The unique perspective and provocative opinions of Joe O’Neill
Sports Shorts
Count on it every year: Media commentary that criticizes the NFL for how it handles exhibition games. Do they really need four? Do they have to price them as if they were anything more than over-hyped scrimmages? But the bottom line is the bottom line. It’s all about the money, as has been pointed out. But it’s disingenuous criticism. So, here’s a suggestion for the media: Stop the enabling. Stop covering this stuff as if such exhibitions really mattered–at least to anyone not vying for a roster spot. Yes, it’s all about the money—but also the de facto free marketing that is saturation media coverage.
You have to wonder how the brainstorming sessions went for Florida Hospital as it stepped up corporately for the seven-figure naming rights to the erstwhile One Buc Place. For marketing purposes, the AdventHealth Training Center makes branding sense. Still wonder, though, if anyone acknowledged that health care and football–where concussion protocols are as frequent as time outs–could have a down side image-wise.