Day 112--the Lockout Continues

The NFL off season is one that is usually filled with good discussions about who will make an impact from the rookie class, where free agents will land, what your team needs to do to step it up in the upcoming season, and much more. This off season has been filled with a lock-out that has now reached 112 days and counting. Because of this my enthusiasm has been diminished and with it, my desire to update this blog. After listening to an update on ESPN.com today (see it here) I have to take a moment and share something very specific to this lockout situation.

The expected revenue for the NFL is around $9.2 billion per year. That is a lot of money. It does make some sense that players and owners would argue over how much of that should go to the players and how much should go to the owners. But in today’s video clip we learn that the owners have been willing to give up 46% off the top to the players while the players want 48% off the top. So it could be said that if each side was willing to move only 1%, an agreement could be reach. ONE PERCENT! Let’s look at that a little closer:

1% of $9.2 billion is $92 million. That is a lot of money, no doubt. With 32 teams in the NFL that is an average of just under $3 million per owner/team. Now for a moment let us think about what has taken place in the last 112 days. There have been multiple meetings all across the United States where owners have flown their jets to continue discussion. The fuel alone for these flights is surly in the $100,000s between all owners that have participated. What about the lost revenues? ESPN and NFL.com have both said that ticket sales are down (unless you are a Packers fan!!!) and this is causing a decrease in revenue for teams that might have already been struggling. Let us make a conservative estimate that SOLELY because of this lock-out there will be an average of 1,000 fewer tickets sold for the entire season for each team (only a drop of 125 tickets per game). An average ticket may be around $100 and another $50 per ticket sold could be lost in food, drink, and souvenir purchases. So 1,000 tickets times 32 teams times $150 is $4,800,000.

Now what about the loss of merchandise sales during the off season? It would be difficult to gauge this loss, but as fans are turned off their spending habits will certainly reflect their disappointment in the league. Over 106 million fans watched the 2010 Super Bowl. If those NFL fans spent on average even $1 less per person this off season than they normally would, the lost revenue would be $106 million.

So we are EASILY well over the $92 million that each side would stand to lose by coming to an agreement at 47% for the players and 53% for the owners. Could someone please share this information with the NFL?