Owners last week voted to require teams that are part of a winning Super Bowl bid to give up one home game, to be played in London sometime in the five years following the successful bid. It’s the surest sign yet that the NFL expects to play more games in London when the current resolution allowing international play expires after 2016.
The resolution also requires teams that play in temporary venues to give up a home game in the following five years, and awards an extra $1 million to each club that cedes a home game. Teams are already compensated for their lost revenue, so the $1 million is an extra incentive. Temporary venues are facilities where teams might play between moving from an old stadium to a new one, like the Vikings, who are playing at TCF Bank Stadium for two seasons before their new stadium is ready. The rule isn’t retroactive, so it does not apply to the Vikes.
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SBJ Podcast:
NFL writer Daniel Kaplan and Executive Editor Abraham Madkour discuss last week's NFL meetings, where they think the NFL is missing opportunities and how the Pegulas fared as they were approved as owners of the Buffalo Bills.
The Super Bowl and temporary venue options would kick in only if there are not enough teams volunteering in a given year. The NFL played a single London regular-season game each year between 2007 and 2012 and two in 2013, and three are scheduled this year. The league is evaluating whether to stay at three games in 2015 or go to four.
“We need a long-term ability to commit to games, to sponsors, for Wembley Stadium, and other stadiums, and our fans,” said Mark Waller, NFL executive vice president of international. “One of the things we are looking at potentially selling is a season ticket over more than one season.”
The NFL now sells three-game season-ticket packages for the Wembley games, dubbed the International Series. The league’s deal with Wembley expires after 2016 also, and discussions are underway with the English Football Association, which owns the venue, as well as other London-area stadiums.
Asked whether the passage of the resolution underscores the logic in assuming owners will extend playing games in London past 2016, Waller responded, “Presumably we would be doing it for the long term.”
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Falcons’ Blank: Owners will look at Goodell’s pay.
Photo by: AP IMAGES
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■ GOODELL’S PAY: Arthur Blank, the Atlanta Falcons’ owner, chairs the league’s compensation committee. With Commissioner
Roger Goodell’s pay now a political and media piñata (Goodell earned $44.2 million in the year ended March 31, 2013), Blank’s role is no longer so in the background. Asked whether owners will take into account the issues roiling the NFL in determining Goodell’s pay going forward, Blank responded, “All of those factors will come into play and be under discussion.”
Blank pointed out that Goodell is under contract through 2019, though most of his compensation is based on bonuses determined by owners annually. Goodell’s pay is disclosed annually in February when the NFL league office files its tax return as a not-for-profit. When the figure emerges in four months, it will not reflect the current issues because it is for the pay period ended March 31, 2014. The overall figure he earns, however, may not be as high as $44.2 million, insiders said, simply because 20 percent of that amount was deferred pay earned in earlier years.
Blank said discussions at the NFL to switch the tax status to for-profit are not because the league wants to shield Goodell’s pay.
■ TEXANS IN THE HOUSE: When Tony Romo had to go to a silent count at home Oct. 5 against the Houston Texans, the roar from opposing fans underscored the rising travel of Houston supporters (Romo estimated that half the crowd was cheering for the Texans). The team has an unofficial group, the Traveling Texans, whose Facebook page has more than 10,000 likes. In the offseason, the Texans thought of bringing the Traveling Texans in-house, said Jamey Rootes, the team’s president, but decided it was best to let the 3-year-old group grow organically.
The Texans have one of the most loyal fan bases in the league, evidenced by a season-ticket waiting list of 22,000 that didn’t shrink after last year’s 2-14 season. Asked how the team could monetize the travel trend, Rootes replied not everything is about directly cashing in. The Texans benefit indirectly from a loyal and loud fan base, he said.
■ QUICK OUTS: Mark Lamping, the Jacksonville Jaguars’ president, said the new pool deck at EverBank Stadium has resulted in incremental revenue gains of several million dollars. Still, that hasn’t gotten Lamping to take the plunge into the pool. … Speaking of the Jaguars, owner Shahid Khan now sports, in addition to his famous moustache, a ponytail. Guessing that is a first for a male NFL owner. … Texans owner Bob McNair said the owners were told during the domestic violence presentations that only 4 percent of companies have a policy for what to do when an employee is accused of a crime, and he hopes the NFL can become a standard-bearer in this way. … If the NFL wanted to convey a new era of openness in its first owners meeting since the Ray Rice scandal broke, it was tough to explain the security restrictions on the media. There were roped-off areas, akin to a pen, where reporters were forced to stand, and if they wandered into a largely vacant lobby to speak to an owner or executive, hotel and NFL security zoomed in to tell them to go back to the pen. … Having the meeting in New York, a rarity for owners meetings, had certain benefits for league executives. Eric Grubman, an executive vice president, rode home one evening using Citi Bike, New York’s 2-year-old bike-sharing system. A docking station is across the street from the Conrad Hotel, where the meetings occurred.
