Mcdonaldization Of NFL

In America today, sport has become increasingly more rationalized and bureaucratized just as other sectors of society have. Today’s physical culture is no longer based on the love of the sport, but instead based on the capital that the sport can produce (Andrews, 2011). Profit is now the clear priority. In order to ensure that high productivity is generated from the sport, the sector has become more highly organized and rule based (Andrews, 2011). From the National Football League to Major League Soccer, sport is becoming more corporatized and McDonaldized due to goal-oriented ideology. In this essay, I will focus on the McDonaldization of the NFL and how it has contributed to a physical culture of nothingness and led to the disenchantment
Team statistics include total offense, total defense, passing, and rushing. Teams can be ranked in terms of points per game, total points, yards per game, yards per play, and more. Even attendance statistics are reported. It is possible to find the total home attendance, average home attendance, total away attendance, average away attendance and more for each team in the NFL which just a quick search on the internet. The degree to which the NFL has become calculable is overwhelming, and it is a large contributing factor to how McDonaldized the league has become. The third component in Ritzer’s concept of McDonaldization is predictability, the “assurance that the products and services will be the same over time and in all locales” (Ritzer, 2004, p. 14). This is achieved by the creation of standardized and uniform products and services. In the NFL, the predictability aspect of McDonaldization is met by the predictable unpredictability of the league. There is no predetermined winner in the games. There is a competitive balance between the teams in order to ensure an uncertain outcome. In order to achieve this, certain measures have been taken such as salary caps and the draft system. The salary cap is a set amount of money that
Because the NFL has become so McDonaldized, it has lost it’s individuality and uniqueness, therefor contributing to the physical culture of nothingness (Andrews, 2011). It has become a sporting nothing because it is generic and centrally conceived and controlled. There is no longer room for individuality, since everything is planned and regulated according to rationality. From the the design of the stadium to the uniforms of the players, almost all aspects of the NFL have been created or recreated to ensure the most efficient processes and the most productive outcome. Stadiums are no longer unique to the city, but rather are created in order to maximize efficiency and profit. The nothingness of the NFL is just one more aspect of society that contributes to todays physical culture of