The regular season opener is in Tampa.
The National Football League’s regular season gets underway with the Dallas Cowboys traveling to Tampa to take on the 2020 Super Bowl Champions, the Tom Brady-led Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This Thursday night game will get big TV numbers as the NFL tries to resume something of a normal routine during the COVID-19 pandemic. The NFL is in really good shape. There is labor peace although there have been some complaints from the National Football League Players Association about the frequency of COVID-19 tests and there have been some breakthrough COVID-19 cases with personnel that have been vaccinated. The NFL could not get the players association to agree to mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations. There are TV deals that will enrich owners for another decade. Concussions? Doesn’t seem to be very much of a public perception problem as somehow the NFL has made the discussion about brain injuries and long-term care for former players who may have permanent brain injuries from absorbing blows to the head during their careers disappear.
But there is some trouble in paradise, particularly in Orchard Park, New York. The owners of the Buffalo Bills want a new stadium and are looking at New York State taxpayers for help in funding what the Bills owners have proposed. A 60-thousand seat open air stadium next to the present stadium. Bills ownership wants the state and Erie County to act immediately for a request for hundreds of millions of dollars for the facility. If the Bills owners, Pegula Sports and Entertainment, don’t get their way, the Bills ownership will not sign a lease extension at the 38-year-old Orchard Park stadium. The Bills ownership’s deal to use the stadium ends in 2023. There could also be stadium issues in Cincinnati, Cleveland and Jacksonville but that is just business. The NFL is in excellent shape.
Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191
