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Another season of the National Football League is upon us. We will watch the exploits of highly skilled and highly-paid athletes.
If you played or watched enough, you likely know the players, plays, history, and many other facets of one of the sports’ most famous brands. Here are seven ways you can turn that knowledge into benefits.
1. Explore Sports Media Careers
If you have strong knowledge of the league, teams, coaches, and players, many newspapers, online, or television outlets can use your services. These are not just the major networks. Local or regional newspapers, radio stations, and television stations in or near NFL cities hire journalists and photographers to report on the action.
Generally, these types of jobs call for journalism, communications, or sports media-related major. Consider colleges and universities with sports media programs or access to a network of alumni who cover the NFL in various capacities.
2. Sports Betting
Betters wage an estimated $100 billion on NFL games with sportsbooks licensed by the NFL. Likely, the amount of betting on pro football runs much higher when you take into account other bookies.
With the know-how of the NFL, gamblers attempt to pick whether teams can cover margins or pull upsets. Sportsbooks post odds for Super Bowl champions and teams’ winning totals.
At Betworthy, we offer software to support sportsbooks. In 2009, our software processed over one million bets. From our Sports Betting Academy, we teach bettors how to understand odds and point spreads, the types of bets, and probabilities and even how to bet on NFL.
3. Blog About the League
Analysis, opinions, and takes abound in the sports world — especially the National Football League. With a blog, you get a platform to voice your views on the recent win or loss, game plans, personnel moves, coaching hot-seats, and suspensions from player misconduct. Indeed, one or multiple bloggers comment on each franchise. Perhaps you might find the number of blogs about the league to be countless.
If you want to benefit from blogging, unique insights prove important. Your blogs might focus on lesser-known subjects such as a receiver’s catch radius or route tree or unknowns trying to earn roster spots in training camp. Should lists interest you, blog about your opinions of the greatest players by positions and the best nicknames for teams or defenses (such as “Monsters of the Midway,” “Purple People Eaters,” and “The New York Sack Exchange”)? Better yet, drive interest in your blog through inviting comments or suggestions by your readers.
Your expertise in accounting or law might even give you a special perspective on issues in the NFL. For instance, you might be able to blog on the procedures used in civil lawsuits facing players accused of assaults or other misconduct. You might even wonder whether the league can require players to be vaccinated or tested weekly against particular diseases.
4. Join the League
The NFL and its 32 franchises offer abundant opportunities if you can’t fetch a roster spot.
With social media or other digital talents and knowledge, you may land jobs producing, distributing, and posting real-time game images. Teams look for tech and business-savvy types for digital marketing, sales of merchandise and tickets, and developing the NFL’s fantasy and other free online games. NFL.com has a searchable database of jobs with the League and teams.
Clubs and stadium concession providers hire game-day ticket takers, cashiers, and stockers for team stores, cooks, ushers, and hospitality staff. You might find positions that enhance fans’ experiences. Strong communication skills might put you in a broadcast booth, public address system, or leading game-day contests or promotions.
5. Collectibles
Hold on to those game tickets, jerseys, helmets, and trading cards.
Memorabilia from and about the National Football League can bring you high dollars. Already, nflshop.com lists a number of official collectibles such as autographed helmets of future Hall of Fame quarterbacks, first-round draft picks, autographed footballs, and collages.
A sports memorabilia shop may have a strong interest in tickets or game programs from a conference championship game or super bowl, especially if it involves a local, regional team. eBay even has a guide for you to get current data on selling prices and demand for particular NFL collectibles.
6. Make the Calls
You stomp your feet at the blown pass interference call, missed holding or all sides, and any other myriad of what you believe to be officiating mistakes. Perhaps you think these have cost your favorite team a win.
By watching games or perhaps even playing football, you think you’re in a position to second-guess coaches’ play calls. You might think that throwing on fourth and one seems unwise.
Even if you don’t coach or officiate in the NFL, plenty of high school or youth programs offer to coach and officiating positions. As a game official, you mostly work on the evenings of late weekdays. Friday night is a very popular time for officials. If you coach, your hours and days are more numerous as you run practices, conduct film sessions, and meet other coaching obligations.
7. Become a Fantasy GM or Coach
Nearly 60 million people in the United States play fantasy sports on a daily basis. Forty million players participate in fantasy football. The National Football League maintains an official fantasy football site. You can play there and online through many sports networks. Fantasy sports brands also run these leagues and, for a fee, you can play for the chance to win money.
Fantasy football puts you in the chair of the owner or general manager. You join a league and “draft” players. As with real teams, you have a salary cap of sorts. Your team’s score turns on the stats that players generate within the real games. For instance, you might want your fantasy team’s quarterback to throw for plenty of yards and touchdowns against the defense of the team for which you are a fan. Imagine the divided loyalties.
With the rise of fantasy football has come sports studio shows, online sites, blogs, and other analysts devoted to helping you fill your fantasy roster. These resources profile players’ completion percentages, yards per carry, yards per catch, touchdowns, sacks, 40-speeds, and other physical attributes. Analysts may tell you how they match against anticipated defenses.
