5 Disturbing Trends Facing Today's National Football League

The NFL is the hottest thing going in American sports. Let's just set that as fact.

NBA and MLB fans can try to argue the point, but when an average NFL game outdraws baseball playoffs and World Series games, and even NBA fans admitted that they didn't miss the lost lockout games much, it rings hallow.

Also, as I'm talking American sports, I'm not rolling soccer into it. Though, futbol will get some mention below.

The point is, the NFL is top dog, makes billions for everyone involved and generally rules the airwaves year round, as even the offseason makes a ton of news.

Yet it is not without flaws, nor so safe it can afford to realize that. We talked about some of them during the lockout this summer, about how really the NFL could lose its fanbase if it didn't do some hard looking at itself.

Then the lockout ended and we all went back to getting lost in the league we love. That's fine, that's natural. Hey, it's the NFL, and it's our obsession.

The problems still linger, though, and as the gleam on how a new, nearly-lost season got scuffed, we've seen the same problems we'd talked about emerge again with a few new friends.

They are issues which can—and should—be fixed. Yet they are also issues which, if left to fester, will harm the league down the road.

Here are the five most disturbing trends facing the National Football League right now.

All Players Are Equal, but Some Are More Equal Than Others

I love Animal Farm, and that paraphrased quote is one I've used many times in reference to the NFL. Over the past few seasons, the portion most reflective of that quote are the rules which have been added—or merely in some cases, more stringently enforced—to protect quarterbacks and wide receivers.

Sure, all the penalties are also theoretically to protect defensive players, but the truth is that more often than not, a defensive player is called for anything remotely close to a hard hit.

We're not talking about Ndamukong Suh trying to curb stomp innocent Packer players. We're talking about James Harrison being flagged any time he looks cross-eyed at a wide receiver. We're talking about someone breathing on Tom Brady.

I haven't even started to talk about how inconsistently the flags come. Aside from the fact that these are arbitrary calls which require the referees to make a snap judgement on a bang-bang play, not every player gets the flags.

Ask Mike Vick, Tim Tebow, Mark Sanchez, Jay Cutler or Matt Schaub how many roughing the passer personal foul calls they get relative to the Big Three of Brady, Brees and Rodgers.

On top of that, how often is a flag called on an offensive player for a flagrant foul on a defensive player? You can count that on one hand missing two fingers. Oh, by the way—we still laud running backs who deliver punishing hits and use their helmets as weapons.

Don't get me wrong, I want players to be healthier and safer. However, if you're going to call these penalties, they have to be consistent, apply to everyone as equally as you can possibly make it and they have to be defined so players know what is happening.

Fact is, you can only do so much. When a receiver lowers his helmet into the path of a tackling defender and collides with said defender's helmet, who is that penalty on? You can't make that call at NFL speed on the field.

Someone will always be angry about it.

The league needs to define these rules, they need to continue to find other ways to protect players and they need to keep everyone on the same page.

As things stand, the new rules are a mess and have hurt the overall enjoyment for those watching as well as those playing.

London Calling: NFL Overseas Obsession

I've never liked the London games. I don't mean to insult ex-patriots and non-American football fans, it's great they love the sport and I am glad they get a chance to watch it live. 

American football is an American game, though, and ultimately, this is its home. The occasional game was fine. Once in a blue moon, a pair of teams would traipse to another country and put on a show. Great.

Yearly though? It's a mess. In my mind, this mess has one reason for existing—to expand the NFL fanbase and open up the possibility of a European team.

Don't believe me? How about the NFL suggesting a Super Bowl in Europe? Or talking openly about NFL expansion into Europe?

Heck, when the Jacksonville Jaguars were sold the other day, the new rumor of their move didn't involve just Los Angeles, but London as well!

Is this really a good idea?

I can't even wrap my head around a Super Bowl in another country. The amount of money brought to a city by the Super Bowl is no small amount, and you're telling me in a bad economy you want that cash to go out of country?

Or let's get even more basic. The Super Bowl is the quintessential American sports event right now and you want that event to take place...not in America?

Putting that aside, let's say that one Super Bowl in a foreign country isn't that big a deal. Fine, I'll grant that.

Instead, let's look at the logistics of a team located in Europe. First of all, let's just admit that at most, maybe there are two teams entering the league at once. More likely just one. It would have to be in either the NFC or AFC East.

Why? Because you're already looking at a massive travel schedule for away games for any team in London (the current target). At least the East Coast is easy to get to. On the other hand, it's probably just the AFC East because Dallas makes the NFC East a pain to travel to for the London Jags.

Any team has eight away games. Three of those are within the division. So we're already dealing with traveling a length of at least 3,000 miles three times. That's longer than the distance between San Francisco and New York City (2,905 miles).

You still have five away games to account for, which will add to that travel significantly.

Flip the script and you have teams arriving eight times to play Team London Jags eight times as well and all flying over 3,000 miles one way to do it.

If that wasn't enough, teams usually try to practice at home as long as possible to mitigate being in a new environment while trying to install an offense and defense for the coming game. You can't do that when traveling to London, as it's completely impractical. In order to avoid jet lag, you'd likely travel out very early on in a week to prepare, which will make that preparation much harder than necessary.

Oh, by the way, you'll also be dealing with a minimum of five hours time difference.

We haven't even talked about the logistics of taxes in foreign countries, travel expenses, fans unable to travel to support their team and whether a London team would generate interest long term.

