Romo on NFL's halt of NFFC: Makes you think it's about money
Jeffrey Kahn -
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo headlines the National Fantasy Football Convention, an event that's supposed to give fans copious amounts access to NFL players over a three-day weekend in Las Vegas.
Unfortunately on Friday, the NFL decided to cancel the Vegas event claiming that "Players and NFL personnel may not participate in the promotional activities or other appearances at or in connection with events that are held at or sponsored by casinos." Seeing that the NFFC was going to take place at the Sands Expo Center, a property owned by a casino with no on-site gambling, the NFL's halt of the event was very confusing to Romo and those involved.
"The NFL never called me, my agency, or the NFFC," Romo said Tuesday on ESPN Radio's the Herd with Colin Cowherd. "They just went about the process of communicating to the players and the NFLPA. I think you understand that the NFL was really trying to not necessarily cancel the event, they were trying to probably persuade people not to attend the event. It's like when you're in high school and don't get invited to the party, it makes you feel bad. If [the NFL] really wanted to be a part of it, all they had to do was call and ask."
It must be somewhat embarrassing for the NFL to cancel such an extravagant event that gives fans unreal access to their favorite players. Not only was Romo going to in attendance, but superstars such as Dez Bryant, Rob Gronkowski, Antonio Brown, Julio Jones, DeMarco Murray, Jason Witten and the list goes on and on.
"Obviously the disappointing thing now is that the NFL had known about it when we started and they waited until a month before (to cancel)," Romo said. "That obviously doesn't sit well with the players or the fans and that's the disappointing part about this right now."
Romo was all for making the event happen this year. Las Vegas or not, he wanted to give fans an experience they would never forget. And the NFL handled their cancellation process in a very suspicious manner.
"If we would have known about the issue of the event [in Las Vegas] or we thought that was something that could have been an issue, the NFL could have told us that right away. And that's where it makes it interesting.
"I called the NFLPA because the Players Association had received a call from the NFL expressing the fining or the suspending of the players. We didn't quite understand what the NFL was doing since they hadn't yet to call us, or call me who is putting on the event or my agency. It may (have been) a scare tactic with the players."
So why did the NFL wait this long to bring up these rules to eventually cancel the event? Obviously, to not give the NFFC a chance to reschedule for this year. Players have other appearances they commit to over summer so it makes it near difficult to just pick out another weekend to get everyone together. Not to mention, people have been preparing for this weekend since March when it was first announced.
The NFL wasn't offered a cut of the NFFC's profits the first time around. They could easily spend the next year planning their own fantasy football event because let's face it, the NFL is really about making as much money as they can in every way.
"I wouldn't presume to know or guess what the NFL is thinking on this (cut of the money) subject," Romo said. "I do know, there's plenty of cases, that the more information that you get in front that people bring up, or make it a little silly, and that makes you think that it's sometimes about money.
"There's a club in (the Detroit Lions) field level and they just signed with the MGM Grand. We got this email that talks about how no players or NFL personnel are to be associated (with gambling). And I'm like 'well, that doesn't really make sense.' There's just far too many cases. It does make it sound like it's sometimes an issue about money which is disappointing because we were just trying to get the fans to hang out with players."
Romo brings up extremely valid points about how the NFL handles these types of situations. Evidently, the Fantasy Sports Combine with NFL players and ESPN personalities is still scheduled to take place at the Wynn Las, a casino hotel, this summer.
So, can Romo just call NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to explain the mistake(s) the NFL has made?
"I've seen Roger (Goodell) a few times. He's always been very nice. I don't know that (calling him) would do anything in this situation. I think more than anything the NFL has their stance now. They've made it known what they've wanted to do and they've went about the process not in the way that I think they should have handled it nor do I think it was the right way. When they look back, I think they'll be very disappointed in how they did. At the same time, I think that it's done as far as this season. 2016 will be great, but [this year] is over with at this point.
"It's just a very frustrating process that went down. All they had to do was literally call me or the actual even organizers at the NFFC. That never took shape, said it was about almost scaring the people attending the event. That just seems silly to me. We could have been far more mature about this and that makes me think it's just about money. And that's disappointing."
The NFFC will make its debut in Los Angeles in 2016. We'll see what the NFL does between now and then in terms of coming up with their own event. In the future, the league needs to handle these types of situations better for those involved, as difficult as that may be to ask out of the NFL.