With everyone talking about Hair or possible rules changes, I believe that Commissioner Roger Goodell in his address wanted everyone to understand that the “Economy” of the NFL should be foremost in their thinking.
The Commish said when talking of the “Economy” of the NFL, “What the (NFL’s economy) does is demonstrate the risks that are in the marketplace right now. When you shrink the margins by increased player costs and other increased costs, at some point in time the economics become untenable”.
The Commish talked about the following financial topics extensively:
-- The Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) - Passed in March of 2006. The NFL or NFLPA could opt out the deal in the next year and many owners were talking about “how” bad the deal was for them. Could labor unrest enter the NFL for the first time since 1987 with labor problems looming in 2011?
-- The Salary Cap - $116 million this year with a scheduled “uncapped” year in 2010. BTW: Payrolls have risen $30 million in the past two years.
-- The NFL’s Debt – It was reported at the meetings that the NFL is 9 Billion dollars in debt. That figure needs to be looked into at a time when the league’s NFL Network is losing money -- while they are still encouraged/funding it, the spending of millions in building the league’s many new stadiums/palaces at low-interest loan prices with little chance for revenues, small market teams like the Buffalo Bills hurting (enough to go to Canada for dollars) and we all know something is brewing at NFL Films. And can someone give me a straight answer on how all this debt is possible when the NFL is by far the most popular game in the world in terms of attendance, merchandising, ticket sales, and television dollars.
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