Let's not forget that NFL Europe died in part due to lack of interest.

A London team forcing this much travel would only hurt the level of competition and turn fans off.

The NFL has much bigger priorities here in America and room to move teams around if need be within the US.

The hard truth is that only one type of football rules Europe and England and it involves a round ball you kick with your feet, not an oval you hold in your hands.

This European obsession is an Ahabian fixation by commissioner Roger Goodell and ownership, and it is incredibly foolish. It has to end.

Small-Market/Big-Market Woes

You might ask yourself what those issues here on the home front are. This is the most pressing matter in my mind.

I wrote about this at length during the lockout at CheeseheadTV. You can read the two-part series here and here.

The short version is that the big-market owners (Dallas in particular) are tired of floating the small market owners (Jacksonville, Tampa Bay, Buffalo) with money that, frankly, gets made in large part because of them.

It's why you see Jerry Jones striking his own deals for sponsorship instead of just getting money from the NFL deals already set up. This also involves television money.

There's merit to the idea that Dallas or New York should get more money from TV generated ad revenue because, frankly, they draw better.

On the other hand, this league is built on parity, and how long would that last if Buffalo stopped getting handouts?

This issue was a huge reason behind the lockout and anyone saying something else is trying to sell you something. The owners didn't want to deal with fighting it out amongst themselves and decided it was easier to go after the player's money.

It didn't work out. Sure, they got some big financial concessions, but ultimately, it was spackle on a rotting car frame.

The NFL needs to figure this out. Sure, we have 10 years of alleged labor peace. If the owners can't solve this amicably, though, don't be shocked if that deal doesn't go the distance.

Prices, PSLs and Fans

It's a two-for-one. I think there are two sides to this issue that feed off each other in a very negative way.

First of all, prices for football games are forcing families out. Maybe that's just something I worry about with kids, but at some point, if you cannot take your kid to the game, I think you're hurting a generation of fans.

The larger truth is, though, that even a single guy (or gal) is having issues affording tickets these days. Maybe you can splurge a few times, but it's getting more and more expensive to go to the games.

That's just talking about ticket prices, which go up and up regardless of how bad the economy is. Food, parking, souvenirs—all are huge drains on your wallet.

Oh, and that's after you have often had to buy a PSL just to have the chance to buy a ticket. Personal Seat Licenses are the greatest scam in sports. You aren't buying a ticket. You're buying the right to buy a ticket.

Any other industry able to pull this off? Even Enron is saying, "Whoa, that's dirty." Insurance companies are calling it unethical. The banking industry is wondering how they get a piece of it.

You get my point.

It's like being engaged to be engaged.

Despite the fact that teams are making money, they continue to load up fans with higher and higher costs as if our wallets were bottomless. Oh, and if you can't pay after you sign on the line which is dotted, they sue you.

Nothing says "we appreciate you" like a lawsuit.

Earth to millionaire owners—we don't all have Scrooge McDuck money bins to swim in.

Which leads me to part B of this issue. When fans do get to the game, they seem to be feeling an increasing amount of right to say anything to players, staff and coaches. To be as rude and obnoxious as they want to be because, dammit, they paid $120 for a ticket and $40 on parking and drank three $8 beers, so DAMMIT, THEY ARE ENTITLED.

Which in turn leads to altercations between fans and NFL personnel like Rex Ryan. Ryan was flat out wrong in the way he handled what was really a fairly annoying but innocuous comment. However, at what point is it a fan's responsibility to act respectfully to people around them, including players and coaches?

Maybe if they hadn't had to sell their first-born son to finance a PSL, they might act like they weren't entitled to scream obscenities.

The cost has to cap out at some point. The fans are not a bottomless well of cash. If the NFL cannot or will not rein in the rising costs of attending an NFL game, fans might find something else to do with their money.

HGH, Steroids and the NFLPA

Can someone tell me how this is even an issue? Everyone wants the testing to happen except the players it seems—and there are actually plenty of them who want it, too.

So what's the holdup? Is nobody on the player's side aware of what happened to baseball? Say what you want about the pace of the game and the lack of a salary cap or floor and the inability of teams in small markets to keep up with the Yankees and Red Sox—steroids killed baseball.

HGH is just the latest variation of the same theme. There are plenty of fans who want it. The NFL knows it has to do something to avoid an MLB-style backlash from those fans.

The NFLPA doesn't seem to get it. Here's an excerpt from their response to the NFL saying they would implement testing from back in October.

“We informed the NFL yesterday that absent a collective agreement on several critical issues, blood collection is not ready to be implemented on Monday. We have advised the players.”

Hold on. That's the WHOLE response.

NFLPA spokesman George Atallah came out later and told ProFootballTalk.com "that the union still wants information regarding the population studies used to develop the acceptable HGH thresholds by the World Anti-Doping Agency, regarding the due process that will be utilized when players want to contest positive results, and whether and to what extent the proposed testing procedure has been independently reviewed."

OK, fair enough. You want to know that the test is accurate and fair.

Why does it feel so much like stonewalling then, especially when the HGH testing was in the new CBA? Well, that's because while it was in the CBA, it was subject to the Union being happy with the process.

Which is a subjective thing and a slippery slope.

Listen, bottom line? HGH testing needs to be done. Dragging your feet at this point just looks bad. Get the wording and process dealt with and fire that sucker up.

The longer it goes, the worse everyone looks and the closer we could be to a scandal on MLB proportions.