larger point is how some teams, I believe, refuse to accept them.

The Ravens six years ago were "disciplined by the NFL after six players complained to the players' union about late meetings," per Hensley, and "two others reported being held too long on the field after practice." The NFL canceled the Ravens' final week of offseason workouts as punishment for the infractions. 

Coach John Harbaugh is on record telling Hensley how much he hates the new offseason rules.

The rules may be a little much, but they are the rules, and they are there for a reason. The league, and teams, can't talk about player safety and then have players banging their heads year-round. There has to be a period when players can keep their bodies from being destroyed.

There are still some coaches who don't get this. They believe the league has gone soft. I hear it from assistant coaches all the time.

The league hasn't really gotten soft. It's gotten smarter. That's a good thing.

4. Cardinals making right move with Tyrann Mathieu

Rick Scuteri/Associated Press

The NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported that Tyrann Mathieu will soon be the highest-paid safety in the league. It's well-earned. It's deserved. It also remains one hell of a story.

Mathieu is one of the most inspirational figures in all of sports. He failed drug tests in college and faced doubts about his reliability as a player and person, and he has rebounded from all that to become trustworthy, a leader and a good man. 

Arizona took a chance on Mathieu, and that risk paid off for both sides. Yes, one hell of a story.

5. DeAndre Hopkins is right...sort of

Weston Kenney/Associated Press

Texans receiver DeAndre Hopkins told the Houston Chronicle's John McClain that Houston is the team to beat in the AFC South.

"I feel like we've earned that title to be the team to beat in the AFC South," Hopkins said. "When I got here, it was the Colts. We finally (got) over that hump. Hopefully, we can continue to be the team to beat."

He's probably right. That defense isn't horrible, and I fully expect Brock Osweiler to have a significantly positive impact. Yet there's one thing that worries me for the Texans. It's Andrew Luck.

I think Luck will come back with a vengeance after what was a miserable season last year. We're going to see the Luck that looked like he was going to be an eternal name.

If that Luck does return, the Colts are the team to beat, not the Texans. Or even the up-and-coming Jaguars.

6. Just dumb

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Eagles rookie Jalen Mills probably should have just not said anything when asked about the 2014 charges of simple assault against a woman. The charges were dropped.

"The girl—basically it was her word vs. mine," he said, per Philly.com's Jeff McLane. "Domestic violence is very serious around the [United States], so women, nine times out of 10, they usually get the upper hand until you go to court."

Oh.

Can't really say someone alleging assault "has the upper hand." There are a trillion other reasons that statement is absurd. My guess is people close to Mills are telling him the same thing.

7. Crappy fields

Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press

It never ceases to amaze how a league worth billions, a league that invests billions into its players, puts them on crappy fields. We've seen it repeatedly. We've even seen it in the postseason. We see it all the time. The latest example is in Chicago.

Former Bears safety Antrel Rolle told Paul Schwartz of the New York Post the practice fields were awful last season and even contributed to a serious knee injury. Coach John Fox told the Chicago Sun-Times' Adam L. Jahns that practice fields this year are better at this time than they were last year. But that seems like a confirmation (almost) of Rolle's criticism.

Why is this even any kind of issue in the first place? Why are we constantly talking about the crappiness of NFL fields? This is professional football, not a flag league in the neighborhood park.

8. Dolphins keep doing smart things

Lynne Sladky/Associated Press

Miami defensive coordinator Vance Joseph has long been a coach who favored the 3-4 defense. But when he arrived in Miami and saw the personnel—namely the immense talent on a defensive front that includes Ndamukong Suh—he decided to keep the 4-3, according to the Miami Herald's Armando Salguero, instead of switching to a 3-4.

Now, this seems like common sense. Play to your strengths. You have a fierce defensive front, so stick with a four-man line.

So many times, though, the egos of coaches get in the way. I've seen it with many coaching changes. An assistant wants to leave his mark on a team, so he makes changes just to make changes and refuses to fit the scheme to the personnel.

The more I hear about what the Dolphins coaches are doing, the more I like.

9. John Barron

The allegation of Donald Trump pretending to be his own spokesman, John Barron, is one of the most amusing tales of all time.

And now sports journalists are saying they experienced Mr. Barron years before news journalists did. Reporters who covered the USFL's New Jersey Generals believe they encountered Trump or Barron or TrumpBarron on numerous occasions.

I'm trying to imagine Jerry Jones acting as his own spokesperson, Denzel Sisko.

Just incredible. 

10. Larry Fitzgerald is one of the best stories of the offseason

Thirteen years ago, Fitzgerald promised his dying mother he'd finish his college degree. This past weekend, he did it. He kept that promise. 

Mike Freeman covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him at @mikefreemanNFL.