why aren't nfl employees allowed to say "nfl"?
 

ever notice how you have NEVER heard an nfl employee (announcers, analysts) say "nfl" but rather they ALWAYS say "national football league". this is one of those stupid things that bother me. i think it sounds so stupid. the only thing i can think of is they don't want people to confuse the nfl, the nfc, and the afc. my problem with that is that if you are confusing a conference with the entire league, you probably watch about 1 hour of football a year, and thus the nfl shouldn't give a damn about you.

It all has to do with branding. The NFL marketing staff probably did focus groups that heard he term NFL (with its weak sounding "N") and then heard the full name and the conclusion was likely that the full name was better at promoting brand awareness. Now this is not the same as people at home or us using the term ourselves which is the more common NFL and you are correct that there is no confusion.

An outfit like the NFL will take brand awareness very seriously and so all broadcasters will have their rules set out for them.

A) Announcers and analysts aren't NFL employees.
B) Announcers and analysts do say "NFL," just as they do say "National Football League."
C) No, it's not so people don't confuse the NFL, the NFC and the AFC.
D) You're on the wrong message board.

~Sigh~
 

wobw

Yeah, you're right. The NFL shouldn't care about the people who watch the game, and in doing so increase revenue for the league. :rolleyes:

Is this multiple choice?

A) you know what i mean, and just because they may not be directly paid by the nfl, but rather fox or cbs or whatever, doesn't mean they don't have to follow nfl rules.

B) no, they don't. you must not watch much nfl. don't you think somebody who is bothered by something this small would have already been listening for them to say nfl for years? the closest they come to saying nfl is "in football" and "in the league". i notice small stuff like this, and i damn sure wouldn't think this let alone talk about it if i only had about a game or two of proof. i'm sure they have slipped up and said nfl before, but i have yet to hear it after well over 100 games where i have been paying attention, along with the analyst shows.

C) ya, the previous guy seemed to have it right, and like i said, if you are confusing those, you aren't really a fan so who cares

D) you make the rules? how about instead of trying to boost your self esteem by insulting others (you can play dumb if you want, you know what i'm talking about), you can give friendly nice advice like the large portion of people on here do, which is why i like this forum. most forums are full of flamers. not only do you have false information on B, but you state that i'm on the wrong forum for asking an nfl related question instead of a high school officiating question or something? give me a break, seriously don't respond then.

so you consider people who watch 1 hour of football a year to be people that gain the nfl money? *insert immature insulting emoticon here*

this sounds right. thank you.

Why are you asking football officials? Shouldn't this be asked on a broadcasting forum?

Do a search on 506 forums or DBS forums and you might find a more knowlegeable crowd.

You're assuming this is an NFL "rule." It's not.

Because...

Wow. 100 games? Man.

How many clips of people saying "NFL" will it take to convince you, then?

Okay, then.

I do not have false information. I know more about certain things than you do. This is one of them.

This is an officiating forum, genius. Your question in the OP has zero to do with officiating. Therefore, it's in the wrong forum.

You are, seriously, about 15 years old, right?

PackerFTW,

Life must be really good, you have waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too much time on your hands if you concerned with what announcers call a specific league.

Or you are about 15 years old as stated. ;)

Peace

FWIW, Kevin Harlan, Matt Vasgersian and Jim Nantz all made multiple references to "the NFL" yesterday.

In addition, we have the 'NFL on FOX' and nfl.com

Plus, it's their league and they can say 'National Football League' all the time if they want to....

I was definitely going to try and pay attention to that yesterday after reading through this discussion, but the announcers for the Packers/Lions game were pretty bad, so I kept the volume down. I'll listen for it this weekend though.

Who cares?

go to any forum, and i guarantee they have slightly off topic threads such as this one.

i'm not 15, i'm 24, but a 15 year old would know that no forum on the web has 100% of it's threads directly on topic, or even probably 90%. officiating -> football -> various football topics. that's on topic to me. and your direct insults show that you should be the one asking yourself if you're 15.


exactly. nobody cares but me, but all of a sudden people seem to know for a fact that they use the term "nfl" as in "he's the #1 rusher in the nfl". if you don't care about something, how would you know for sure something as specific as this has or hasn't occurred? honestly though, i would probably say of course they say "nfl", i mean they must, right? but it's shocking, they don't. i don't mean never ever, i mean 99% of the time they say "national football league". and somebody already stated above the reason why they do this is for marketing purposes, which makes sense.

now that i think about it, although i'm not 100% sure, i don't think i've ever heard them say "national basketball association" in the nba. so we have opposite leagues here. dunno, just something i notice. if you feel the need to boost your self-esteem by insulting me just for commenting on something like this, then go ahead, but you might want to look in the mirror before you call me 15. even if i was off-topic, which i'm not completely off-topic, that's no reason to insult somebody, especially if you're a 30+ year old official.

That's absolutely not true. You went from "never" to "99%" of the time when neither one is true. Just in watching parts of three games the weekend after we started talking about this, I found numerous times where announcers said "NFL" and not "National Football League."

You're just wrong. That's all I said. The percentage is much, much lower - to the point where it's simply not an issue. And it's sure as hell not worth starting a thread about in a forum about officiating.

As for the ever, my apologies. Now get off my lawn.

Yeah, but why are you arguing with people's answers as if they should know the "rule", if there even is a "rule"...If you truly wanted to know about this subject you would go to a broadcasting forum.

I routinely heard the term "NFL" used by those covering the game, including those from the NFL Network!

It's an officiating forum. About officiating. While discussions about plays or rules may digress into discussions about the BCS or whatever, we don't start topics to ask random, non sequitur questions like yours. Especially one which is flawed from the get-go.

But you know that 99% of the time, "employees" of the NFL aren't allowed to say "NFL," but instead say "National Football League." You're a math whiz, that's what you are.

The Official Forum > Football. Where do you see "various football topics?"

It's an officiating forum. Mostly for officials to discuss topics about football officiating

Been on the interwebs long?

Had an inkling, based on years of watching football and some professional experience with the medium of television. Then I watched a few games and paid attention specifically to that to confirm my suspicion that you were wrong.

Except there is no directive that they do this. It's probably no more than the random patterns of people's speech. Is it 50% of the time? 62.5%? I don't know. But I do know that, outside of maybe the commissioner who may feel it gives things more gravitas or some people who may want to get melodramatic from time to time, there's no conspiracy or directive about why it should happen or does happen. You're imagining something that isn't happening.

Again with the "evers."

I guess the NBA just doesn't have the same marketing directives to its minions. :rolleyes:

Again, just get online this week?

A forum for officials to talk about officiating. Not for fans to throw random savant things out there. You want to ask about rules (like the 3rd QB rule), anyone who knows will be glad to lend their expertise. Unclear about why something was ruled a certain way in a game you watched? Again, that's that it's about.

But "nfl employees" aren't precluded from saying "nfl," you're imagining things that aren't happening. And if you're going to come in here and be so randomly and completely off-base and off-topic, expect to get nailed for it.