In retrospect, W&J was a Republican college -- but a "Country Club Republican" one.
That, and I'm pretty sure he has a building there named after him at this point.
Posted on 10/17/2025 1:14:14 PM PDT by nickcarraway
During the past eight or nine years, many football fans have wondered: Is the NFL favoring the Kansas City Chiefs? Why do Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs always seem to get bailed out with a penatly flag against the other team?
No, you are not being paranoid or a delusional. Actually, science and research suggest you might be on to something.
Research done by a team at UTEP presents evidence that the Chiefs have benefited from slanted officiating from 2015 to 2023, a time that coincided with their rise as one of the NFL’s most marketable franchises.
Published in the journal Financial Review, the study provides “one of the clearest empirical looks at how financial pressures can influence real-time rule enforcement,” the UTEP research team said.
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“Our findings suggest that when the league’s financial health is at stake, rule enforcement may subtly shift to protect market appeal,” said Spencer Barnes Ph.D., assistant professor of finance in UTEP’s Woody L. Hunt College of Business and the lead author of the study. “The fact that postseason penalties consistently favored one franchise, while similar dynasties showed no such pattern, points to the powerful role of financial incentives in shaping supposedly neutral decisions.”
The study shows that during the playoffs, which the research team identified as the NFL’s most commercially valuable period, penalties against opposing defenses of the Chiefs’ offense were significantly more likely to result in first downs, cover more yardage and fall into subjective categories such as roughing the passer or pass interference.
Importantly, these effects were absent from the Tom Brady–era New England Patriots and other recent Super Bowl contenders, suggesting the phenomenon is unique to Kansas City’s emergence as a television ratings powerhouse, the study found.
This, Spencer said, may be the result of financial pressures on the league stemming from the sharp decline in TV viewership and ratings during 2015–2017 seasons, just before Mahomes became the Chiefs’ starting quarterback. Those seasons were marked by controversy over racial issues, most notably San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick kneeing during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racism.
The implications extend beyond football, the research team says. The study draws parallels to financial markets, corporate governance and regulatory agencies, where dominant players may enjoy advantages not because of explicit corruption, but because institutions under pressure adapt to preserve stability and revenue.
“This research not only deepens our understanding of sports governance, but also illustrates a larger societal concern: When financial pressure weighs heavily, impartiality can erode,” said John Hadjimarcou, Ph.D., dean of UTEP’s Woody L. Hunt College of Business. “Spencer’s work demonstrates the power of academic inquiry to reveal hidden dynamics that affect fairness, competition and trust in institutions.”
The Gruden affair smells, too.
After the three super bowls Dallas won I believe jones made a deal to make Dallas the permanent Charlie Brown vs Lucy of nfl football.
There is no way the most expensive sports franchise on the planet can go 30 years without even an NFC championship without some deal. Cowboys are heavily penalized. Similarly SMU was the most penalized team in college football after they bought their way into the ACC. Andy yes ideology is also part of it.
Had occasion to watch Monday nights game Bears vs. woke Redskins. There were some strange calls going against the Bears at crucial times. It was the first football game I’ve watched in years, and after that spectacle I was reminded why that is. Won’t be watching again.
They used to be in the 1970’s. CBS regularly featured them as the premier 4:00 Sunday game.
Who?
The Cowboys.
There is no Redskins.
What happened?
Its called gambling..games,even plays are fixed..or does no one remember the seahawk giving the “up” sign to the defensive guy so the seahawk player could dive under him and score a td.
When was this?
You don’t say?/s
Really, was just being sarcastic using Redskins instead of woke Commanders.
Oh please. That’s all BS rumors from BS liars looking for clicks. Meanwhile, back in reality, anybody who believes they hate each other is a moron. You’re smarter than that. Use your brain.
They are ABSOLUTELY the prestige team. Sports is not like TV shows. To be a prestige TEAM you need to be popular, make money. The Cowboys do that. They are, in spite of the fact that Jones is the worst GM in the league, hugely popular and make gigantic tons of money, and go on prime time all the time. Are the Cowboys are the DEFINITION of prestige sports team in America. 2nd only to ManU globally.
Post season gets ratings no matter what. And that sentence goes counter to the rest. It says KC has been getting favorable treatment since Mahomes became the starter. They didn’t become a “ratings powerhouse” until his 4th season, their back to back trip to the superbowl, which they lost. So at least one of those sentences must be a lie. Here, let me let you in on it: the whole damned thing is a lie.
The NFL, like all sports, makes its money on unpredictable results. That’s what keeps fan engagement high. Which drives the ratings. And yes even the gambling. Putting their thumb would be bad for business. That would make the sport predictable, that would kill engagement, and revenue. That would turn them into the WWE, which makes 5% of the money the NFL does. So if you want to talk about financial pressure influencing anything, clearly the financial pressure is on NOT influencing things. Let the random happen. The random has had NFL revenue growing at least 5% a year every year since Fox bought their first NFL contract 30 years ago (actually even longer). INCLUDING in the 2015 to 2017 years this article says were down.
In retrospect, W&J was a Republican college -- but a "Country Club Republican" one.
That, and I'm pretty sure he has a building there named after him at this point.
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