​Mediation and the NFL

I have been a Buffalo Bills fan my entire life. I grew up in Buffalo and was raised on frigid bleachers, wide-right heartbreak, and unwavering loyalty. My connection to the team runs even deeper: my Uncle Ralph was the Bills’ lawyer from the very beginning of the franchise in 1959 for decades. So when I watched the Bills–Broncos game on January 17th—especially the overtime calls that appeared to favor Denver—I felt a profound sense of sadness.

That reaction is not unique to Bills fans. Every NFL season, games turn on judgment calls, and when several calls go one way in the most consequential moments, frustration turns quickly into mistrust. Fans argue, coaches voice strong opinions, players display their emotions, and the league often responds with silence or technical explanations that leave no one satisfied.

Mediation—and mediation thinking—could help the NFL. Mediation is not about replaying the game or changing outcomes. It’s about addressing what happens after a perceived injustice. In the Bills–Broncos game, the real conflict was not just about three gut wrenching and controversial calls in overtime. It was about the feeling that the process itself lacked transparency and accountability.

A mediator would not ask “Did the officials get every call right?” Instead, a mediation approach would focus on the below questions:

• What specifically felt unfair to those affected?
• Where did discretion, rather than clear rules, drive the outcome?
• How can the league acknowledge frustration and restore trust without admitting bad faith?
• What systemic changes would reduce this type of controversy in the future?

Right now, the NFL’s structure is adversarial by design: teams challenge calls, officials defend decisions, and fans are left to argue among themselves. A mediation approach would slow the conversation down, shift it away from blame, and move toward transparency and learning. Football will always involve judgment calls. That is part of the game. But how the league responds when those calls decide games is a choice. Mediation does not weaken authority; it strengthens legitimacy. For a league built on loyalty, legitimacy matters.

In my mediation practice, I see this dynamic every day: people are often less focused on changing the outcome than on being heard, respected, and assured that the process itself is fair. The Bills–Broncos game was a reminder that conflict is not just about rules—it’s about trust. Whether in a family dispute, a workplace conflict, or a high-stakes NFL game, mediation helps to slow things down, identify the issues that are really at stake, brainstorm and evaluate solutions, and restore confidence in the system. And when trust is preserved, even hard outcomes become easier to accept.

Buffalo Bills versus the Miami Dolphins in Miami in November, 2025..