Free Idea: Nickelodeon Should Combine the NFL and GUTS

Nickelodeon is getting in the NFL game. You know, for kids. The plan is to broadcast a Wild Card game geared toward a younger audience on the network come January.

“The youth demographic is very important — there are plenty of young fans, and we want to continue to bring the game to the young fans,” NFL executive vice president Brian Rolapp said in the wake of the news. He may or may not been wearing a backward Paper Boy-type hat and dangling a skateboard through his fingers at the time.

Since the economy is doing just fine and media members are not in any danger of losing their jobs, there's no time like the present to give away one of my patented free ideas for Nickelodeon to either co-opt for big ratings and dollars or to ignore outright out of misguided hubris.

The plan, to be read in your best Nathan Fielder inner monologue voice, is to leverage the success of the NFL with the past success of GUTS, the best show in Nickelodeon history.

What, exactly, are we talking about here?

An NFL star version of the game show. Imagine JJ Watt, Julio Jones, and Aaron Rodgers competing in these harebrained athletic competitions. It would be so spectacular.

Imagine Aaron Donald, Tyreek Hill, and Ezekiel Elliott charging up the Aggro Crag. The thought alone makes me want to run through a faux brick wall, a prop you would absolutely see on NFL GUTS.

It's genuinely shocking Nickelodeon has not rebooted this classic series already. Scratching the itch of nostalgia is so alluring. And it feels so good.

There you go, argument made. Call up Moira Quirk, see if she'll go by Mo again, and make it happen.

NFL GUTS, do you have them? A boy can dream.