When Did the NFL Change?

[lastcat3]

I liked it when teams were actually teams and not just a collection of players playing out their contracts to get the next big deal. Rivalries are pretty much non-existent these days. I'd say that change was probably in the mid '00's once all the players who were around prior to the salary cap era had retired out of the game.

[JohnH19]

Uniforms make a rivalry, not the players wearing them. It doesn’t matter who’s wearing Steelers and Ravens or Packers and Vikings unis.

[racepug]

The league has evolved through the years. I've always enjoyed the sport but right now I think the emphasis is a little too high on the passing game AND I think the pendulum has swung a little too far in favor of "player safety." (I'm all for making the sport as safe as possible but some of the things that are penalized these days almost make it seem as though what we're watching isn't really tackle football) I have a 30+ year old NFL simulation that I like that in no way resembles the form of football played in the N.F.L. right now. But I think with its play selection and gameplay it closely resembles what pro football was like when it was probably at its best: the 1960s through, oh, I dunno - the late '80s to early '90s. So to answer the question I guess I wouldn't mind seeing the pro game go back to that era, the era of meaningful fullback play and more balanced offenses (minus the really flagrant violations such as the "Turkey" Jones hit that broke Terry Bradshaw's neck or the kind of rough-housing that was allowed by the "Soul Patrol" [the Raiders' secondary] back in the '70s).

[JohnR]

Alex Hawkins knows when it changed. Here's an excerpt from his book.
"In my ten years (1959-1968) I had seen the game of professional football change from a sport owned by sportsmen to business run by businessmen. It was
now entertainment, run by television. Pro football had become a very profitable, corporate sports business."

[BD Sullivan]

The two strikes in the 80's knocked the NFL off course after years of success and great ratings. The fact that the '82 season was effectively ruined after it practically got chopped in half didn't help and Scab Ball in '87 showed that owners had no respect for fans. That was quickly followed by franchise shifts, seat licensing, jacked-up ticket prices, apathy or obstruction about CTE. Now, even with the already-obscene annual profits (2020 was a fluke), the league still looks for ways to squeeze every possible cent out of fans.