That’s the rumor — a rumor that would not have had much credibility until the players went nuclear and decertified their union.
We’re hearing initial rumblings pointing to the possibility that a loss by the league at the appellate level will prompt the owners to completely shut down all business operations until the players agree to a new labor deal. The thinking is that, if the owners cease all operations, the NFL would not be violating the court order because there would be no lockout. Instead, the league essentially would be going out of business — something for which the NFL repeatedly chided the union in the weeks and months preceding decertification of the NFLPA.
Unlike the players, many owners have legal relationships with their host cities in how their stadiums are funded. Cowboys Stadium, for instance, cost the city of Arlington $325 million and several local taxes went up to pay the city’s share of the overall $1.5 billion cost. The LA Rams moved to St. Louis in part because the city ponied up millions to build them a new stadium. The Houston Texans got hundreds of millions in public funding for Reliant Stadium. And so forth and so on. If the NFL shuts down, how are these owner-city relationships disentangled? What happens to the finances of the cities that took the risk to finance stadiums, expecting an unending stream of pro football related revenue in return?
Follow-up question: Is the NFL a bubble in the process of bursting?
It’s a big fat bubble – expect a big fat pop. The players can beat their chests just like they do after a routine tackle but it won’t change a thing. As for socialised sports teams and stadiums, ask the city of Glendale how that is working out for the Phoenix Coyotes.
I hope they do shut down and lock out the millionaires forever.
I’ll be perfectly happy watching guys play for 100 grand a year and there are plenty who’d do so. They can lower ticket prices and restore sanity to what has become one big grift and steroid circus.
I live a mile from the new Cowboys stadium in Arlington. We funded less than a third of the cost of the new stadium, so the city came out arlight.
I can tell you all this, even without NFL football, that stadium is bringing in events of all types on a regular basis. Concerts, High school and college football games. It would make more money if the 7 or 8 home games were played, BUT, the stadium pulls so many events, a shutdown is more easy to justify if it brings about a stable financial situation for years going foward.
What’s the ROI for the City of Arlington on direct revenues from the stadium? They would have to be in the neighborhood of $100 million a year to make it a good investment (most businesses expect a 20% per year return on capital, at a minimum).
And no, I’m not counting tax increases or speculations about increased business. I’m talking the actual return on the City’s actual money.
One could argue that the owners went nuclear first, by spending two years planning a lockout instead of negotiating with the players. The owners as well as the players made a lot of money under the previous agreement, the owners however believe that they should make more. They may be correct, but they went straight to making a lockout Plan A and having no Plan B.
Most NFL fans, save a few die-hard fanatics, will divert their focus to college football instead. And a few CFL games, perhaps with Brent Butt and Nancy Robertson providing some whimsical Great White North celebrity commentary, will round out the palette of alternatives.
And as for the cities/counties/states that coughed up mucho dinero to build these edifices; just what were you thinking? Prestige instead of return on investment? That is not a business plan.
This is what becomes of a giant,maggot swarm on the goose’s carcass. The televised programs have become so over hyped and micro analyzed by desperate broadcasters that they are not worth hearing. The video portion is so hyper commercialized that the continuous nature of the game action has vanished. If the trend continues the public will dismiss the games as irrelevant and the NFL will collapse.That sounds severe but it is very close to that stage at this point.
For example, I haven’t followed MLB in 10 years and I am very close to flushing the Cowboys forever. Professional sports are close to the bottom of the barrel and more greed, rock stars and semi-naked women won’t save them from disaster.