The NFL Money Machine

[HowardK4]

Well it’s a cash cow. Remember the cap decreased before the new TV deals were announced. Coincidence? Hardly.

Each team gets a check for $321m each year before the lights go on. That does not include local revenue. That number will hit $400m once new deals kick in. And honestly even if team had to “open the books” I’m not convinced that we would know the “true” NFL revenue portion. Atlanta as an example is under the LLC AMB Sports and Entertainment which includes the MLS franchise, stadium non football revenue. Dallas local media is under a separate LLC Blue Star Media, Washington has a similar set up, most teams do

the NFL and NFLPA agreed to doing the 1 year cap decrease well before the TV deal was released (remember they had the option of doing it for one year or spreading it across more years?), they just didn't publish the number. And the new TV deal - does it affect 2021?
Again, the potential higher revenues in the future (from all sources) along with current assets is what is used to project an estimated VALUE for each team. My point is that too many people don't know the difference between the VALUE of a team, and the REVENUES/PROFIT of a team. Just because the value of a company grows does not mean that they made money. I'm not arguing that when accounting for all revenues, that teams lost money or made money; I'm just saying that a change in value is always confused with making a profit.

 

[FlaPack]

the NFL and NFLPA agreed to doing the 1 year cap decrease well before the TV deal was released (remember they had the option of doing it for one year or spreading it across more years?), they just didn't publish the number. And the new TV deal - does it affect 2021?
Again, the potential higher revenues in the future (from all sources) along with current assets is what is used to project an estimated VALUE for each team. My point is that too many people don't know the difference between the VALUE of a team, and the REVENUES/PROFIT of a team. Just because the value of a company grows does not mean that they made money. I'm not arguing that when accounting for all revenues, that teams lost money or made money; I'm just saying that a change in value is always confused with making a profit.

Totally agree on profit /value. As to TV deals no they dont take effect in 2021 but also the original cap drop was readjusted up because they agreed to push money back from future deals. The new TV deal were announced about a week after that adjustment up and the NFLPA would have no idea what those deals were. A bit of a footnote, the deals between the networks and NFL were agreed on about 1 week before the formal announcement. Brady was very vocal about the "coincidence", basically they could have pushed more back to lighten the cap decrease. I dont think anyone anticipated the amount of the TV revenue increase

 

[HowardK4]

Totally agree on profit /value. As to TV deals no they dont take effect in 2021 but also the original cap drop was readjusted up because they agreed to push money back from future deals. The new TV deal were announced about a week after that adjustment up and the NFLPA would have no idea what those deals were. A bit of a footnote, the deals between the networks and NFL were agreed on about 1 week before the formal announcement. Brady was very vocal about the "coincidence", basically they could have pushed more back to lighten the cap decrease. I dont think anyone anticipated the amount of the TV revenue increase

Brady is an idiot, and obviously all players want more money now. The cap decrease has nothing to do with future revenues, it was reduced to help teams "recover" lost revenue from 2020. If they wanted more future years to influence the caps, then they should have voted for the multi year cap reduction instead of the 1 year. Future caps will be higher, so the players will all enjoy more money in the future (and btw, they all make more than enough money for playing a game).

 

[FlaPack]

Brady is an idiot, and obviously all players want more money now. The cap decrease has nothing to do with future revenues, it was reduced to help teams "recover" lost revenue from 2020. If they wanted more future years to influence the caps, then they should have voted for the multi year cap reduction instead of the 1 year. Future caps will be higher, so the players will all enjoy more money in the future (and btw, they all make more than enough money for playing a game).

His point and its valid is that they could have pushed more to 2021 to mitigate some of the damage. Sure it will increase later but it also forced teams to make some drastic cuts with resulted in reworked contracts and also some guys getting released do to cap issues. Add $10m more and some teams get some relief. And it was not something that was voted on, it was the NFLPA and league that bargained that. Brady was being critical of the NFLPA and player leadership

“The salary cap dropped by 20% and the new media deals were announced the day AFTER 2021 salary cap was set,” Brady wrote. “NFL players better wake up @nflpa. NFL players are IGNORANT.”

 

[HowardK4]

His point and its valid is that they could have pushed more to 2021 to mitigate some of the damage. Sure it will increase later but it also forced teams to make some drastic cuts with resulted in reworked contracts and also some guys getting released do to cap issues. Add $10m more and some teams get some relief. And it was not something that was voted on, it was the NFLPA and league that bargained that. Brady was being critical of the NFLPA and player leadership

“The salary cap dropped by 20% and the new media deals were announced the day AFTER 2021 salary cap was set,” Brady wrote. “NFL players better wake up @nflpa. NFL players are IGNORANT.”

Sorry Pack, i couldn't disagree with you more here. NFL players are ignorant for different reasons, but here the point is that they now want more money now. You can't have it both ways. "well, we agreed to this, but now that we see the new TV deal we changed our minds." However, if the new TV deal affected 2021 they may have a point. It's all about more now, screw the future.

 

[FlaPack]

Sorry Pack, i couldn't disagree with you more here. NFL players are ignorant for different reasons, but here the point is that they now want more money now. You can't have it both ways. "well, we agreed to this, but now that we see the new TV deal we changed our minds." However, if the new TV deal affected 2021 they may have a point. It's all about more now, screw the future.

Well in essence the new TV could have 2021. More money could have been pushed into 21. The cap was already adjusted up from original projections. It clearly could have been done again but the players had no knowledge of the amount of the deals. And let’s be clear the players did not vote on this as rank and file. It was NFLPA & player leadership that made that call. And that $400 will not include new NFL Sunday Ticket package

 

[FlaPack]

In 2020 here is basically what ownership lost in revenue

• Concessions
• Parking revenue
• Ticket sales
• Premium Seating
• Local merchandise sales

What did they keep

• National TV revenue
• Merchandise license revenue
• National sponsorship revenue

The only unknown is local sponsorship revenue, depends how contracts were written

 

[FlaPack]

Mo money mo money

Amazon is in serious talks to sign a multi-year deal for NFL Sunday Ticket, DirecTV currently pays $1.5 billion a year for the package, but the NFL may reportedly ask for up to $2.5 billion.

 

[TW]

If Amazon gets it, we can expect it to be a better deal than what we have available now. They have access into darned near every home in America, not just those with satellite, or in special circumstances over the Internet.

I could see them doubling, maybe tripling, the viewership, meanwhile strengthening their base Amazon Prime market.

Of course I'm just speculating. But it seems logical.

 

[FlaPack]

If Amazon gets it, we can expect it to be a better deal than what we have available now. They have access into darned near every home in America, not just those with satellite, or in special circumstances over the Internet.

I could see them doubling, maybe tripling, the viewership, meanwhile strengthening their base Amazon Prime market.

Of course I'm just speculating. But it seems logical.

My guess is they create a “Sports Package” similar to cable bundles. An add on to Prime maybe Prime Plus. If they pay $2b they have to monitize it somehow. I doubt the NFL is the only property they attempt to get. Pure speculation on my part but the NFL is actively looking for media partners for NFLN and Amazon would be a natural, and look the merchandising opportunities?