Bill Burr Went On Rich Eisen's Show And Roasted Him For Being "A Company Man" While Calling The NFL "Fixed" And Alleging The League And Refs Are Blatantly Cheating To Favor The Chiefs. And He Makes A Pretty Good Case.
Props to Burr for essentially calling Eisen a moron for defending the NFL against accusations that it bends the rules to favor the Kansas City Chiefs.
"Company man" is right.
Eisen knows where his bread is buttered, as logical and unbiased as he usually is, this is one take he will ever agree with. For obvious reasons. Ginger Satan signs his paychecks.
But gosh, it's gotta be getting exhausting carrying water for the NFL and it's blatant favoritism of Kansas City every week.
Aside from the jokes, and great analogies Burr made - the 80's hair metal hitting different in old age was too funny- Burr insisted that the league’s classification as an “entertainment” product allows it to “massage” outcomes. Especially for a franchise that’s reached the Super Bowl five times in the last six seasons.
But is there any merit to Burr’s take? Or is this just another “old man yells at cloud” moment?
Let’s start with the obvious: The Kansas City Chiefs have become the darlings of professional football. They’re loaded with star power, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, that State Farm commericial whore Andy Reid, and frequent A-list cameos (Taylor Swift and her entourage).
They rake in huge TV ratings, and they have a shot at an historic three-peat. If you’re the NFL fan “entertainment business,” by its own admission- having the Chiefs in the spotlight is great for revenue.
Bill Burr, however, isn’t buying the idea that it’s all legitimate. His rant to Rich Eisen boiled down to this: If you call yourself an “entertainment” company, then you’re not necessarily guaranteeing fair play. You’re just guaranteeing a show.
Burr’s words: “It’s a business. … Why are they an entertainment league? Why aren’t they a sports league? I don’t watch Chiefs games. It drives me insane.”
In Burr’s eyes, the NFL can’t simply deflect claims of favoritism by saying, “Well, everyone loves big stars.” After all, as an entity that embraces “sports entertainment,” the league has effectively shielded itself from legal accountability if fans claim it’s fixing or “massaging” games.
Burr’s conspiracy theory might sound like cyrbaby outlandish bullshit until you consider Spygate and look into a guy named Carl Mayer’s lawsuit.
(I wrote about this in 2023 after what I called the worst weekend of officiating in league history. That blog, (and this blog), never could have seen the light of day had Dave not bought this company back and severed our gambling ties. Shout out Nate to letting it fly.)
In 2007, the New England Patriots were caught illegally videotaping opponents’ signals. They’d apparently been doing it for a decade. Carl Mayer, a Jets fan and season-ticket holder, was outraged enough to sue the Patriots, demanding compensation for all Jets fans who had attended these allegedly rigged games.
Risk Management Monitor- Just so we’re clear: In 2007, the New England Patriots were caught cheating, videotaping opponents’ formations and coaching signals — even with evidence destroyed by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Turned out they’d been doing it for 10 years. A Jets fan and season-ticket holder, Carl Mayer, sued the Patriots, asking for reimbursement to all Jets fans who went to those games. He lost.
But why did he lose?
If you read the brief one-paragraph explanation that ran in The New York Times on May 19, 2010, you’d only learn that “Mayer failed to prove any legal right to damages.”
OK, but why not? Google and Bing your way around the internet and you’ll find explanations hard to come by from any sports, business or legal reporter. But at least the court decision is online, and you can read it for yourself.
Since you probably won’t, here’s the tl;dr: The NFL argued, and the court agreed, that people who buy tickets to an NFL game have the contractual right to a seat to watch two teams play each other, and nothing else. The court even quoted Mayer’s ticket stub, which reads: “This ticket only grants entry into the stadium and a spectator seat for the specified NFL game.” (emphasis added)
If the Patriots cheated to win that game, well, tough. Legally extrapolate that and it means: If any NFL outcome is fixed, well, tough.
Also in 2010, in a separate court case against the NFL over branded items like hats and shirts, the league presented itself not as 32 separate teams, but as one singular business “unit in the entertainment marketplace."
Throughout that case, the NFL repeatedly positioned itself legally as a “sports entertainment” business, not a genuinely contested “sport.” College football, for example, is legally classified as a “collegiate sport.” The only other “sports entertainment” businesses are professional wrestling and roller derby.
