Rush Limbaugh gets exactly what he wants from the NFL

October 15, 9:07 AMNFL ExaminerReid Kerr

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AP Photo/Courtesy of Rush Limbaugh

Let's just start out by stating the obvious. Rush Limbaugh was never going to be an NFL owner.

Never. There is no alternate universe where that was going to happen.

Limbaugh was dropped from the ownership group attempting to buy the St. Louis Rams yesterday.

However, Rush Limbaugh still got exactly what he wanted out of the situation. He got his name out there in the middle of a ratings period for his radio show, and he got everyone talking about him, even though he knew full well there was no way he'd actually get a piece of the Rams.

The NFL is one of the world's most exclusive clubs. Thirty-two ownership opportunities are available, and the NFL protects those like...well, billionaires guarding their investments.

Rush Limbaugh is divisive. The NFL doesn't want an owner that fans will know for any reason other than football.

What about Al Davis? Yeah, Al Davis is nuts.  But he's made his bones already. Davis is the Raiders, and the Raiders are a historic franchise. If not for the Steelers, we'd be talking about Oakland as the team of the '70s. He's earned the right to be insane and draft people even Mel Kiper has never heard of.

This goes much deeper than just Limbaugh's comments a few years ago about Donovan McNabb. Getting an NFL team isn't like filling out a one-page credit card application at the ballpark to get a free t-shirt. You're vetted like you're running for high office.

Limbaugh wouldn't make it. Larry Flynt wouldn't make it. Dane Cook wouldn't make it. Pretty much anyone you've heard of who might be disliked for reasons outside of football wouldn't make it.

For that matter, some guy who just made a bundle in the lottery, or the stock market, or in Vegas wouldn't make it. The NFL wants quiet, calm, stability from its ownership.

Rush Limbaugh is none of those things.

Rush is a master self-promoter, it's how he saw an opening in the market and became what a certain target audience needs. He has a sizable fan base, and he's very good at what he does. He even used the outrage against him to once again appeal to his fan base and further the "us against them" mentality he rode to the top of the ratings.

"This is about the ongoing effort by the left in this country, wherever you find them, in the media, the Democrat Party, or wherever, to destroy conservatism, to prevent the mainstreaming of anyone who is prominent as a conservative," Limbaugh said on his radio show. "Therefore, this is about the future of the United States of America and what kind of country we’re going to have."

Obviously, someone who's willing to go on the attack like that isn't someone the NFL wants running their teams.

Even the Rams.