Each year when something unusual happens NFL fans get a sneaking suspicion that the league itself is scripted.
This is especially true when the games favour big markets or star players.
Unfortunately for all the conspiracy theorists out there, the NFL is not scripted. Each of the players and coaches in the NFL is trying their best to win games each Sunday.
If a very strange result happens on the football field this is due to chance and not some higher power controlling the outcome.
Though one thing NFL cans may be concerned about is tanking games on purpose. This can be done by fielding a poor team which will not accumulate many wins, though this is not the same as the NFL being rigged.
There are several reasons why the NFL itself does not script its games.
Why the NFL is not rigged
Too many people in on the conspiracy
One of the main reasons why the NFL is not scripted is because there would simply be way too many people involved in this conspiracy without it getting out to the general public.
Many NFL fans seems to believe that the players themselves are involved in the rigging of games. There are tons of NFL players in the league and there is also an incredibly high turnover rate.
With new players coming in each year the NFL would have to convince all of these players to keep this a secret throughout their life.
Many NFL players have gone off the deep end and thrown shots at the NFL and players involved in the league but never have they claimed they have been told to throw or win games on purpose.
Additionally, NFL is given contracts based on their performance on the field. Poor performances can cost these players tons of money in their upcoming contract negotiations.
If these players were told to lose a game on purpose they would have to sacrifice their performance. It is easy to see why players would not be too happy with this setup.
If it is the officials that are meant to be rigging games it is again too many people to keep quiet. Each game has several referees all of which are being recorded in high definition cameras.
Getting away with incorrect calls while millions of people at home watch the replay in slow motion is not an easy thing to do.
If the NFL were to try and fix games and get away with it they would not have the audience at home watching replays of the corrupt calls while a rules official explains whether or not it was a penalty.
Ruining the NFL’s reputation
The other reason the NFL is not rigged or fixed is the damage this would cause to the NFL’s reputation.
The main reason NFL fans believe the NFL is rigged is because of money. The issue with this theory is that exposing these fixed games would destroy the NFL’s ability to make money.
If it happened to come out that the NFL was fixing or rigging NFL games the quality of the league would be in shambles. It would no longer be the competitive high-quality sports league that it is today.
Remember the NFL is the number one sports league in the United States. Risking a massive scandal such as fixing games or shaving points means they would be risking a ton of money.
To sum it up the NFL is already in a great place, fixing games to earn more money would simply be too much risk for a product that is making tons of money as is.
Huge legal repercussions
One more factor that rules out NFL games being rigged is the legal repercussions that would be given out.
When fixing games in sports you are not only changing the outcome of the game you are changing the outcome of sports bets.
Many people across the world put a fair amount of money down on sports betting. The NFL is one of the biggest sports betting leagues in the world.
If these bettors found out that the league was rigged they would be entitled to pursue legal action against the league.
This means that anyone that is involved in the conspiracy to fix games would likely face serious legal trouble.
Risking jail time and serious fines to change the outcome of games doesn’t seem to be worthwhile for any employees of the NFL.
Now that you know the NFL doesn’t rig their games you may want to know how the NFL schedules their games or learn about the structure of the NFL.
