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SBJ Football: NFL Remains On Path For Full Schedule


I respect that Washington’s new communications chief Julie Andreeff Jensen still has a Twitter profile that says “@BuffaloBills lifetime fan.” I know fandom doesn’t go away just because you get a new job. She’s team President Jason Wright’s first Senior VP-level hire.

   

A LONG WAY FROM CANCELING GAMES

  • A COVID-19 sensationalist might be tempted to declare the NFL season in doubt, but there’s still plenty of options left to exhaust before the league even considers canceling games outright. Based on the facts as of now, consider a full 256-game schedule, 14-team playoff and a Super Bowl champion highly probable. 

  • It’s true there are limitations to the duct-tape and bailing wire approach to rescheduling postponements, seen most vividly with the eight-game shuffle announced last Sunday. “We lose the flexibility as the weeks go on,” said Exec VP/Football Operations Troy Vincent.

  • But this week’s decision to cancel the Pro Bowl -- oh, excuse me, to reimagine the Pro Bowl -- opens the door to a "Week 18,” a convenient end-of-the-year dumping ground for postponed games that wouldn’t have to delay the Super Bowl. 

  • Furthermore, the Super Bowl isn’t bolted down to Feb. 7. Because of the pandemic uncertainty, Super Bowl ticketing, marketing and hospitality programs are still in the early planning phases. So there’s less disruption involved with a late change. The Tampa hosts have always known it might shift; the league’s only concern about delaying the Super Bowl is that if it gets into March, it will affect the start of the 2021 league year and free agency -- so there’s three more weeks in February.

  • Commissioner Roger Goodell suggested there are other options we don’t know about. "Fortunately we haven’t had to use many of the things we have discussed and thought about, but we will have flexibility to compete our season and the Super Bowl,” he said. "That’s the goal.” 

  • Of course, the above analysis depends on the 32 teams holding the line on outbreaks. If multiple teams have Titans-esque positive test results, those sensationalists might have a point. But for now, outright cancelations and the associated financial hit are not close to the next step.

 

NFL RESEARCH: TOP FAN CONCERN SWITCHED FROM PANDEMIC TO ELECTION

  • After the pandemic shutdowns started in March, COVID-19 topped the list of fans' concerns and anxieties for months, according to the NFL’s regular surveys. But recently, the election has leapfrogged over the pandemic as the top non-football preoccupation, NFL CMO Tim Ellis said.

  • In the NFL Sports Poll Tracker dated Oct. 7, 83% of NFL fans said they were very/somewhat concerned about the election, compared to 81% who said the same about the pandemic. It was the fourth time in five weeks the election topped the pandemic, whereas prior to that the pandemic held the top spot.

  • Both topics have rated very high all year, with at least 7 in 10 fans citing both the pandemic and election as big points of concern in every poll the NFL shared with me. Throw in high responses for a recession and civil unrest, and it’s totally unprecedented for sports to have so many challenges breaking through.

  • Ellis thinks there’s some upside. Since he joined two years ago, Ellis has wanted to personalize the NFL’s brand with a “helmets off strategy” -- leading with players’ personal interests and passions instead of the NFL’s traditional policy and procedures reputation. Social causes like racial equity and get-out-the-vote do just that, and Ellis says it’s paying off. “It shows an image of a progressive, evolving brand that I think is really … It's going to help us future-proof the NFL.”

 

NIELSEN SHARES STATS ON SEAT COVER LOGOS

  • On average, NFL team sponsors are getting about 70 seconds of TV exposure per game from the tarp logos covering the lower rows of stadiums during the pandemic, according to Nielsen Sports data analyzed by SportsAtlas’ Will Cavanaugh. That works out to about $60,000 in media value as measured by the firm, which uses a “quality index” factor to make sure logo exposure is compared apples-to-apples with commercials.

  • Despite falling short of expectations, there’s not much doubt the tarp covers are comparatively powerful tools. Through three weeks, the tarps have generated more than $34.2 million in media value through just under 11 hours of on-screen time, Nielsen says. That’s more than all other club-controlled sponsorship assets combined, which have had 7:17 of exposure and generated $19.6 million in media value.

