Part of the National Football League’s strategy to monetize literally any and every aspect of their product is to make everything from the NFL Draft to the NFL Scouting Combine, as well as spring practices, a ticketed event. Even though they aren’t paying top dollar for these recreational outings, football fans are still able to generate a notable amount of cash for the league and its teams by attending these lesser events.
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With that being said, however, it doesn’t appear as if letting fans into this year’s combine event was the best of ideas, at least, not according to Rich Eisen, anyway. Clearly put off by the fact that onlookers took to booing the former Georgia Bulldog, Carson Beck, during his performance, the veteran sports broadcaster felt the need to question whether or not the event, which is primarily geared towards official scouts, should be open to the public.
“I like fans being in the arena at the combine. I really don’t mind it,” Eisen prefaced. “It adds energy. It’s great… But for Carson Beck to get booed during his combine performance was absurd and wrong. It’s just wrong.”
While Eisen did admit to suspecting that it was mostly Indiana Hoosier fans who were doing the booing, he ultimately suggested that their antics quickly wore off, and that it was unfair to the 23-year-old who was simply trying to make the most of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“It was funny at first… But it kept happening over and over again, to the point where, I don’t know if this was done purposefully or not, they stopped showing Beck on the big screen… At the end of the day, this is a kid who is finally getting his shot. That’s what the combine is for.”
Assuming that his suspicion is correct and that Beck’s performance was actually pulled from the big screen simply due to the live crowd’s reaction, then there may actually be a serious discussion between the league’s upper brass about fan attendance at future combine events.
Although it is worth noting, however, that the NFL has yet to issue any sort of official comment on the incident, and it’s highly unlikely that they will unless the one-off instance starts to become more of a trend.
Thankfully, there’s always the alternative perspective that suggests that Beck, having just experienced his first hostile crowd at the next level, is now more prepared than any other soon-to-be NFL rookie for what lies ahead on Sunday afternoons.
