Florida Governor Ron DeSantis played in the Little League World Series as a kid and went on to become the captain of Yale University’s baseball team in college.
DeSantis is still a huge sports fan to this day.
And Ron DeSantis just described the NFL’s new kickoff rule with one word that had football fans cheering.
Baseball is known as “America’s pastime.”
But polls show the majority of Americans name football as their favorite sport to watch.
And the results are not even close.
Football eclipsed baseball in 1972 and has held the top spot in Gallup’s poll ever since.
According to a Gallup poll taken in February, 41% of American adults said football is their favorite sport to watch followed by baseball in a distant second at 10%.
Basketball came in third with 9%.
But the NFL implemented a new kickoff rule this year that has most fans fuming.
In response to “the lowest kickoff return rate in NFL history during the 2023 season and an unacceptable injury rate on kickoffs prior to that,” the NFL created a new “free kick” rule in hopes of eliminating those concerns.
“The 10 kicking team players cannot move until the ball hits the ground or player in the landing zone or the end zone,” the rules read.
The new rules center around what is known as the “landing zone,” which is “the area between the receiving team’s goal line and its 20-yard line.”
They now spot the ball at the 40-yard line if the kick goes out of bounds, and in the case of a touchback, the offense will now start their drive at the 30-yard line.
The NFL will still allow onside kicks.
However, they are only allowed in the 4th quarter and must be announced to the other team beforehand.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis attended the Jacksonville Jaguars game against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
He slammed the rules during a talk he delivered to a church group in Tallahassee.
DeSantis pointed out that the overwhelming majority of football fans hate the new rules.
“They’re getting all the people lining up on the offensive side,” DeSantis said. “The kicker is way back on the other side of the field,” he continued. “I’m like, ‘What the heck is going on? Was there a pregame penalty or something?’”
The Governor also does not like the fact that players are not “allowed to move forward until the receiver catches the ball” after the kick.
DeSantis called the rules “bad.”
“It was really weird, and I think the universal view amongst people was that it was a bad, bad rule change,” DeSantis said.
Donald Trump has also voiced his opposition to the new kickoff rules and warned that it was the “beginning of the end” for the NFL.
“I can’t believe the NFL is effectively getting rid of the always exciting Kick Off Return,” he previously wrote on Truth Social. “Such an exciting part of football,” he continued. “What are they doing?”
“BEGINNING OF THE END!” Trump predicted.
Virtually every NFL fan on the planet hates the new rules.
But only time will tell if they get over it or if the NFL reverts to the old rules.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
