Legendary insider shares concerns about future of NFL

Legendary media personality Peter King retired as a full-time NFL insider this past winter but remains passionate about the league and the overall state of the sport.

During a recent conversation with Michael Grant of Awful Announcing, King discussed what worries him about the future of North America's most popular sports entity.

"I think it’s terrible that the NFL wants to play 18 games," King explained. "I think it’s terrible, as Mike Florio (of Pro Football Talk and NBC Sports) has reported, that there are those in the NFL who want to play 20. You’ve got to be incredibly naive to think that’s not going to have an impact on their (players') long-term health."

It is now hardly a secret that the NFL could try to get a deal done with the NFL Players Association regarding an 18-game regular season as soon as early next year. Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated said as recently as Monday that the union should "ask for guys to get to free agency after three years rather than four" and work to make it more difficult for teams to use franchise tags to retain players before it accepts any proposal for an altered schedule.

The NFLPA must agree to an expanded season per the terms of the collective bargaining agreement that expires in 2031.

"The other thing that worries me is sports gambling," King continued. "I think it’s extremely shortsighted to be selling your soul for more millions. You ask about football in 10 years. What about society in 10 years? Will Gamblers Anonymous have 10 times the number of (addicts) in 10 years than it has now because of sports gambling? Will there be kids addicted in high school who go to college and flunk out of college because all they care about is the next bet?"

For the 2023 season, the NFL had direct partnerships with multiple betting outlets that involved those companies advertising during games and during NFL RedZone broadcasts. In February, Jenny Vrentas noted for the New York Times that the NFL's working agreements with sports betting companies were "worth nearly $1B over five years."

"Maybe (I’m) an alarmist," King continued. "I have no proof. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I can see it happening."

King may be right, but the harsh truth of the matter is that the NFL reportedly is "pulling out every couch cushion looking for every spare quarter" to generate as much annual revenue as possible. In short, fans can expect the league to remain friendly with companies such as DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars Entertainment for the foreseeable future.