re: For those that believe the NFL is rigged, what would it take to convince you otherwise?

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This is about to set the record for most people viewing a televised event/show...what the heck are you talking about?

Michigan population-10 million
California-39 million

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Bubba Smith went to his grave believing Super Bowl III was fixed.

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Impact on Fans and Integrity of the Game

The revelation that the NFL is legally allowed to fix game outcomes as an entertainment business has sent shockwaves through the fan community and raised profound concerns about the integrity of the sport. Fans are the lifeblood of professional football, investing their passion, loyalty, and unwavering support in their favorite teams and players. The emotional and psychological impact of realizing that game outcomes may be manipulated within the confines of the law has sparked a seismic shift in the fan experience.

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NEW YORK, May 19 (Reuters) - A New York Jets football fan cannot pursue his $184.8 million lawsuit over the secret videotaping of signals from Jets coaches by archrival New England Patriots, a federal appeals court has ruled.

Wednesday's unanimous ruling by a panel of the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court dismissal of the lawsuit by Carl Mayer, a Princeton, New Jersey, lawyer with Jetsseason tickets, in a scandal known as "Spygate."

The case arose from the videotaping by a Patriots employee of signals from the Jets sideline in a Sept. 9, 2007, game.

The Patriots won 38-14, but the National Football League later fined the team and coach Bill Belichick, and stripped it of a 2008 first-round draft pick.

Mayer alleged the games were essentially rigged, saying the Patriots and Belichick defrauded ticketholders, and raised a claim against the NFL for destroying the videotapes.

But the appeals court said ticketholders possess only licenses or contractual rights to see games, and that it is up to the NFL to enforce its own rules if something goes amiss.

"We do not condone the conduct on the part of the Patriots and the team's head coach, and we likewise refrain from assessing whether the NFL's sanctions (and its alleged destruction of the videotapes themselves) were otherwise appropriate," Judge Robert Cowen wrote for the court.

He said unhappy fans can vent their frustration in other ways, including speaking out against the Patriots, Belichick or the league, or refusing to buy tickets or NFL merchandise.

"The one thing they cannot do is bring a legal action in a court of law," Cowen wrote.

Bruce Afran, a lawyer working with Mayer, said the ruling "invites professional teams to cheat, without liability to fans who pay to support them. It strikes us as very strange that one can spend tens of thousands of dollars for season tickets and have no right to be protected from fraud."

Afran said he would speak with Mayer to decide whether to appeal. Mayer, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello and a lawyer for the Patriots and Belichick did not immediately return calls seeking a comment.

Mayer had sought damages of $61.6 million representing the cost of tickets for Jets-Patriots games at Giants Stadium from 2000 through 2007, covering Belichick's tenure as coach, and wanted that sum tripled under federal racketeering laws.

The case is Mayer v. Belichick et al, U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 09-02237.

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Although there are few cases on point, in general in New Jersey, a “ticket is to be regarded as a mere license, for the revocation of which before the holder has actually been given his seat, and has taken it, the only remedy is in assumpsit for a breach of the contract.” Shubert v. Nixon Amusement Co., 83 N.J.L. 101, 105 (N.J. Sup. Ct. 1912). As the language of the New Jersey Supreme Court in Shubert suggests, there may be a remedy where a ticket has not been honored, but there is no remedy at law where the ticket-holder has been granted admission and subsequently complains about the quality, or here, the “honesty,” of the conduct of the event. This principle has also been recognized by courts in cases such as In re 2005 United States Grand Prix and Castillo v. Tyson, and this Court follows the lead of those decisions.

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