Why just a couple people? If you’re trying to keep something quiet do you tell every single person you come across or do you tell the least amount as possible?
People don’t want to believe they’ve been tricked.
Why would you need thousands of people to stay quiet? You would need the refs and maybe a couple people in the league office. The players and coaches get in trouble if they call out the refs at all. That’s a huge red flag.
That right there is the easiest way to do it. You already believe it.
Few years ago there was a lot of blow outs and people weren’t watching the full games. Goodell mentioned something about it. Since then the officiating has been a complete joke with a bunch of calls to keep teams in the games and have them go down to the wire. They’re most definitely influenced by the refs.
This is a known issue. But unless something else went wrong applying the brakes should stopped the car. The brakes will override the accelerator (that was from multiple mechanics that specialize in all VW products esp Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini)