There’s a rumor that I’ve picked up on from a good friend who is fairly high up in the NFL organization that the NFL is considering creating and owning a team of it’s own.

This idea is getting tossed around because a lot of people have been emailing and writing letters directly to Roger Goodell complaining about the high cost of football tickets.  Apparently this has been going on for several years and the NFL notes that the price of tickets continues to go up (at least for the good teams).  And since the economy has taken such a hit in the last year, the NFL feels the need to take action.

What they are considering is to force franchise teams to cut the prices of their less desirable seats (3rd level around entire field) by 25-50% in exchange for subsidies from the profits of the NFL owned team.  In fact, the primary purpose of the new team would be to create revenue simply for these subsidies so that the franchise teams wouldn’t take such a hit on the lower priced seats.

Now of course this has been met with quite a bit of controversy among franchise owners who are worried that no one team can generate enough revenue to subsidize this many seats across the entire NFL.  They contend that they will have to raise the prices of all their lower level and box seats to help cover the cost, which could cause season ticket sales to go down, which is the primary way they sell tickets.  They will in effect be taking a hit.

They are also concerned about the inherent conflict of interest in the NFL owning a team, especially when it comes to refereeing the game – as the referees are hired and paid directly by the NFL.  In order for the non-franchise team to make money, they will need to win games.  The NFL says that the referees would act neutrally as they always have and not in the interest of any team.  But the owners still contend that if the non-franchise team doesn’t win enough games then fans will lose interest and the team will struggle to make a profit which will leave them to pass on the higher costs to the fans purchasing the better seats.

Still, the NFL believes this is the only way to make ticket prices more affordable. They believe that for many teams this will cause an increase in attendance which will also help cover the costs of the lower priced seats.

Now if this idea really bothers you, as a football fan or not, well it should.  In fact you should find this unbelievable.  Really.  But what should bother you much more than this football fiction is that this is happening right now with the current health care reform proposal in congress.  If the democrats get their way, the federal government will essentially “own their own team” (ie. public health care) and they will also set the rules of the game, in effect causing a major conflict of interest. The government will be able to do whatever they want to the private sector and there will be no one to stop it.

And according to the CBO they can’t pay for it without passing the costs on to you.  Just imagine having to pay alot more for that football ticket.  In fact, you might choose to stay home and watch it on tv, which would cause the ticket prices  to go up even more if enough people do that.  It’s a vicious cycle that ends in a bunch of unhappy people and potentially the failure of the NFL.

If the government competes in health care, everyone loses.

The daily and hourly graphs below for Thursday July 16, 2009 are percentages of viewers in both the demo and total viewers. The graphs below use data from TVNewser.com.

All Networks Head to Head – Daily:

All Networks Head to Head – Hourly:

Current Players:

FOX: Glenn Beck

CNN: Wolf Blitzer

MSNBC: Chris Matthews

HLN: Prime Time News

Current Players:

FOX: Brett Bair

CNN: Wolf Blitzer

MSNBC: The Ed Show

HLN: Prime Time News

Current Players:

FOX: Shepard Smith

CNN: Lou Dobbs

MSNBC: Chris Matthews

HLN: Jane Velez-Mitchell

Current Players:

FOX: Bill O’Reilly

CNN: Campbell Brown

MSNBC: Keith Olbermann

HLN: Nancy Grace

Current Players:

FOX: Sean Hannity

CNN: Larry King Live

MSNBC: Rachel Maddow

HLN: Lou Dobbs

Current Players:

FOX: Greta Van Susteren

CNN: Anderson Cooper

MSNBC: Keith Olbermann

HLN: Nancy Grace

Let me give this some context. House Democrats, specifically Rep. Nick Rahall (D-West Virginia), proposed and got passed a 700 million dollar amendment to not only prevent the destruction of wild horses, but to also give them millions more acres of land on which to roam and it also provides enhanced contraception to limit the growth of these herds. This amendment is in response to the Interior department proposing to kill thousands of healthy horses to cull the herds and prevent overgrazing.

House Republicans, specifically Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Washington) has proposed a substitute amendment that the democrats proposed 2 years ago, and it only costs $500,000. It will prevent the destruction of the while horses, yet doesn’t include the millions of acres of land and enhanced contraception. Of course the House Democrats reject this amendment based on the fact that it doesn’t do enough.

Then steps in John Boehner. He does such a fine job that there’s really no need for me to elaborate more.

