Response to Criticisms of Project Mayhem Task #7

Not surprisingly, in the wake of Roger Goodell's comments last week, WDR has gotten some criticism on Project Mayhem Task #7.  While of course others are entitled to their opinion, WDR disagrees and continues to encourage readers to print and send this letter to NFL Commissioner Goodell. 

Letter to NFL Commissioner

Sending letters to the NFL and complaining about Mike Brown is an obvious step that has to be taken.  Lawsuits have already been filed.  Numerous letters have been written to Mike Brown.  Other measures have been taken.  But no one has complained to the National Football League.  WDR is about invoking change and to do that, we are using all avenues.  The NFL is obviously one of those avenues.  Writing and sending these letters to the NFL Commissioner is much more effective than calling up talk radio shows to complain, participating in discussion forums or doing what most people do...nothing.  WDR is taking any and all pro-active steps necessary to bring change to our team. 

Also, we didn't just send the letters to Roger Goodell.  We sent them to the NFL owners as well.  The thought is to try to have other owners put pressure on Mike Brown (or request that Goodell do so).  While the other owners work hard, sacrifice and invest in their teams with an eye towards winning a Super Bowl, Mike Brown still profits from their investments despite having amassed the worst record in professional sports during his tenure and not making similar investments in his team.  Even with a sweetheart stadium deal and revenue sharing from other teams whose owners invest much more in their teams, Mike Brown doesn't take that extra revenue and put it in his team.  He pockets it.

There are two points to the letter.  Obviously, one is to explain to Mr. Goodell that Mike Brown is taking advantage of the revenue sharing plan, which hurts the 31 other NFL owners.  Secondly, by copying the owners, the hope is that they also take issue with Mike Brown's behavior and bring it up to Mr. Goodell or discuss it at the NFL Owners' meeting.  While some might wonder why the other teams in the NFL would want the Bengals to get better because they are an easy win, there is more to it.  Sure the AFC North enjoys the fact that they get two easy games a year.  But no other franchise gets that guarantee.  And even more importantly, from the other owners' financial perspective, Mike Brown takes from them without giving anything back.  The fact that the Bengals have less of a chance each year to compete is trivial compared to the amount of financial support the rest of the NFL gives Mike Brown.  In other words, why should Jerry Jones, Bob Kraft, The Rooneys, Art Modell, Arthur Blank, the Tisch/Mara Group, Dan Snider, etc. bust their asses to make money for the rest of the league, create a winner and and strengthen the NFL brand when Mike Brown is just reaping the benefits, mooching off of the profits while tarnishing the NFL brand? 

Finally, quite simply...what does it cost to print and send the letter to Mr. Goodell?  42 cents, the price of 3 pieces of paper and an envelope.  The cost is low.  It is unlikely that one single task is going to force change.  As we mentioned, multiple avenues need to be taken and voicing complaints to the NFL and the other owners is an obvious one.  Only people en masse getting behind us and our ideas will force necessary change.  Task #7 is another step to achieving that goal.
 

Comments

[K. Phelps]

Like I said, I like the idea of going over Mike Brown's head, and I've already sent my letter just incase. I'm just not sure how well this one will work, I don't trust Goodell for shit, of course, your right, we don't have anything to lose, I'm just skeptical on how well this is going to work.

Basing this off of time after time of seeing Goodell fuck up the NFL about as bad... well not quite as bad... as Mike Brown fucked up the Bengals.

At least with Goodell there is a good chance that his successor will bring change to everything that he has screwed up.

[Thom Tadsen]

I think this is great idea. What is the old metric, for every person who writes a letter, that person represents 1000 people or something like that? This action alone will not will force a reaction from Mike Brown, but like the smallest of blows to a mighty oak if repeated enough, the oak will fall.

[Ho Chi Maier]

Task #7 is great idea. If WDR fans pull their weight there should be over 1000 letters going to Goodell's office. Smart money says he has never received anywhere near that number of identical letters demanding change. By Thom Tadsen's metrics that is over 100,000 fans regularly pouring dollar bills into the league, "mavens" if you will. Well worth 2 minutes of Rodger's day; he has to read at least one. WDR is not demanding a fully fueled jet to a non-extradition compliant country. Our demands are rational and in the interest of everyone financially involved in the league. #7 makes sense, letter sent. In WDR I trust.

[Ho Chi Maier]

and by 100,000 i mean 1,000,0000

[WC]

OK! I get to play the part of Mike Brown... 'You want me to do what? Rog? Oh, ok, that's good. Well let me get back to you...' Ring Ring! "Hello? is the the Department of Justice? Hang, uh hang, hang on a second, I want to conference you with Mr. Dodd over in the Senate. Uh, Yeah, uh Hey uh there's this little matter of the Sherman Act -- you know the Antitrust Act that the NFL has an exemption to and Mr. Dodd has made hints at wanting to 're-examine' wink wink nudge nudge over the past years when he was pushing his communist dictum bullshit when Democrats controlled Congress up until the early 1980's! Well, anyway, I want to conference one more person in on this call... Katie? Katie? Get Roger Goodell on the phone will ya? What do you mean he won't come to the phone? What? He's hiding? Under his desk? Really? Well I think we can cancel this call don't ya think? Thank you DOJ and Senator Dodd!'

IOW,you are dealing with stuff that you have no idea of its impsrt or how far it ranges.

[Hofbraunow]

I know I've posted similar to this already, but really, both the content of the WDR blog, and the WDR projects really are getting much better...it's really awesome

[Hofbraunow]

p.s.

¡VIVA!

[shoot coward! you're only going to kill a man...]

i'm with a couple of the other comrades. just boycott giving mike brown any money. simple. don't go to the games. don't buy jerseys. don't buy sunday ticket packages. don't buy decals. don't buy stickers, sheets, posters, and birthday plates. and heckle the people who do.

take as much energy as goes into this other stuff and get groups together to hit the street with some informative literature that can convince others to just turn off the money. usually this kind of stuff happens when a team goes south anyway, but if we could engineer a mass "walk-out" as the season ends, it might get the media attention some of you seem to crave and be a legitimate threat to mike brown's interests.

i'm thinking something like the scene in 'rudy' where everyone comes in and lays down their jersey so rudy can have a spot...have people lined up down by the pro-shop with channel 5 covering, and have them walk up to a desk with an empty "absentee" owner's chair, and lay down their bengals jerseys of players past/misplaced/miguided and say, "this one's for cincy, mike"...another idea could be going all crazy bible-belt red-state and steam-roll bengals knick-knacks....for the last game of the year, you could have food drives where you get people to donate food for the holiday with a separate donation of something a fan could eat at the game instead of them buying refreshments from mike brown....or a pledge signed by people that they will keep the last game of the year a "buzz-free" day by refusing to buy beer symbolizing the need for clear heads and an alert approach to this offseason (which might actually build a little positive talk about the team....)

the part about the letter that makes sense is the idea that some of the other owners might begin to question the idea of giving mike brown free/easy money while his lack of effort is regressive to their work to earn more money. again, since money is all these institutions are interested in, then it might motivate the other owners as well as this owner to take some definitive changes of course.

live!