NFL Roundtable: How Deaths Of Long-Time Owners, L.A. Franchise May Impact League

As the NFL’s popularity continues to rise, it is possibly faced with more hot-button issues heading into the season than ever before. THE DAILY conducted a two-part roundtable discussion with a panel of top media members -- the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Bryan Burwell, the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Nick Canepa, WIP-FM Eagles radio sideline reporter Howard Eskin, Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, NFL Network’s Amber Theoharis, the Boston Globe’s Ben Volin, MMQB’s Jenny Vrentas and ESPN’s Trey Wingo -- discussing their views on several topics from across the league. The first part can be read here.

Wilson's Bills currently are the only NFL team up for  sale

Florio: In Buffalo, the impact won’t be known until the team is sold.  In Tennessee, it’s also too early to tell who eventually will emerge as the new face of ownership. In those cities and elsewhere, the NFL needs to be more vigilant than ever about its screening processes. The NBA learned the hard way that ownership qualifications entail concerns far more important than finding the person who can afford to buy a team. As franchise values increase, the pool of eligible buyers shrinks. The NFL needs to make good decisions when it comes to approving future owners, ensuring that someone who has the funds but who lacks the judgment or other characteristics important to the task of running a franchise won’t get a seat at the most exclusive table in American sports.

Canepa: I don't think the new owners will affect the NFL and how it goes about its business one bit. The NFL is a classic old boy network. Newcomers are not coming right in and gaining power. Not in this league. Power in the NFL comes from being around a while, and most often that isn't good enough. Late Chargers Owner Gene Klein gained league power, but he also became close with Pete Rozelle. Pete moved into Klein's neighborhood in San Diego after he retired. Can you imagine the new guys pushing around Kraft and Jones? They have to wait their turn. NFL owners are stubborn pieces of work. Ask anyone who has been in meetings with them. Is there a Mark Cuban in this bunch? No. The NFL wouldn't allow them in if they were.

Wingo: I'm not sure what the change will be, but I think the NFL has already had their Mark Cuban moment -- when Jerry Jones and Robert Kraft entered. ... They changed the dynamic forever. Not sure anyone coming in now could have a greater impact than those two.

Volin: Five owners have passed away or relinquished control over their team in the last two years ... but only the Bills are up for sale, and the team's stadium lease pretty much ensures that the new owner will be keeping the team in Buffalo. But the Titans, Lions, Bucs and Broncos are all staying within their families. And let's be honest, all of the owners other than Pat Bowlen weren't that heavily involved in the NFL. They showed up to the annual meetings and voted on league issues, but weren't involved in any day-to-day operations. Even though some of the familiar names in ownership are passing on, I expect the NFL to operate as usual until the current CBA expires after the 2020 season.

Q: In your estimation, what is the future of the NFL in L.A?

Theoharis: L.A. is obviously a huge media market, so it certainly makes sense from that perspective, and the commissioner has publicly stated a desire to bring the NFL back to this market under the right circumstances. Considering that, it just seems like a matter of time. But, as a Baltimore area native who knows what it feels like to lose an NFL team, I can understand the fears of the fans in cities who hope the team in L.A. comes via expansion rather than moving their team.

Vrentas: While I'm wary of buying in too much to the recent optimism from owners and the like that a team in Los Angeles is on the horizon, the NFL is serious about cracking back into that market, and the league is usually able to get what it wants. The limiting factor has been making sure that if a team moves there it will not be financially stressed. But the league's top businessmen seem to believe there are now enough potential stadium site options and local support that if a team relocated it would be successful. As for London, the NFL is committed to continuing to grow a presence there, but I think it's more likely the next step will be an eight-game schedule at Wembley Stadium, with each team in the league playing one game there during the season and a rotating "home" team, rather than a team moving and setting up operations across the pond, for now.

Super Bowl halftime performers could be asked to  pay a fee to play the show

Volin: This doesn't bother me in the slightest. This is strictly a business decision that has nothing to do with the on-field product. The NFL has data saying that a performance at the Super Bowl gives a huge boost to an artist's record sales, and I have no problem with the NFL asking for a cut. And if artists don't want to "pay to play," they won't. But someone will bite, given how big the platform is.

Burwell: It doesn't bother me one way or another to see the NFL exploring the idea of selling the rights to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show. I would assume that they have come up with this idea based on realizing that acts are in no short supply clamoring to get one of the most high-profile entertainment gigs in the U.S. If there was no market for selling the show rights, there would be no conversations about doing it. My only complaint would be if the quality of the halftime shows ended up declining and we got bad acts or over-the-hill showmen who are so desperate to get back in the spotlight that they will pay any ransom to do the Super Bowl gig.

Eskin: I don’t know if I start with it’s a disgrace, it’s a joke, it’s an insult. I don’t think those words are good enough. It is insulting for the NFL to ask an act to pay when they in essence need that act to charge the enormous, ridiculous prices for commercial ads and charge those same prices for halftime. So they are trying to keep an audience, yet they want to charge the people that are there to keep the audience money to play. I hope every act in the world says to the NFL, “Up yours.”