It’s time to usher in the next era for professional football…

The moment has arrived for the NFL to establish a real relationship between itself and its fans. It’s time for the league to break down barriers that separate us from pro football. The NFL needs to get off its butt, shake off the dust and rust, and invite us to become active participants in this fantastic sport. I envision a new age: a partnership between the National Football League and its followers which opens unexplored exciting interactive participation in this great game.

Welcome… fellow fantasy fanatics to the NFL – 21st century style.

My theory is this: to retain its popularity each professional league needs to adapt to changes within society, which are beyond its control. Already during this century we have seen variations in viewing habits, which have been affected more by technological advances than to the actual sport itself.

Baseball, for example, flourished throughout the radio era. A major reason was that nothing compared to listening to the slow summer sounds of a good ball game over the airwaves. Football‘s popularity soared when television became the favored media, because the game and its scheduling seemed perfectly suited to the small screen. Basketball with its action packed play, end-to-end excitement, and thrilling individual efforts worked best with the younger audience, in evening, and on cable.

Too often a conservative, short sighted, arrogant, and disorganized professional league doesn’t see society changing and when it resists modification, its sport loses the competitive advantage.

Just look at baseball: The grand old game owned the nation up to the 1960’s, but lost the edge when it refused to move rapidly on such benign suggestions as interleague play. Imagine the excitement that would have been generated during the heyday 60’s and 70’s, if American league teams could have witnessed Mays, Aaron, Clemente, Gibson, Koufax, Rose and others. Think of the thrill for National League fans if they were treated to the Yankees during the Mantle, Ford, and Maris years? America’s first love might have actually held off football’s unexpected challenge of supremacy. I know the purists will always disagree, but I believe baseball lost its edge during those years, because the perception of being slow and behind the times didn’t begin on the field, but originated from lagging leadership off it.

Football’s challenges today are similar to those that faced baseball forty years ago. This time, the opposition comes from many directions, not just one. Consumers will have more options during the 21^st century. It is clear that short attention spans and plenty of action are necessary ingredients when developing a marketing plan to attract youths.

Simply put young fans no longer will accept the old master/slave relationship, which characterized the viewing habits of professional sports throughout the last fifty years. For example, consider how Generation X has turned away from television’s "entertain while you vegetate like a zombie" format and moved towards the internet’s interactive style. What’s in vogue is interactive participation such as chat rooms, video and computer games, fantasy sports, laser tag, and paint ball.

Remember the movie Patch Adams when Robin Williams’s character discovered that the old fashioned role of doctor and patient hurts the healing process? Patch believed that the arrogance of his profession was detrimental to medicine’s goal… which ultimately should be what is best for the ill. I believe that professional football’s current "we’re the product, here’s the game" mentality is in the early stages of hurting the sport’s popularity. The NFL needs to open its eyes and realize that the single biggest structural change in this society as we enter a new century is that relationships such as leader/follower, teacher/student, business/consumer, and league/fan are changing.

NFL.COM is the classic example on how professional football is already failing in this interactive environment. Yes, the site has extensive statistics, nice graphics and a professional look, but it completely misses the Internet boat. In reality, NFL.COM is nothing more than a statistical billboard, created in the lofty offices of some Madison Avenue type public relations webmaster who was hired by the owners because they realized that the league needed a site, but didn’t have a clue as to how to make it vibrant and interesting. The site lacks fan participation and interaction, which is the real power behind this great new media.

In fact, interaction (never mind accuracy) seems to be an inconvenience for NFL.COM. For example, during week one last season Corey Dillon lost four yards on a carry, leaving him with 87 yards rushing on 21 attempts. In midweek the league announced that they had reviewed the situation and determined that the play was a sack instead of a rushing loss, thus the Cincinnati running back’s official statistics were 91 yards on 20 carries. NFL.COM never responded to a dozen e-mails from myself and other fantasy players requesting they correct their original numbers. To this day if added together, Dillon’s game-by-game totals (listed at the site) fall four yards short of his season’s total.

So why am I picking apart NFL.COM and pro football? Do I really believe the league needs rescuing? I am certainly not saving professional football from extinction, but may help prevent this wonderful sport from growing old. I sense great possibilities for new ideas involving league/fan interaction. If the NFL doesn’t act soon, this sport’s fan base will grow older. Most importantly, the league needs to begin catering to the individual needs of a broad based audience.

