Super Bowl Domination

Chapter 77 Everyone’s Attention
Football is the number one sport in North America. Even baseball, ice hockey and basketball have all taken a back seat. It has a far-leading market share and is the absolute king.

And it's not just the NFL's professional competitions, the NCAA's college competitions also have unparalleled dominance, making other professional leagues jealous.

Numbers don’t lie.

The season opener of "Crimson Tide vs. Trojans" not only set a new record for the number of spectators on site, but the ABC TV ratings also easily exceeded 20 million.

It is now 2016. The rise of online on-demand content and the diversification of entertainment life such as social networks have led to a decline in TV ratings across the board. The ratings of dramas, sports events and talk shows are all facing a downward trend. An audience of million has become an important threshold.

However, under such circumstances, the NCAA's 2016 season opener still attracted more than million viewers, far surpassing all other programs.

result!

In such a focus battle, it is a stranger who swaggers onto the front pages of major newspapers and media and becomes the darling topic on social networks?

A completely unfamiliar face.

Moreover, it is an Asian face!
What's going on?

Although the warm-up game of the spring training camp was broadcast live on ESPN and did attract a lot of attention to Levi, it was ultimately just a warm-up game with limited reference value and subsequent impact. The name and face of "Levi" are still unfamiliar in the football world.

Levi didn't understand them, and they didn't understand Levi either—

Running in both directions, perfect!
But now, the situation is completely different. In the season opener, Levi decided the game with his own ability and was undoubtedly the most shining player.

"177 yards, three touchdowns."

When people read this data, their eyes light up. This is indeed a dominant performance, enough to make everyone's heart beat faster.

When people read the note, "only played in the first half", their excitement turned into madness, their brains froze, and they completely lost the ability to think.

So, who is he?
Not only the NCAA, but the NFL has also been paying attention to him. A player who can advance 177 yards and score three touchdowns in one half is definitely a heavyweight; but more importantly, this player does not appear in any of the professional teams' scouting reports, which is absolutely intolerable.

The draft is crucial to the NFL.

Because football teams have a large number of players and are subject to the restriction of a hard salary cap, it is neither practical nor possible to rely solely on the free market to build a competitive lineup. They must rely on the draft. High-quality and low-priced rookies are the direction of the team's development, and relying on rookie bonuses to win the championship is the mainstream.

Naturally, the draft is a top priority for the team every year.

But now, a dominant player emerges and they know nothing about it?
Unforgivable!

Even though it's just one game now, and even though the new season hasn't started yet and the teams aren't sure whether they'll need this player next year, they at least need to have the information.

Even if the player is not signed by your own team, you should know whether the rookie signed by the opponent is a good or bad one.

In an era where information is king, having no information means falling behind and being passive, and professional leagues are well aware of this.

however!
But now there is a new star popping out from between the rocks?

In the hustle and bustle, all eyes were focused on it.

That simple and rough player information that shows the beauty of blank space appeared on the desks of team managers and head coaches of NFL teams at the speed of light.

It is no exaggeration to say that all 32 professional teams are included.

however--

In less than three seconds, more than half of the team put down the information and looked away with boredom. The mood that was just high and cheerful instantly dropped to the freezing point.

The reason is very simple: "Position: running back."

Just this one keyword is enough to make them lose interest and they are even unwilling to take a second look.

This is a reality and also a dilemma.

The specific situation requires in-depth analysis, and the complex historical causes are not that simple, but overall it can be summarized into two points.

First, alliance trends.

In the 1980s and 1990s, running backs were the core of every team, with an importance equal to that of quarterbacks. Ground offense and passing offense divided the world equally. Some teams even maintained their fine traditions and relied mainly on ground offense, so the status of running backs naturally could not be underestimated.

After entering the millennium, the league modified a series of rules and increased quarterback retention efforts on the grounds of "preventing injuries." Although this reason is indeed true, the real reason behind it is still television broadcast revenue.

After all, compared to the cumbersome and slow positional assault of ground attack, in the 21st century where the pace of life is getting faster and faster and visual stimulation is getting duller and duller, the gorgeousness and excitement of passing offense is like a galactic battleship, which can win the applause of the audience, which is somewhat similar to the development of football.

In the past, there were many top teams that were known for their defense, but gradually, fans preferred offense over defense, so that the value of offensive players rose sharply.

Although the situations are not exactly the same, the essence is similar.

After the league modified the rules, more and more space was given to passing the ball, and the difficulty of opening up the situation through passing offense decreased. The team's tactical manual also slowly began to shift. After 2010, it fully entered the "passing offense era", and it has only intensified with the passage of time.

Naturally, the quarterback and related positions of the passing offense have risen, such as wide receivers and offensive guards.

The running back, on the other hand, is the victim.

Ground offense is not valued in every team, and the value and status of running backs have plummeted.

Second, the injury situation.

While every position in football except the quarterback must take numerous hits as part of the game, no position is like the running back.

Running backs must constantly use their bodies to withstand impacts and open up new territory, so running backs have become the position with the highest consumption rate in football.

According to statistics, the average career lifespan of all positions in the NFL is 3.3 years, while running backs only have 2.57 years, ranking last among all positions.

While those legendary running backs at the Hall of Fame level have longer career lifespans, their peak form is often only three to four years. Even if they are not injured, they will begin to decline due to a decline in their physical functions.

What's more, countless legendary running backs have fallen from grace due to injuries.

In other words, the price/performance ratio is not high.

If a team signs a running back with a super high annual salary, but he gets injured in the second year, then this salary is a bad debt and the salary cap space is wasted.

Combining the two situations, coupled with various other reasons, the development space left for running backs in the league has become increasingly bumpy.

In fact, truly excellent head coaches all know:
Without ground offense, the passing offense cannot open up the situation; without excellent running backs, the offensive tactics cannot be effectively promoted.

However, reality is so cruel.

So much so that when the team manager saw the "running back", his boiling blood cooled down.

First update.

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(End of this chapter)