I haven't read all the replies, but what we consider warts and flaws the league considers otherwise. It is in their best interest to have games drag out. More penalties, more challenges, more plays reviewed, more discussion between the refs, etc. all make the games go longer . . . which means more commercials and more advertising revenue. As an example, I just talked to someone the other day that was involved in corporate sponsorships for one of the NFL franchises and he mentioned the league had a $500 million deal with Microsoft. That's nuts.
Even though league attendance overall may be declining and may be slightly down, there are still 11 teams playing at or above capacity and 11 teams playing home games at 95%+ capacity. There are only 7 teams playing with 10% empty seats, and given all the revenue they get from tv, advertising, and sponsorship deals that is literally pocket change in terms of lost revenue from empty seats.
I heard NFL football described the other day as the new wrestling. Wrestling went from competitive to entertainment a long time ago, and the NFL is effectively following suit. It's not about football anymore. It's not a sport for competitors and fierce hand to hand combat like the old days. It's part sport and part entertainment, but it sure is not the same game as it used to be.
Bottom line, with the league getting money delivered to them in wheelbarrows, I don't think they care much about the complaints about the game, the off-field issues, and the like until it starts taking money out of their pockets (as we say happen with ADP). Otherwise, it's don't rock the boat and keep the checks coming.
I agree that the league doesn't really care if fans are upset if the dollars are rolling in. Where I disagree with those arguing nothing will change - I think that's incorrect for 2 reasons.
1)
As fast as the NFL has risen, it can tumble. We've become used to a couple decades of NFL success, but it wasn't always that way. It's Taleb's Black Swan - just because things seem normal this way doesn't mean it can't radically change in the blink of an eye.
I think TV advertising will actually radically change in the somewhat-near future. The type of ads run during NFL games (like most TV ads) just aren't effective - that's not opinion, that's backed up by lots of research. With all the distractions, people have gotten incredibly good at tuning out information they don't care about, this includes TV ads. But large companies are like ponderous boats, it takes a long time for them to steer in a new direction. Advertising revenue won't keep going up, and as large companies slowly become better at other forms of advertising money will drain from these TV ads.
2) Long term I think we can agree the NFL is screwed. Everywhere I know of, football attendance at the grassroots level is down (both here in Canada and in the USA). Parents are moving their kids into safer sports and this will have a massive trickle up effect over time. The number of kids growing up playing football, and the number of families cheering for their child playing football, is falling. As well, there is growing discontent both with the game (as discussed here) and the off-field incidences.
People who argue nothing will change, pointing to evidence such as viewership numbers not going down folloing the Ray Rice fiasco, ignore that preferences don't change overnight.
3 million people won't instantly turn off the NFL on TV. Rather, things will change by percentages. If Bob loved watching the NFL 87% more than anything else, now he loves it 74%. He'll still tune it Sundays, still watch most games but now there are more things he'd rather be doing. So he won't stop watching NFL, he'll just watch a little less. And so it will go, adding up over time.
Because of all these factors (and others I've ignored because my post is too long) suggest to me that the NFL will experience the financials turning within this decade.