While football is the business of the NFL, the real business of the NFL is making money, and they are very good at it.
In 2016 alone, the NFL is projected to see its revenue grow to $13 billion, and a huge part of that is all the marketing and sponsorship deals that they have signed up to.
One of the more noticeable ones has been the deal with Microsoft to promote their range of Surface tablets, which has seen the sidelines filled with branding for the computer giant and players being shown the playbook, as well as replays, on a tablet by coaches.
However, there's one man who's not a fan of all this fancy new technology: New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick. He told a room full of journalists on Tuesday that he was done with them as he "just can't take it anymore."
"I've given them as much time as I can give them. They're just too undependable for me," said the Super Bowl winning coach. "I'm going to stick with pictures, as several of our other coaches do as well, because there just isn't enough consistency in the performance of the tablets."
"I'll use the paper pictures from here on because I've given it my best shot," he added. "I've tried to work through the process, but it just doesn't work for me and that's because there's no consistency to it."
Given that Microsoft's deal with the NFL is reported to be worth something in the region of $400 million, both companies were quick to point out that Bill doesn't speak for the rest of the teams in the league on this front, and that the tablet is really great.
"Microsoft is an integral, strategic partner of the NFL and implementing their technology on our sidelines has increased the efficiency and speed of collaboration between coaches and players to an all-time high," said the NFL in a statement.
They added that they will "continue to work with all of our partners to ensure the best systems are in place to most effectively assist the clubs in the execution of their game plan."
Microsoft stated that while they respect Coach Belichick's decision, they "continue to receive positive feedback on having Surface devices on the sidelines from coaches, players and team personnel across the league. In the instances where sideline issues are reported in NFL games, we work closely with the NFL to quickly address and resolve [them]."
Given that the normally terse Belichick gave an uncharacteristic and incredibly long answer when asked on this issue, it sounds like his mind is firmly made up on this one.
Via NBC Sports
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