NFL owners meetings would be chaos if fans had a say (but better)

For the last decade, the NFL has seemingly been changing rules left and right every offseason to "improve" the game that we have all already fallen in love with. NFL fans have seen Commissioner Goodell and the 31 owners (Green Bay does not have a sole owner) make some strange decisions every offseason, usually watering down the product in one way or another.

This particular offseason, we are seeing possible changes to playoff seeding, onside kicks (again), a potential ban of the "Tush Push," and more. Last season, we saw a drastic change to the kickoff rules that have been slowly diluted from their glory days when players like Dante Hall and Devin Hester thrived.

But there is nothing that fans can do except take to social media and complain, something that happens inevitably, no matter how the owners vote.

What if there were a way for fans to have their voices heard? What if the NFL allowed fans to do what the U.S. government does and give you, the fan, a small seat at the table? While the idea sounds like pigs flying in the rain, it's not as crazy as it might seem...

Rule Change #1: Listen to the fans (they are paying for the game)

It's not that hard. Every team has an owner and a GM who attend the annual meetings for rule changes, but they are the only ones who get to make decisions, largely based on their own profit margins and rarely based on the fan experience.

So, the NFL should allow fans of every team to write in their ideas, complaints, and praises to their respective teams between the end of the season and the start of league meetings. This would allow owners like Clark Hunt and general managers like Brett Veach to truly know what Chiefs Kingdom thinks about things like the "Dynamic Kickoff" and the benefits (or downsides) it brought last season.

You, the fan, could write a sincere and dedicated letter to Mr. Hunt about the effects of losing the chain gang in favor of microchips in every football. That letter, along with hundreds or thousands of others like it, could sway how Hunt and the Chiefs vote on the matter.

Just imagine if fans had even an inkling of power, even if it's faux power, when it came to the decision to challenge pass interference back in 2019. The idea, which only lasted a season, might never have passed the original meetings if thousands of fans had voiced their displeasure for more replay stoppages, especially if the NFL was only going to do it for one season.

Or think about when the Chiefs first proposed new overtime rules after losing in the AFC Championship Game against New England during Patrick Mahomes' first season. Fans across the league knew the overtime rules should be converted to how they are now, but it didn’t happen until Buffalo faced the same issue against Mahomes less than two years later.

If thousands upon thousands of fans had been able to write in to their respective team owners during that time, the idea might have passed with flying colors the first time, rather than the second or third.

Rule Change #2: Give one fan from each team a voice every season

As many people know, especially here in the United States, writing to your local government officials does not always produce results. In fact, one could say it rarely does. So why not let every team give a special fan a voice at the Owners' Meeting regarding one or two topics, with a limited time allotted to each of them?

Imagine if the Chiefs picked one lucky season ticket holder to read a well-written document about why the "Tush Push" should or should not be banned, almost like when the NFL Draft gives special fans the ability to shout out their team’s newest player. The sincerity that the fan would bring to the topic might just be enough to sway one or two owners, possibly allowing the vote to pass or be tabled until the next offseason.

There is also something to be said about how billionaires like NFL owners view "regular" people like you and me. They typically don’t think about the little guys, let alone the ones who pay thousands and thousands of dollars just to see the product they put out on the field. This would allow each and every one of them to be in an enclosed room with 32 normal people, begging them to use common sense—or simply to use their brains rather than their wallets—when it comes to new rules and regulations.

This would have been extremely beneficial when owners decided to bring touchbacks up to the 30-yard line last season, or even the 25-yard line back in 2018. While the new rules give teams shorter fields to work with, usually ending in more points, the product on the field is shortened by 10 yards, which means far fewer plays throughout the game. That’s something fans pay good, hard money to see week in and week out.

But that’s just one example. A fan’s voice is important, and when owners see the whites of the fan's eyes as they beg for them to stop changing the game we all love, it might just be enough to make them reconsider their drastic new ideas.

And, much like the NFL Draft, the fan’s short speech would be on a time limit, which would push them to get as much important information into the ears of the owners in as few words as possible. That's something that billionaires would love, considering how much they hate to waste time.

Rule Change #3: Allow petitions to funnel into the front offices

Many times throughout the day, you might pass by a GoFundMe or a petition that is not getting as much attention as the creators might want. Even worse, when petitions have tens of thousands of signatures, they rarely make it to the desks of the people who make the decisions.

This rule change would make that a thing of the past. If something as blasphemous as the overtime rules from pre-2021 were proposed again, the petitions NFL fans sign could actually be handed directly to the Commissioner and the NFL owners.

Not all petitions are created equal. Some are made purely for fun, but a realistic petition about serious changes to the game—like the banning of the "Tush Push"—could give owners a clearer view of how real NFL fans feel about the possible changes. Just imagine if 250,000 fans (or even 500,000) sent a petition to Commissioner Goodell with clear wording on how a certain play might be changed or removed entirely.

That's multiple football stadiums full of petitioners holding up virtual picket signs right in the face of Goodell and the billionaires who keep upping the price of tickets every single season. The only problem is, these petitions are almost never truly seen by the people making the decisions. This would change that.

It doesn't matter how, but fan voices need to be heard. For far too long, the owners and Commissioner Goodell have pretended to listen while they fill their pockets and drastically water down a game we all grew up watching.

This doesn’t mean that safety protocols, new helmets like the Guardian Caps, or the banning of plays like chop blocks or horse-collar tackles should be up to the fans. But when those decisions are made without the fans’ opinions or consent, it simply rubs normal people the wrong way.

Some decisions have even kept fans from wanting to watch games or continue being fans (don’t ask my grandpa what he thinks about roughing the passer penalties), which then leads to fewer attendees in the stands. The NFL should do better by its supporters.