As the NFL has gotten more and more popular, more and more cameras and microphones are swarming the field before, during, and after games, hopeful to catch pictures and/or sounds that can be used either during game coverage on TV, on the ever-growing video screens at the stadium, or for one of the various NFL Films productions.
Some players don’t like that. Specifically, one of the best players in the NFL despises it.
“I hate it,” Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers told Dan Patrick on Tuesday. “I don’t like it at all.”
The problem for Rodgers is the volume of recording devices.
“It’s too much access,” Rodgers said. “There’s too much access. A couple of games ago I got bumped in the head by a camera guy trying to get into a pregame huddle. I’m just like, ‘What are you doing?’”
Rodgers pointed out that, given the salty language of a pregame huddle, there’s little of what is said that can be used. The postgame routine entails another layer of challenges.
“After a game, they rush you, and I’m just trying to go see somebody I might know on the other team,” Rodgers said. “I just think the access if over the top. . . . What conversations are private now on the field? I’d say just about none. . . . I understand that our game is so popular because of some of this access, but I just feel like there should be some conversations left on the field.”
He’s right, but it doesn’t matter to the NFL. Every image or utterance becomes something that potentially can be used to entertain fans and in turn to further strengthen the bond that keeps them coming back for more.