The NFL is a corporate product which is sold on a continual basis by a set of very wealthy owners. The NFL does not own any players or teams; private businessmen (owners) own the toy known as the NFL. They do what they want.
The biggest story in NFL history is unfolding—black coach Brian Flores, head coach of the Miami Dolphins from 2019 to 2021 is suing the league: he is not being hired due to race. But the secondary issue is far more earth-shattering. According to the ex-coach:
The Miami Dolphins’ owner offered to pay him $100,000 for every game he lost.
Say what?
How could a coach even do that?
Lose—without anybody finding out?
How can the league be legitimate if the results of games are fixed?
The original NFL teams themselves, as businesses, grew out of amassed gambling winnings. There’s been a whiff of corruption and cheating around the NFL since its inception.
The NFL merged after the miraculous Jets victory in Super Bowl III—a merger (worth billions) was only possible if the AFC could somehow prove they were worthy. Enter the Jets and Joe Namath. The game looked like it was fixed, but who can tell these things for sure? The team favored by 3 touchdowns (the NFC Colts) simply had “a bad day.” Far more importantly: a hero named Joe was born. Heroes are everything.
The NFL, like the entertainment industry, is a star factory. If your team or your band has a star (Bart Starr, Ringo Starr) success is guaranteed. Leave the arrangements to the guys in the back room. They will manufacture any star one needs. Hero, here we come.
In the history of the NFL, a clump of championships belong to one team, and one team only, in every decade beginning in the 1940s (Bears). 1950s (Browns) 1960s (Packers) 1970s (Steelers) 1980s (49ers) 1990s (Cowboys) and Patriots in the first two decades of the 21st century.
From 1950 to 1957, the Cleveland Browns played in 7 of 8 championship games. Starting with the 2001 season, the Patriots played in 9 of 17 Super Bowls—despite Spygate slowing them down.
Like the Celtics in the NBA and the Yankees in the MLB, dynasties are necessary to spectator sports.
If every team were .500—which statistically, they should be—there would be no stars and fewer fanatics would watch. Sports is royalty, not democracy.
Another quarterback named Joe became the NFL brand 40 years ago. Many don’t remember how popular Joe Montana was. He wasn’t a great quarterback—he was decent. His team was special and they won some games.
In the 1990 NFC championship game, the Giants beat the 49ers, who were going for a 3rd straight Super Bowl victory. The Giants backup QB, the forgotten Jeff Hostetler, out-played Joe Montana. This isn’t supposed to happen. But it does.
The NFL just has to make sure it doesn’t happen too often.
The NFL is a business—and profits increase 50% when stars and dynasties prevail. To a businessman, this 50% is everything. There must be dynasties and stars.
The Patriots are done for now.
It’s time for a new star.
Enter the third Joe.
Joe Burrow.
And why is Joe Burrow so important?
Because he fits the NFL business model: he’s a star.
But he’s also something more.
Let’s look again at Brian Flores and his shocking allegation of a coach losing games to win a high draft pick.
What did the Bengals do?
They won 2 games two years ago and then got a top draft pick, the new Tom Brady.
The NFL will make sure the Cincinnati Bengals win the Super Bowl, for this makes intentionally losing a legitimate “strategy.”
This is the best way to rebuff the shocking and embarrassing revelation of Brian Flores: it is a fact that NFL teams intentionally lose games to get top draft picks.
Historically, teams do not win because of top draft picks. The Pats were successful for twenty years with a low-draft pick QB—Tom Brady. Due to their success, the Pats did not get high draft picks—yet they were still successful.
We must trace out the significance of the whole Brian Flores unraveling.
The NFL, to be successful in business, must continually adapt to protect itself against bad publicity. It must be sharp and pro-active. I’m certain there is a core of brilliant owners who tell the other owners what must be done for the good of the business: a secret club within club, a mind within a mind. Audacity of idea, not democracy, is the rule among elites. The NFL must have heroes. But it also must be ahead of the curve when there are bumps in the road.
So here’s why the Bengals are the team of the moment: The success of the Bengals implies that it is a good strategy to lose and get a high draft pick. The Bengals win 2 games, and use their draft pick to get:
Joe Burrow.
Common sense tells us that if teams do lose intentionally, this makes the whole league and every game and every record invalid and corrupt.
The NFL, now caught up in this scandal, has one answer to the charge that games are lost on purpose.
We don’t care. We have great ratings. We have heroes. The losers don’t really matter, anyway. Losers are part of our success. The heroes who go in high draft picks matter the most.
Hero worship, not fair contests, is everything. And “strategy” (doing anything to win) matters, too.
Here’s the mantra: 1. Win at all costs. 2. Heroes who win are everything. 3. Cheating happens but does not matter.
But I still have one burning question.
How exactly would a coach intentionally and secretly lose a game?
Do QBs intentionally lose games? I imagine they do—for a very large bribe.
My guess is the coach must find a player or two with criminality in their background to blackmail: you will fumble, or else.
Or perhaps it works this way: owners hang out and a few say, I’m going to intentionally lose this year for a draft pick. The other owners agree, and wink, wink, let the refs know, and they take care of it. And to make the coach go along, you pay him off.
Anyway, it’s fascinating to wonder exactly how, precisely, a team decides to lose and successfully loses without anybody knowing it.
I have no doubt the NFL is controlled by…monetary secrecy..and yes, the NFL is rigged. I’m just interested in the nuts and bolts of how the public is deceived.
Remember the Black Sox scandal? It threatened to destroy baseball. The very next year the dead ball era magically ended, a big star, Babe Ruth, hit all those home runs—a giant distraction—and the game of baseball was saved. The corruption was forgotten.
How do we manufacture, but make it look random? I do believe this is the essence of social intelligence. This essence overshadows even pure intelligence.
Criminal intelligence (alas) is paramount.
The Dupin detective—see Poe’s “The Purloined Letter”—who is more curious than you or I and who understands the mind of criminality, is rare.
Will the Bengals be the next dynasty? Perhaps. But right now they are serving a purpose, deflecting Flores’ blockbuster claim:
Hey! it’s perfectly OK, people, for teams to lose on purpose—if they acquire a superstar like Joe Burrow.
The NFL will seek to move Flores’ lawsuit to arbitration behind closed doors and hope that people forget the “pay to lose” scandal.
Joe Namath allows the Super Bowl merger.
Joe Montana makes the dynasty QB a real thing.
Joe Burrow justifies the crazy strategy of losing to get a top pick.
Way to go, Joe.