Tony Romo wonders if NFL opposed his event because it wasn’t getting paid
The NFL didn’t handle the whole Tony Romo fantasy football convention saga very well, and the Dallas Cowboys quarterback wondered if the motivation was over the league not making any money off of it.
The NFL didn’t tell Romo or anyone else that he had to cancel the event in Las Vegas, but a reminder from the NFL to the NFLPA about players not being able to participate in events at casinos was practically the same thing. The event was slated to be held June 10-12 at the Sands Expo and Convention Center, which is connected to The Venetian hotel and casino. Romo announced Friday night that the event was canceled.
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Romo said he thought the NFL wasn’t necessarily pressuring anyone to cancel the event but it wanted to dissuade players from attending, which kind of ruins the point of the event. Many NFL stars were slated to attend, and Romo was the headliner. The event was canceled late last week, and Romo isn’t thrilled with how the NFL handled it.
“It’s like when you’re in high school and you don’t get invited to the party, it makes you feel bad,” Romo said in an interview with ESPN Radio, via the Dallas Morning News. “If they really wanted to just be a part of it, all they had to do was call and ask. It would have been a lot easier than going about the process the way they did.”
And what was probably an unfortunately timed coincidence but came off to some as an elaborate troll, the NFL decided to strangely give Romo a shout out from its Twitter account on Tuesday. The NFL deleted the tweet a few minutes later.
Romo was bothered that the NFL didn’t call him or the organizers to discuss a solution that would have made everyone happy. Though he went on to say that he wondered if the NFL wasn’t happy that it wasn’t getting a cut of the money.
“It does make it sound sometimes like it’s an issue about money, which is disappointing because we were just trying to get the fans to hang out with players,” Romo told ESPN Radio, via the Morning News. “It seems like a no-brainer to me, especially because it really wasn’t going to be something that I didn’t think was going to break the NFL’s heart money-wise. But obviously they have an issue.
“It’s just a very frustrating process that went down, when all they had to do was literally call me or actual event organizers at the NFFC, and that never took shape. Instead, it was about almost scaring the people attending the event. That just seems silly to me. We could have been far more mature about this. That makes you think it was just about money, and that’s disappointing.”
Dez Bryant, in a mini-rant on Twitter after Romo announced the event was canceled, referenced being upset because the NFL makes a lot of money off the players.
Although the NFL has never turned down a buck, it’s hard to believe this was about money. It’s likely more about the league’s strange fascination with distancing itself from gambling and Las Vegas, a wildly popular tourist destination in which far more than 99 percent of activities are legal, like any other American city. But the NFL is very closed-minded about the issue, unless it benefits the league or its teams. And this time it hurt fans. Even though the organizers promised a refund or a free ticket to next year’s event in Los Angeles, it’s still a tough deal to have an event you planned to attend canceled less than a week before it happens.
And one of the league’s top stars is upset at the NFL and wondering if it pressured him to cancel an event over money. The whole ordeal isn’t a very good look for the NFL.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