According to the NFL’s own argument (and the court’s agreement), a game ticket only promises you a seat to watch two teams play. That’s it. The legalese on the back of a ticket stub literally says:
“This ticket only grants entry into the stadium and a spectator seat for the specified NFL game.” (emphasis added)
Whether the game is fair or not doesn’t legally matter. If the Patriots cheated, or if officiating is blatantly one-sided, tough.
There’s no enforceable guarantee of an honest contest in your ticket purchase.
Then in 2010, while dealing with a separate legal issue over team-branded merchandise, the NFL effectively argued that all 32 franchises operate as a single “entertainment unit.” Throughout the case, the league repeatedly referred to itself as a “sports entertainment” business, akin to professional wrestling or roller derby, both of which are legally classified as “entertainment,” not pure, unscripted competition.
That means that from a legal standpoint, the NFL isn’t obligated to deliver a truly fair, competitive product. They’re only obligated to put on a show. That’s why Bill Burr (along with countless conspiracy-minded fans) can argue that the league could manipulate outcomes for star-laden teams like the Chiefs. And the courts wouldn’t necessarily intervene or do dick about it.
I think the part that makes most fans, (definitely myself), so dubious, and think the leagues are shady as fuck, is the complete lack of accountability that officials and referees have.
A player could have the worst performance of their life, after losing a loved one, finding out they've been traded and have to pack up their family and move across the country, and they're still required to face the media. To stand in front of a microphone and have their performance dissected by little nerds with tape recorders trying to push their buttons to set them off and get a sound byte.
But referees?
They can totally botch a call, an entire game, changing the course of a team's season, a player's or coach's career, and nada.
They run into the tunnel and hide behind the shield. Or the crest. Or the commissioner.
If a player or coach calls them out on it they're fined tens of thousands of dollars.
And on top of it you have clowns like Dean Blandino who the league and the networks trot out and throw on telecasts to offer insight, or comment on things after the fact on Monday's where they usually defend the calls in question like they're explaining something to a mentally challenged child. Occasionally they will offer a half-ass apology.
Either way, it's fucking lunacy.
Mike Florio even floated the possibility of the league potentially having a Tim Donaghy situation on its hands a few years ago after the Commanders were egregiously robbed right in front of everybody's eyes, and we were fed some bullshit excuse from the league.
(Sidebar - Speaking of Tim Donaghy I am still stunned this video hasn't been scrubbed from the internet)
Call Mike Florio and myself crazy all you want, but keep in mind you’re also calling NFL legend, and Hall of Famer, Earl Campbell nuts too.
"And we all know, now that we’re grown men, that wrestling’s fake. Well, football is not played like it was when I played." -- retired Houston Oilers RB and Hall of Famer Earl Campbell" We're talking about a different NFL now … before it was more about the game. Now it's such an entertainment business. It's turning into the WWE really. It's like the Vince McMahon stuff. Basically, [Roger] Goodell is like Vince McMahon."
And Joe Thomas -
" [The NFL is] like a spectacle of violence, for entertainment, and you're the actors in it. You're complicit in that: You put on the uniform. And it's a trivial thing at its core. It's make-believe, really. That's the truth about it."
During Burr’s segment, Eisen pushed back, pointing out that every pro league is in the entertainment business. It’s not a conspiracy to say they lean into captivating storylines. That’s just good marketing.
Of course, Burr countered that good teams also benefit from borderline calls, and in the case of the Chiefs, the margin of error always seems to tilt their way. Say, I dunno, 90% of them…
p.s. - everybody telling me to suck a dick because the Patriots enjoyed this same exact shit for 20 years clearly wasn't paying attention. The Patriots not only kicked the shit out of the other 31 franchises for two decades straight. They kicked the shit out of the league, the refs, and the other owners- all who did everything they could to derail the greatest dynasty ever. Did Tom Brady get some favorable calls while he was getting mauled in the pocket? Occassionally. But that was after he had his leg amputated by Bernard Pollard. And the league was a worse place without him for an entire season. He earned it. But none of those calls were changing the outcomes of games. (As I told Coach Gruden the first time I met him, the "tuck rule" was a good call on a horrible rule (at the time). And I stand by it.)