The NFL season is over.
Yes, I know, some so-called experts and pundits on the radio and television would claim that any "real fan" knows that the season is not over, that news continues to be made all year long, and particularly, that the NFL Combine among young hopefuls, as well as the upcoming NFL Draft, are huge news makers.
Still, when there are no games played, and will not be for many months, that means that the season is over, and this is the relatively long off-season.
Indeed, however, there is some news coming out of the NFL right now, and pretty major news, at that.
The first and most notable piece of news is that two franchises, the Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers, have announced plans to possibly move back to Los Angeles (both teams used to be located there at different times in franchise histories). They have announced possibly intentions to jointly build a stadium that they would share together, much like the Giants and Jets share MetLife Stadium in east Rutherford, New Jersey (host stadium of Super Bowl XLVIII). The stadium would be located in Carson, California, just outside of Los Angeles.
Los Angeles is, of course, the second largest city in the United States. Yet, it has famously been without an NFL team since the end of the 1994 season, when the two then existing Los Angeles franchises - the Raiders and the Rams, both relocated. Both franchises have been weighing their options to a possible relocation back to Los Angeles, and the discussion extended also to the San Diego Chargers. There was even some speculation about a few other franchises, particularly the Minnesota Vikings and the Jacksonville Jaguars making moves out west. In Minnesota, however, a stadium deal was reached to keep the Vikings in Minnesota.
Some other news in the league has involved the already tumultuous off-season for the Cleveland Browns, a franchise that always seems to be troubled and perennially in a state of confusion. they are mired in a controversy regarding texting during games. If this had been the New England patriots, the story would have exploded and been all over the news (and not just sports news, apparently). But, since it is the Cleveland Browns, and it never helps them to be even serious playoff contenders, let alone title contenders, nobody seems to take notice, let alone care. General Manager Ray Farmer did offer an apology over the scandal.
Of course, there is also the matter of star quarterback Johnny Manziel, who checked himself into a substance abuse clinic, amid a swirl of controversy and debate about his future.
Perhaps to try and remedy all of this bad news, or at least to deflect some attention away from it, the Browns have decided to make some changes. They announced that they will change their current logos (which presently is simply the image of their plain orange helmets). They will also change their jerseys, although I am not sure that is wise. The Browns are one of those old, established franchises with conventional jerseys and overall uniforms that have changed minimally over the course of the decades. It might behoove them to retain that much tradition, at least (although admittedly, I personally am not a huge fan of uniform changes for the older franchises like this).
Before I dismiss this, let's see what it will look like. The new logo and uniforms are set to be revealed on Tuesday, two days from today.
Here are a couple of links to interesting sites regarding these two pieces of news concerning the NFL:
2 NFL teams just shocked everyone by deciding to build a shared $1.7 billion stadium right outside LA Business Insider By Cork Gaines February 20, 2015
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/nfl-suddenly-too-many-teams-152349367.html
Cleveland Browns to unveil new logo by Courtney Danser, Feb 18, 2015
http://www.newsnet5.com/sports/browns/cleveland-browns-to-unveil-new-logo
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