Federal Judge Denise Cote's decision issuing a
preliminary injunction "to stop Coors from using the letters
'NFL'" in an upcoming promo "detailed a history of disputes"
between NFLP and Players Inc "concerning the use" of the NFL
mark and "also revealed the annual rights fees" paid by the
NFL's beer sponsors, according to Andy Bernstein of the
SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. In the decision, Cote wrote that
Miller Brewing, which "threatened to withhold payments" if
the Coors promo wasn't stopped, "will pay" NFLP $9.5M this
year, and the rights fees "will increase by" $200,000
annually for the next two years. A-B, which does not have
Super Bowl rights and "faces a few other limitations not
imposed on Miller," pays a rights fee of $2.175M this year,
with increases of $700,000 in each of the next two seasons.
Players Inc "charged" Coors $1.6M for "the right to run" the
promo, but according to Cote, Coors was "really paying for
the rights to stick the letters N-F-L" on POS materials.
Cote, in her decision: "It is abundantly clear that Coors
would not have entered the contract without receiving the
rights from Players Inc. to use the term NFL Players. A
licensing agreement that only gave the right to say Players
Inc. would simply not have been valuable because consumers
don't yet understand what the Players Inc. mark refers
[to]." Figures show that Players Inc's licensing revenue
"reached a high-water mark" of $30.5M in '96, but "dropped"
to $28.4M in '97 and "just" $24.4M in '98. But the entity's
sponsorship revenue has been "growing during the same
period," as it "tripled" from '96 to '97. Last season,
Players Inc "collected" $300,000 from M&M/Mars, and that fee
rose to $500,000 this year (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 8/16).