Which leads to my question and proposal: Why doesn’t the NFL become actively involved in promoting, selling and distributing fantasy sports. A call to selected teams revealed that the National Football League frowns on Fantasy Sports because "it is considered gambling." I find this ironic for a league that allowed its network to employ Jimmy the Greek for a decade and still promotes point-spread discussions on pregame shows. No one would disagree that professional football should place integrity above all else, but as long as there is no risk of either game or player corruption…. what’s the problem? Straight wagering (with point spreads) opens doors for sleazy bribery and fraud, while fantasy football FINE STUFF style will not.

My brainchild, "NFL Fantasy Live" (catchy isn’t it) should be implemented so that the risk of player corruption is nonexistent. The number of variables involved and the extreme complexity of this weekly fantasy event guarantees that it will be impossible to cheat. "NFL Fantasy Live" will create an interactive environment where every down requires a strategic personnel decision by the fantasy manager. I foresee this as an online interactive vehicle acting as a video game taking place within a series of live football contests. This experience will become even more exciting and intense on Sunday afternoons when seven games are being played at once.

What will be the rules and format of "NFL Fantasy Live"? The possibilities are infinite. There could be yearly contests, weekly events, single game selections, and competition against multiple opponents, solitaire based scoring, or head to head meetings. Your opponents may be world wide, national, regional, or local. You may play against yourself or one on one against a friend. "NFL Fantasy Live" may be so interactive; you may even create your rules and design your own game.

One fantasy game that I find interesting is the use of a salary cap system, where a manager may acquire any player he chooses, but only for a specified number of plays per contest. For example, suppose you were required to select five running backs each week, but each athlete was allowed to partake in only a limited number of snaps based on the abilities of the player. A Terrell Davis would be priced at a maximum of fifteen plays for a contest, while a Dorsey Levens could be used twenty two times, or a Bam Morris would be available for thirty two. Under these rules the fantasy game would become increasingly complex, because the challenge would not be limited to merely selecting the right players, but also would include deciding when to insert each athlete. Like a sideline coach, the fantasy manager would be required to make quick decisions and be actively aware of situations, involving every play. One wrong decision or miscalculation could doom his team to failure for the week.

Of course, the interactive power of the web will be required to make this monumental project work. Over the next decade as the distinction between television and the computer fades, TV viewing will evolve into a new experience…. far different than we’ve known. I envision an enlightened NFL offering specialized Internet broadcasts with the commentators announcing each game from a fantasy perspective. This is where The National Football League can really make "NFL Fantasy Live" (can I trademark that name?) work. Hopefully a new level of National Football League products will evolve during the twenty-first century that offers a wonderful array of choices to us, the lucky consumers.

I realize the NFL wants its fans rooting in the traditional sense for a favorite local franchise. Unfortunately with players and coaches routinely jumping teams the current system makes it difficult for every fan to retain these loyalties. Already television ratings have drifted down. Times change. Today the entertainment industry requires professional sports pull in a broad based audience in different ways. If nothing else, this proposal will assist the NFL in solving its old dilemma of how to get fans in New York interested in a Sunday night contest involving 2-8 New Orleans VS. 1-9 Chicago. The answer…have them rooting for/against Ricky Williams and Curtis Enis.

Are these thoughts completely off the wall? Is there any validity to my vision? I realize this article fights a war on two fronts: the rabid fantasy football fanatic will oppose my ideas as much as the National Football League will. "Too commercial," some will say. "Fantasy football will be ruined forever." Perhaps, but can’t you can stay away from what you don’t want and keep what you like? More options never hurt.

As technology advances what changes do you see occurring within the next quarter century? Let’s hear what you have to say and together we may develop a series of ideas to submit to the NFL. E-mail back your thoughts. After all, what good is the Internet, if it’s not interactive?

Todd Finestone is a staff writer for Fantasy Football Mastermind. His monthly column "FINE STUFF" can be found at several different fantasy football related sites on the Internet. Please click HERE to offer a "Thumbs Up" or "Thumbs Down" on this article. Thank you for taking the time to offer your valuable opinion.