The World Cup final was both predictable (Italy’s comeback and eventual triumph after the early French goal) and bizarre (Zinedine Zidane’s farewell head-butt). Not a great game but not bad.
The consolation match on Saturday, between Germany and Portugal, wasn’t much more exciting — except for the hometown German fans, who saw their young team secure third place in the tournament with a 3-1 victory.
But even if you weren’t a Germany fan, it was nice to have one extra game after getting hooked on all this soccer over the past few weeks.
Which led me to think: why doesn’t the N.F.L. have a consolation game?
It could be held the Saturday afternoon before the Super Bowl, presumably in the same stadium. Imagine the N.F.L. held such a game this year. It would have matched the losers of the conference championship games, the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers. Not the most exciting matchup imaginable — but, as with the World Cup, with a nation of TV fans having followed the teams through the regular season and playoffs, I’d imagine there would be plenty of interest. And plenty of money to be made for the N.F.L. and the many other people who have a piece of the football pie.
You could surely object to this idea on the grounds that the Broncos and Panthers, having lost in the conference championships, just want to go home and couldn’t work up the vigor to play another game. But hey: this is the league that sends its all-stars to a Pro Bowl after the season, in Hawaii, a game that absolutely nobody watches. And yet they still go, and they still play it.
The N.C.A.A. used to hold a consolation game during its Final Four weekend, but I believe it was abandoned it in the early 1980′s. I think the N.F.L. would do a good enough job with a Consolation Bowl that it would become part of the fabric of what has become Super Bowl weekend. And by creating a 3rd and 4th place finisher in the N.F.L., the Consolation Bowl would make 2nd place — i.e., the Super Bowl loser — a bit more meaningful, whereas now everyone complains that no one ever remembers the loser of a Super Bowl.
Considering how adept the N.F.L. is at maximizing profits, goodwill, and opportunity, I’m guessing this idea has already come up for conversation at league HQ plenty of times. Here’s hoping that Paul Tagliabue, the forward-thinking outgoing N.F.L. boss, watched enough World Cup to think that it might be worth giving it a try.
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I think the value in preventing injury keeps the NFL from adopting any sort of consolation game. Even the Pro Bowl has its detractors and the competition in that game is non-existent given the desire to avoid injury.
I think the value in preventing injury keeps the NFL from adopting any sort of consolation game. Even the Pro Bowl has its detractors and the competition in that game is non-existent given the desire to avoid injury.
Wicham makes the correct point about injuries. Stephen, I think you’re forgetting that a ton of elected to the probowl don’t actually go. They get “injured” before the game.
And while I absolutely love the idea of another football game, I just don’t think people will get up for it. The superbowl has been billed for so long as THE event in the NFL, that any attempt to add to it / dilute it, will fail.
Think of the World Cup as what it actually is — the World Cup Championship. You don’t see the people not invited to Germany playing on TV these weeks, do you? FIFA has billed the World Cup Championship as THE event in soccer, so it, not the final game, is the correct analogue to the superbowl. In my opinion, of course.
Wicham makes the correct point about injuries. Stephen, I think you’re forgetting that a ton of elected to the probowl don’t actually go. They get “injured” before the game.
And while I absolutely love the idea of another football game, I just don’t think people will get up for it. The superbowl has been billed for so long as THE event in the NFL, that any attempt to add to it / dilute it, will fail.
Think of the World Cup as what it actually is — the World Cup Championship. You don’t see the people not invited to Germany playing on TV these weeks, do you? FIFA has billed the World Cup Championship as THE event in soccer, so it, not the final game, is the correct analogue to the superbowl. In my opinion, of course.
Yeah, it’s all about the injuries. No one watches the Pro Bowl because it’s not real football, it’s an injury avoidance festival. And they still had to move it to Hawaii just to get a decent number of players to show up. Who would want to go full speed in the Consolation Bowl? Third place games only work in less violent sports.
Yeah, it’s all about the injuries. No one watches the Pro Bowl because it’s not real football, it’s an injury avoidance festival. And they still had to move it to Hawaii just to get a decent number of players to show up. Who would want to go full speed in the Consolation Bowl? Third place games only work in less violent sports.
I think the injury threat is huge in football, so it might be hard. But if the right incentives were there, you might get players and teams to agree. Money for the players, with more going to the winners of the consolation game. And what if the team that won got to draft before the team that lost the consolation game? Or let the winner of the consolation game choose their bye week for the next year?
I think the injury threat is huge in football, so it might be hard. But if the right incentives were there, you might get players and teams to agree. Money for the players, with more going to the winners of the consolation game. And what if the team that won got to draft before the team that lost the consolation game? Or let the winner of the consolation game choose their bye week for the next year?