The NFL being rigged and scripted

Question

I have seen multiple videos online of a lot of people believing that the NFL is rigged and they have a script for each of their seasons. Ex-NFL player Adrian Foster came out and said on a podcast for Barstool blatantly said that there was a script and they would practice the script at practice rather than working on plays and becoming better. Obviously, not every aspect of the NFL is scripted, but I think it is true that who wins each game and ends up in the playoff and Superbowl is scripted.

Answer 1

On January 30th, Former NFL running back and current host, Arian Foster from the "Macrodosing: Arian Foster and PFT Commentator", underpinned the claim that the NFL is scripted. Instead of refuting the claim, he very clearly elaborated truth from the claim. When listening to the podcast in context, it is easy to detect the satire of the conversation, however, social media platforms were able to continue to reinforce the claims.

I have found multiple sources which refute the possibility of this claim being true, however I will list one.

“Tearing my ACL in 2012 was probably the worst thing that Roger ever scripted,” he said with a straight face, referring to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. ", the precesce of these claims make satire more clear to the audience.

https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2023/is-the-super-bowl-scripted-lets-debunk-this-fake-box-score/ 

Comments

Nice job finding the Poynter fact-check. The final line of the piece concludes that the Super Bowl's outcome has not been scripted by the league (they rated it Pants on Fire). Therefore, the claim should be rated as "false" rather than "opinion." The full excerpt is below:

There’s no evidence the outcome of the Super Bowl has been scripted by the league. We rate the claim Pants on Fire!

Answer 2

I read about this theory as well. So, I decided to do some digging on Arian Foster and the conspiracy itself and found some information about the podcastt.

I found multiple articles (like the one I provided below) that states that NFL players, including Arian Foster, have been joking about this theory on Twitter as a sort of trend. An article by Bridget Reilly on the New York Post started, “ Following the release of the clip on Twitter, many users, including professional players, ran with it, using GIFs, videos and more to poke fun at receiving their ‘scripts’ for certain happenings in their careers.” So, as far as this information goes, I believe that Arain Foster was not being serious with his answer.

Now as far as the theory itself, yahoo news covers an interview with Patrick Mahomes about the theory and he stated that it was not rigged because the NFL does not care about a team winning or losing. 

https://nypost.com/2023/02/02/arian-foster-causes-stir-after-joking-the-nfl-is-rigged/amp/

https://news.yahoo.com/no-nfl-isn-t-rigged-153637677.html

Answer 3

Is the Super Bowl scripted? Let's debunk this fake box score. - Poynter

This theory is completely a myth, a joke that is carried out by both fans and players alike. Many people just continue to share misinformation because it is funny. Last week, fake score leaks were posted on twitter. They were shown to be fakes replicated online. Its all a joke and there is no truth to any of the claims being made about NFL scripts.

"We were able to take code from that page and swap in details to create a fake box score using the online tool WebMaker."

Comments

The final line of the Poynter fact-check concludes that the Super Bowl's outcome has not been scripted by the league (they rated it Pants on Fire). Therefore, the claim should be rated as "false" rather than "opinion." The excerpt is below:

There’s no evidence the outcome of the Super Bowl has been scripted by the league. We rate the claim Pants on Fire!