NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue met the media assembled
for Super Bowl XXXI in New Orleans on Friday and gave his
report on the state of the NFL. Excerpts:
EXPANSION: Tagliabue: "We will take a look at
expansion to 32 teams, particularly in light of the two
recent expansion teams ... The popularity of our league, the
interest in NFL football in a number of other markets, both
in the U.S. and outside of the U.S., makes it timely now,
particularly as we approach our television negotiations
which will structure our television revenue for the seasons
1998 through 2001. I think we need to look ahead and look at
expansion in the context of all those things."
FRANCHISE STABILITY: Tagliabue: "Our first goal, and
one that I think we made a lot of progress on in the last
year, is team stability. ... Hopefully we can accomplish two
goals together: team stability, no more moves, and teams in
Cleveland and Los Angeles."
ATTENDANCE: Tagliabue noted attendance drops "in a
couple of cities this year in particular: Houston, Seattle,
Tampa Bay, for reasons which are fairly obvious. At the
same time, we had more games sold out, more games with
blackout lifts than in the last four or five years. So we
had more people watching our games on television and broader
television coverage than we've ever had before. ... we are
looking at these numbers but we are not overly concerned."
PUBLIC OWNERSHIP: Tagliabue: "The costs are just too
high, especially the cost of building a stadium, which is
the challenge that many communities have."
ON SUPER BOWL HALFTIME SHOWS: Tagliabue, on whether
Super Bowl halftime acts would be curbed in the aftermath of
the death of Dinky Patterson, who was fatally injured while
practicing for this year's halftime routine: "Any time you
have a tragic accident you think a lot. ... My feeling is
that it will probably not change our approach to the Super
Bowl halftime."
TV RATINGS: Tagliabue: "If you keep going up as we have
in attendance and television ratings, you're going to hit
cyclical points, you're going to hit plateaus. ... We'll
have a very substantial increase in television revenue. I
say that for a number of reasons. First of all is public
interest in our programming and in our game. We have
tremendous audiences. Second is the advertising interest in
partnering with the National Football League and supporting
our game through television advertising, sponsorships and
other agreements. Third, obviously, is interest on CBS's
part again to become part of NFL television" (ESPN, 1/24).
REACTION: In Washington, Leonard Shapiro wrote "several
owners attending the nationally televised session ... say
they were somewhat surprised by Tagliabue's comments on
expansion." Saints Owner Tom Benson: "It's the first I've
heard that" (WASHINGTON POST, 1/25). In Philadelphia, Bill
Lyon wrote, "Whatever the reason ... Tagliabue insisted
[Friday] that his sport and his league never have been
healthier. He made this claim even as evidence to the
contrary continued to pile up" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER,
1/25). In Hartford, Greg Garber: "Tagliabue's sometimes
rosy portrait of the NFL was challenged by reporters, who
cited declining television ratings and attendance" (HARTFORD
COURANT, 1/25). ESPN's Chris Mortensen, on expansion plans
for L.A.-Cleveland: "Tagliabue will set an aggressive agenda
on expansion, now convinced that the [TV] rights contract
will have a substantial increase" (ESPNET, 1/24). For more
on Tagliabue's remarks, see #14 and 15.
