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Nevada taxpayers shelled out $750 million to build a stadium for the soon-to-be Las Vegas Raiders — and the deal may prevent the state from being able to recoup that money by imposing new taxes on the NFL team. An unusual provision in the Raiders agreement with the state allows the team, currently playing its final seasons in Oakland, to break the lease and look for another home if Nevada attempts to impose new taxes over the next three decades on the team, stadium, fans or players. That includes visiting teams and fans as well. The provision applies to any...

The Titans — and the officiating crew — played right into the hands of the Patriots in Saturday night’s 35-14 rout of Tennessee in the AFC divisional playoff game at Gillette Stadium. The 14-3 Patriots, as defending Super Bowl champions, shouldn’t need such help. Not that they were turning it away or complaining. The first questionable call that went against the Titans came in the second quarter on a third-and-4 play from the Tennessee 27-yard line. Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota connected with former Jets receiver Eric Decker on a pass that appeared to give Tennessee a first down to keep...

The Pittsburgh Steelers and Jacksonville Jaguars are set to kick off their AFC divisional round playoff contest on Sunday as planned in spite of some terroristic threats made prior to the game. Yuttana Choochongkol, 30, reportedly sent threats to a Pittsburgh television station and the director of security for Heinz Field — the home stadium of the Steelers — indicating he was planning to do harm to many people at the game. According to a police affidavit on the arrest, a message sent Thursday to KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh read like this: “This Sunday’s playoff game in Pittsburgh is going to...

A “take a knee” rally protesting police violence is planned for Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium ahead of the Vikings playoff game against the New Orleans Saints. The group Take A Knee Nation Twin Cities says the demonstration will be in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. On Facebook, the group said that if he were alive today, the civil rights leader would be protesting police violence. The Sunday demonstration is planned for 2:30 p.m. outside the downtown Minneapolis stadium. It’s slated to go for about an hour, up until the game starts at 3:40 p.m. Over the course...

Bender's NFL Live Thread: Divisional Playoffs Saturday, Jan 13, 2018 (All times Eastern) NFC: #6 Atlanta at #1 Philadelphia 4:35pm NBC AFC: #5 Tennessee at #1 New England 8:15pm CBS Sunday, Jan 14, 2018 AFC: #3 Jacksonville at #2 Pittsburgh 1:05pm CBS NFC: #4 New Orleans at #2 Minnesota 4:40pm FOX

The revolution will be televised, that’s the word coming down from NBC executives who say they will televise any player who chooses to protest the anthem during the Super Bowl. “When you are covering a live event, you are covering what’s happening,” NBC Sports EP Fred Gaudelli told reporters at the Television Critics Association on Tuesday. “If there are players who choose to kneel, they will be shown live,” he said. Gaudelli explained that, if a player chose to protest during the anthem, NBC broadcasters Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth would likely give the players’s name, some background on the...

An interesting result, as it raises a question that isn’t often asked about declining NFL ratings. How many people are boycotting because they *agree* with the player protests? SEE ALSO: Julian Assange may be stuck in the Ecuadorean embassy… forever To think, 33 percent of NFL fans missed out on one of the worst quarterbacked playoff games of all time this past Saturday in Jacksonville. If there’s any doubt that Kaepernick’s exile from the league is due partly, or even mostly, to politics rather than ability, go watch game film of Jags/Bills and ask if either team wouldn’t have benefited...

While national anthem protests have slowed around the NFL, it has still dominated national conversation throughout this season. So what if such protests — namely kneeling — were to surface at the Super Bowl? Fred Gaudelli, the executive producer of the Super Bowl, told reporters Tuesday night that the network would indeed capture any kneeling at the game. "It was a pretty big story in our country this fall,” Gaudelli said Tuesday. “The Super Bowl is a live event, just like ‘Sunday Night Football.’ When you’re covering a live event, you’re covering whats happening. “So if there are players that...

Throughout this 2017 NFL season, television ratings have declined and fans, TV pundits, and reporters have speculated as to the biggest cause. On social media, many people railed that players protesting during the national anthem led outraged Americans to boycott. A new survey from SurveyMonkey and Ozy Media, shared first with Yahoo Finance, finds that 33% of NFL fans boycotted the league this year—but not entirely because they were outraged by the player protests. Nearly equal proportions boycotted in support of Colin Kaepernick or the protests as boycotted in support of President Trump, who vocally opposed the protests.

