State Of The League: NFL Not Immune From Current Economy

Goodell Says Teams Must Work Harder To Draw Fans To Games In This Economy

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell Friday during his state of the league address said the NFL is "not immune from what’s going on out in the economy." He said, "There’s a tremendous amount of uncertainty, and uncertainty clearly breeds fear." More Goodell: "There’s less disposable income out there. ... Can (fans) continue to afford to come to an NFL game or to any other event?” He added the league is acting “very aggressively (to) look at all of our season-ticket prices." He added teams are "going to have to work harder, be more creative, and offer extended terms to our fans to allow them to try to get through this kind of difficult cycle” (NFL Network, 1/30). Goodell Friday noted that about 75% of the league's 32 teams will "not raise season ticket prices next season." However, Goodell added that the NFL will "not alter its blackout policy, which holds that games must be sold out to be broadcast in their local television markets" (N.Y. TIMES, 1/31). Goodell: "The blackout policy is a longstanding policy in the NFL that has served the league well, served the public well" (DETROIT NEWS, 1/31). Goodell during his press conference "did not mention anything" about PSLs (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 1/31).

L.A. ALIVE: Goodell Friday said that the NFL will "take a hard look at bringing" Super Bowl L in '16 back to L.A., the site of the inaugural Super Bowl in '67, "whether or not the city has a team." Goodell: "We think that is a very attractive opportunity. We've heard from some of the people in Los Angeles that this would be a great way to celebrate our 50th anniversary, and we will do that, we will evaluate that. It is something that we will probably do sometime over the course of this next year." Goodell declined to say whether the NFL could make a decision on Super Bowl L before determining the host cities for Super Bowls XLVII, XLVIII and XLIX (LATIMES.com, 1/30).

HEALTH RISK: Goodell was interviewed during NBC's Super Bowl pregame show yesterday, where he addressed charges the league is unsafe after a recent study showed several former NFLers who have died recently showed signs of brain damage. Goodell said, “Concussions are an important issue to us and we’ve been working on this for 15 years. We’ve made rule changes with respect to helmet hits. We’ve had equipment changes. All of this came from our independent committee that has made significant progress in addressing the affects of concussions: how do we prevent them, how do we treat them and how do educate our players and other players about the affects of concussions?” ("Super Bowl XLIII Pregame," NBC, 2/1).

NOTES: Goodell Friday said that the Lions will host their traditional Thanksgiving Game in '09, as they have for most seasons since '34, but "offered no assurances Friday the tradition would continue beyond next season." Goodell: "I understand it's a great tradition." But Goodell admitted that there has been "some push from some NFL owners in the past to rotate the game around the league" (DETROIT NEWS, 1/31)....Goodell noted that the NFL is "going to take a hard look at how overtime games are decided, including the possibility of ruling out games decided by a field goal on the opening drive of the extra period" (L.A. TIMES, 1/31).