A considerable percentage of profits are thought to be generated through secondary NFL tickets salesGETTY IMAGES
The NFL's ticket-selling framework was "poised to produce arguably the richest windfall the league has ever seen" this year, but it is "now looking like a double-loss is inevitable," according to Charles Robinson of YAHOO SPORTS. Not only is the NFL "staring at losing its traditional ticket revenue -- from season-ticket holders and one-off retail buyers -- but the league has now also lost several of its richest double-dipping resale markets," including the Raiders, Eagles, Jets and Giants. Those are the first four franchises to "completely eliminate fans in 2020, with more venues likely to follow suit in the coming month." After several years of consolidating the secondary ticket market and cutting out brokers through partnerships with StubHub and others, the NFL also will be "losing a back-end revenue stream." The NFL and its ticket resale partners "don't reveal the revenue split on the tickets that get sold on the secondary market through partners." But sources said that it is "believed to be a considerable percentage of profits generated when NFL tickets are resold through a secondary partner." That means losing that second bite at ticket revenue "will deepen the revenue loss tied to fans." TicketIQ has placed the value of lost ticket revenue in '20 at $7B "if no fans can attend NFL games" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 8/5).
