NFL Bounties: How Far Does it Go?

Written by Guest Contributor:  James Wolcott


     The surfacing of the NFL bounty scandal has made me seriously contemplate the
brutality of the game. That, accompanied with the emergence of hard science providing
evidence for permanent brain damage caused by routine participation in the game, had
me somewhat soured on the idea of pro football and even more on youth football. I
continued down this path of negative feelings about the game, when considering if the
NFL has a real interest in protecting the players, or, if the league merely had an interest
in maximizing revenue.

     My thoughts on the matter progressed even further, to a realization that; the NFL is
driven solely by money, every move it makes it based entirely on profit seeking. It was
at this point that the idea hit me. We know the NFL does not care about the health of its
players, we know the players will still play the game, we know the NFL will do anything
to earn a little extra cash, so, why not operate under an open bounty system. The
system would involve a section of the scoreboard dedicated to the sole purpose of
displaying the bounty on the head of any given player. The bounty pledged could be
delivered over the Internet and could come from anyone in the world, and eventually,
even from those of us who will be living on Newt Gingrich’s moon base.

     So, lend me your imagination, the Patriots and Giants are set to do battle in the Super
Bowl, the Tuesday before the game would mark the beginning of the period to place a
bounty. The period would end at the terminus of the game. On this particular Tuesday,
Stephen King decides he has seen one too many Giants Super Bowl victories over his
beloved Patriots and places a $50,000 bounty on the head of one Eli Manning. Mayor
of New City, Michael Bloomberg, takes offense to this and wagers $75,000 on his least
favorite Patriot, Logan Mankins. These types of exchanges would continue until the
game was decided, all in plain view of the players and the fans. Also, the bounties
would be cumulative, meaning that if, Joe Sports fan decided that $50,000 was not
nearly enough on Eli Manning’s he could add $50 to the current bounty.
Now, I see the concern, how does the NFL make any money on the deal? Well, the NFL
would build and IPhone and Android application for the purpose of placing these
bounties, that application would cost $5.99 (or 10.99 if you choose to add customized
name and number to the application.) Also, a 10% service fee would be attached to
each bounty, netting some serious revenue for the league. As for the players, they
would have the opportunity to earn hefty bonuses for doing roughly what they had been
doing their entire careers. It seems like a perfect scenario for each side. Theoretically,
half of any bounty earnings could be placed into a fund for retired players needing
medical assistance or could be donated to researchers.

     The idea also makes sense from a marketing standpoint. Opening the NFL to bounties
could serve as a huge surge in popularity. The wagering of money of the lives of men
seems like something that could really tickle the fancy of the hugely wealthy, in both
America and abroad, which would in turn pique the interest of the middle and lower
classes as it would become the chic thing to do. Another scenario to imagine, you are
an exorbitantly wealthy Saudi Prince, normal displays of wealth no longer impress you.
You happen to hear that the NFL is allowing wagers on the well being of humans. All of
a sudden the Prince is hooked and his underlings follow his lead. The NFL would
become a truly global spectacle.
    
     This may be an entirely ridiculous extrapolation of NFL tendencies, but is meant to
provoke some thought about player safety, the further development of the NFL brand
and maybe ourselves a little as humans. However, if it does come to be, you heard it
here first.