The NFL had a disastrous weekend when it came to ratings. Numbers have been down all season and it was more of the same for the wild-card games. The biggest surprise was that the best game (Panthers-Falcons) had the biggest decrease year over year. Yes, markets were a big factor, but that was a competitive and entertaining game. Here's the breakdown: Titans-Chiefs (14.7) was down 11 percent versus last year's Raiders-Texans game. Falcons-Rams (14.9) was down 10 percent versus last year's Lions-Seahawks game. Bills-Jaguars (17.2) was down 10 percent versus last year's Dolphins-Steelers game. Panthers-Saints (20.4) was down 21 percent...

I missed the call and didn’t think much of it. It was the last Tuesday in September of 2016. Two days before that—and after more than a year on the practice squad—I had just dressed for my first game for the Carolina Panthers. We lost to the Minnesota Vikings at home. But I was thrilled to have earned my right to be on the active roster. The missed call came from the Panthers offices, which wasn’t unusual. I knew so many people there—teammates and coaches, but also regular folks in the offices— on a first-name basis. This call, though, wasn’t...

His former team is a laughingstock — to its own fans’ admission — and he now can see the route to another team. It was a good weekend for Johnny Manziel. On Sunday, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats announced they had begun negotiations with the NFL flameout, which included the Canadian Football League squad making him an offer. Manziel has not commented directly on negotiations, but he did have some words for the 0-16 Browns. Manziel got in a dig at his former employers early Sunday morning, a day after Cleveland fans mock-celebrated the Imperfect Season with a parade. “0-16szn,” Manziel first...

Saturday's NFL Playoff games down over 10% Year over Year.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Yannick Ngakoue accused Buffalo Bills offensive lineman Richie Incognito of using racial slurs during the Jaguars' 10-3 playoff victory Sunday. Ngakoue said on Twitter that a Bills player wearing No. 64 was "goin[g] to come harder than some weak racist slurs." Ngakoue ended his tweet with the hashtag "Iaintjonathanmarin!"

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell shrugged off declining television ratings, saying the league’s games resulted in some of the highest-rated shows in 2017. "We always want ratings to go up, but we're 37 of the top 50 shows, which is higher than ever," Goodell told a small group of reporters shortly before the Jacksonville Jaguars' playoff game versus the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, according to ESPN. "We're likely to be the No. 1 show on Fox—excuse me on all of television, the Fox Sunday afternoon game. Sunday night, prime time is for the seventh year in a row the No. 1...

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell defended the league’s declining TV ratings Sunday, pointing out that 20 of the 30 highest-rated shows in 2017 were NFL games. Nielsen television ratings data backs up Goodell’s argument. NBC’s Sunday Night Football and ESPN’s Monday Night Football were the most-watched shows every week in each key male demographic. However, Nielsen’s numbers also show that NFL television ratings fell 9.7 percent during the 2017 regular season. In 2016, the ratings fell 8 percent. The average game in 2017 had 1.6 million fewer viewers than in 2016. “We always want ratings to go up, but we’re 37...

Cleveland Browns fans gathered at First Energy Stadium in Cleveland on Saturday, January 6, 2018, for the "Perfect Season Parade" after the team finished the 2017 NFL season 0-16, marking only the second time that has been achieved. DILLY DILLY !!!!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8bNoVrQf_A

Hours before NFL players across the league took a knee during the national anthem in defiance of President Trump on Sunday, one World War II veteran hosted a protest of his own — in his backyard. "These people have every right to protest," John Middlemas, a 97-year-old farmer from Springfield, Missouri, told his grandson, Brennan Gilmore, before kneeling.

It is, for now, a pipe dream that Giants fans can’t help but smoke: Bill Belichick in a blue hoodie standing on the sidelines at MetLife Stadium, chants of “Dee-Fense” erupting everywhere, reminding him of the way it was at Giants Stadium when Harry Carson owned the point of attack and Lawrence Taylor roared around the edge to terrify quarterbacks, providing cover for Eli Manning or Davis Webb or rookie Josh Rosen. SNIP But if you are the Giants … you damn well should throw it.

Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson has declared for the NFL draft after a record-setting college career that included the 2016 Heisman Trophy. Jackson, also a Heisman finalist in 2017, announced his decision Friday morning on Twitter. He's the first player in college football history to record at least 3,500 passing yards and 1,500 rushing yards in consecutive seasons, and he set Louisville records for total offense (13,175 yards), rushing yards (4,132), rushing touchdowns (50) and total touchdowns (119).