Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Does anybody know if the NFL is going to do a 2017 Record and Fact Book (Digital or print)? It is usually posted by mid to late July.

Thanks

Ken Pullis wrote:Does anybody know if the NFL is going to do a 2017 Record and Fact Book (Digital or print)? It is usually posted by mid to late July.

Thanks

I hate to think they ended it as it was an indispensable resource. If anybody here has contacts within the NFL PR department infrastructure perhaps inquiries should be made. I heard that the 2016 NFL Final Statistics release was possibly the last time the NFL was going to do that, that they were going to do away with that for one reason or another. Maybe they also decided to end the Record and Fact book also, which would be a shame.

One of the digital universe's gifts that are not cool.....the never ending depletion of actual print materials.

JohnBowen wrote:One of the digital universe's gifts that are not cool.....the never ending depletion of actual print materials.

The NFL R&FB went pretty much all-digital starting in 2015, although a few hard copies were produced, probably for media only. I've seen the 2015 and 2016 NFL Record and Fact Books for sale on Ebay for about a hundred dollars each. The 2015 and 2016 R&FB's were available at NFL.com for free in downloadable pdf form; 2016 still is at NFL.com, and I'm sure a google search would turn up a pdf of the 2015 one somewhere online.

Rupert Patrick wrote: I hate to think they ended it as it was an indispensable resource.

It used to be that for me but I got through the last two NFL seasons and I am still alive.

It's been about a decade now that any type of good baseball encyclopedia was published. The Sporting News book series, the Neft & Cohen baseball books, Total Baseball, ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia all died out around 2007 or so. It sucks but when I have to look something up, I have to go online.

Back to the NFL Record & Fact Book, I most got a kick out of the team vs team series history. I will just make my own spreadsheets at some point. Everything else? I'll just go online.

Rupert Patrick wrote:

Ken Pullis wrote:Does anybody know if the NFL is going to do a 2017 Record and Fact Book (Digital or print)? It is usually posted by mid to late July.

Thanks

I hate to think they ended it as it was an indispensable resource. If anybody here has contacts within the NFL PR department infrastructure perhaps inquiries should be made. I heard that the 2016 NFL Final Statistics release was possibly the last time the NFL was going to do that, that they were going to do away with that for one reason or another. Maybe they also decided to end the Record and Fact book also, which would be a shame.

The 2017 NFL R&F Book should be available any day now. Michael Signora tweeted the finalized cover on June 28:

https://twitter.com/NFLfootballinfo/sta ... 1086741505

I'm pretty certain this is the latest that the Record & Fact Book has been released. Last year's edition was available on July 15.

JWL wrote:
It used to be that for me but I got through the last two NFL seasons and I am still alive.

It's been about a decade now that any type of good baseball encyclopedia was published. The Sporting News book series, the Neft & Cohen baseball books, Total Baseball, ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia all died out around 2007 or so. It sucks but when I have to look something up, I have to go online.

I remember exchanging emails with Bob Carroll about 15 years ago (even before I joined this forum) about sports encyclopedias, and he told me from his experience that sports encyclopedias (on a per-page basis) made a lot less profit than other sports books, because of the size of encyclopedias, the amount of research involved to compile and edit them, and the fact that they appeal to such a niche audience they just don't sell very well compared to most other types of sports books. The internet brought an end to encyclopedias in general.

Rupert Patrick wrote:

JWL wrote:
It used to be that for me but I got through the last two NFL seasons and I am still alive.

It's been about a decade now that any type of good baseball encyclopedia was published. The Sporting News book series, the Neft & Cohen baseball books, Total Baseball, ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia all died out around 2007 or so. It sucks but when I have to look something up, I have to go online.

I remember exchanging emails with Bob Carroll about 15 years ago (even before I joined this forum) about sports encyclopedias, and he told me from his experience that sports encyclopedias (on a per-page basis) made a lot less profit than other sports books, because of the size of encyclopedias, the amount of research involved to compile and edit them, and the fact that they appeal to such a niche audience they just don't sell very well compared to most other types of sports books. The internet brought an end to encyclopedias in general.

I guess the only reason for anyone to produce them these days is if it was done just to serve certain people and have something available in the reference section of your local library. I would bet we will never again see a fat, 2,000-page encyclopedia in a store. An encyclopedia on a particular team seems possible.

2017 edition - https://nflcommunications.com/Documents ... .7.17).pdf

Thanks gang. It looks like it has been posted now.