The daily and hourly graphs below for Wednesday July 15, 2009 are percentages of viewers in both the demo and total viewers. The graphs below use data from TVNewser.com.

All Networks Head to Head – Daily:

All Networks Head to Head – Hourly:

Current Players:

FOX: Glenn Beck

CNN: Wolf Blitzer

MSNBC: Chris Matthews

HLN: Prime Time News

Current Players:

FOX: Brett Bair

CNN: Wolf Blitzer

MSNBC: The Ed Show

HLN: Prime Time News

Current Players:

FOX: Shepard Smith

CNN: Lou Dobbs

MSNBC: Chris Matthews

HLN: Jane Velez-Mitchell

Current Players:

FOX: Bill O’Reilly

CNN: Campbell Brown

MSNBC: Keith Olbermann

HLN: Nancy Grace

Current Players:

FOX: Sean Hannity

CNN: Larry King Live

MSNBC: Rachel Maddow

HLN: Lou Dobbs

Current Players:

FOX: Greta Van Susteren

CNN: Anderson Cooper

MSNBC: Keith Olbermann

HLN: Nancy Grace

The daily and hourly graphs below for Monday July 13, 2009 are percentages of viewers in both the demo and total viewers. The graphs below use data from TVNewser.com.

All Networks Head to Head – Daily:

All Networks Head to Head – Hourly:

Current Players:

FOX: Glenn Beck

CNN: Wolf Blitzer

MSNBC: Chris Matthews

HLN: Prime Time News

Current Players:

FOX: Brett Bair

CNN: Wolf Blitzer

MSNBC: The Ed Show

HLN: Prime Time News

Current Players:

FOX: Shepard Smith

CNN: Lou Dobbs

MSNBC: Chris Matthews

HLN: Jane Velez-Mitchell

Current Players:

FOX: Bill O’Reilly

CNN: Campbell Brown

MSNBC: Keith Olbermann

HLN: Nancy Grace

Current Players:

FOX: Sean Hannity

CNN: Larry King Live

MSNBC: Rachel Maddow

HLN: Lou Dobbs

Current Players:

FOX: Greta Van Susteren

CNN: Anderson Cooper

MSNBC: Keith Olbermann

HLN: Nancy Grace

No this isn’t a hit piece by MSNBC on the ineffectiveness of the stimulus program.  This piece was about justifying the Obama admin’s veiled threat of denying stimulus money to Arizona over Sen. Kyle’s lack of faith in spending the rest of the non-contracted stimulus money.  Which by the way, it wasn’t a threat at all – Sen. Kyle just got out maneuvered.

But is it surprising that on one hand Fineman can defend the stimulus and then on the other hand roundly criticize Republicans for their lack of faith in a poorly designed stimulus program – all the while noting that not much money had been spent yet, which was in fact one of Kyle’s criticisms of the program?  I do wonder though, if Olbermann had been doing the interview, would he have let Fineman’s comment go untouched?

Enjoy the hypocrisy.

With the recent passing of TOTUS, I decided to put together some great moments between POTUS and TOTUS.

The daily and hourly graphs below for Monday July 13, 2009 are percentages of viewers in both the demo and total viewers. The graphs below use data from TVNewser.com.

All Networks Head to Head – Daily:

All Networks Head to Head – Hourly:

Current Players:

FOX: Glenn Beck

CNN: Wolf Blitzer

MSNBC: Chris Matthews

HLN: Prime Time News

Current Players:

FOX: Brett Bair

CNN: Wolf Blitzer

MSNBC: The Ed Show

HLN: Prime Time News

Current Players:

FOX: Shepard Smith

CNN: Lou Dobbs

MSNBC: Chris Matthews

HLN: Jane Velez-Mitchell

Current Players:

FOX: Bill O’Reilly

CNN: Campbell Brown

MSNBC: Keith Olbermann

HLN: Nancy Grace

Current Players:

FOX: Sean Hannity

CNN: Larry King Live

MSNBC: Rachel Maddow

HLN: Lou Dobbs

Current Players:

FOX: Greta Van Susteren

CNN: Anderson Cooper

MSNBC: Keith Olbermann

HLN: Nancy Grace

In fact, he believes we should have done this a long time ago but due to our pusillanimous attitude our hands have been tied.

I’m always impressed by Liz Cheney’s knowlege and experience, though she hasn’t served as an elected official.  And of course her honesty always leads to a good interview.  Here’s a quote from the interview:

“I think it means that people have got to question how much President Obama’s word is really worth…”