  • SportsAtlas research shows the average team features 12 sponsors on the tarps. The average team has provided partners with just under 14 minutes of exposure and $714,000 in QI Media Value each week. There’s more NFL sponsorship data at SportsAtlas.

 

Nielsen data shows that through Week 3, NFL tarps generated more than $34.2 million in media value (just under 11 hours of on-screen time)

 

A LOOK INTO THE SCHEDULING SCRAMBLE IN MIAMI

  • The Dolphins had a big moment on the field Sunday, dominating the 49ers on the road. But back in Miami, senior VPs Jeremy Walls and Todd Boyan were stressed -- because of COVID-19 scheduling swaps, they learned the Dolphins' next home game would be in seven days against the Jets, not in 14 days against the Chargers as originally planned. It was an all-hands-on-deck situation.

  • Two things had to happen at once: Boyan’s team had to verify that more than 2,000 part-time game day employees could work on Oct. 18 instead of Oct. 25. Meanwhile, Walls' division had to touch base with every ticket holder and people who’d bought 30 individual-game suites. That work started Sunday and continued into the middle of the week.

  • It’s been surprisingly smooth. Workers and fans alike overwhelmingly said they could make the new game. One suite holder said they had a trip to New York they couldn’t move, and “we made that work,” Walls said.

  • They said success stemmed from proactive communications -- as soon as the schedule change was official, the Dolphins made sure it was widely known in South Florida within hours. Also, throughout the offseason, CEO Tom Garfinkel set an expectation internally that the team had to be ready for surprises. Crushing the 49ers didn’t hurt, either, as Fins fans are fired up.

 

 

 

SPEED READS

  • In an early sign of what to expect at a pandemic Super Bowl, the NFL warned media this week it will “approve fewer media credential applications than in previous years” and reporters should not book travel until they’re confirmed, even if they always got a credential before. Priority will be given to “a limited number” of national media, Tampa area outlets and local media from participating teams. The regular-season protocols banning in-person player interviews and locker room access will be in place, and auxiliary press seating will be outside Raymond James Stadium.

  • Is more midweek football a thing for the NFL? The COVID-postponed Bills-Titans game on Tuesday gave the league and fans a glimpse at another potential primetime window. NBC Sports' Chris Simms, talking on the "Unbuttoned" podcast, said this about the window: "Loved it." NBC's Paul Burmeister added: "The earlier kick and having it on while you're still having a little bit of the Sunday/Monday hangover of no football. It's there to relieve you when it's not too dark out. I thought it was awesome." Simms: "I don't know if it's gonna be a ratings extravaganza on a Wednesday night, but it's still going to be more people than whatever that station is going to have on a normal Wednesday. "

  • The Raiders have expressed their interest in hosting Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium in 2024, a source told me. NFL owners created an opening yesterday in the Super Bowl schedule Wednesday by approving a plan to shift New Orleans’ hosting duties from 2024 to 2025 to avoid a Mardi Gras conflict. 

  • The Falcons shut down their facility this morning after a positive COVID-19 test for a non-player personnel. One source said it was an assistant coach. While any positive test this late in the week raises doubts about Sunday’s game (Atlanta is slated to play in Minnesota), for now, the game is on, the league said. After ESPN’s Adam Schefter originally reported there were four positives this morning, Brett Jewkes, chief comms officer for AMB Sports, the Falcons' parent company, tweeted: "Accuracy > Fast. Have a great day."

  • The NFLPA, via its licensing and marketing arm NFL Players Inc., this week entered into a multiyear agency agreement with Exim to expand its licensing portfolio throughout Mexico and Latin America, SBJ's David Broughton reports. The top-selling jersey in the region? Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott. For more on the rankings, read tonight's issue of the SBJ Unpacks newsletter.

  • Bud Light leans into the cardboard cutouts at NFL stadiums this season with its latest spot, via Wieden + Kennedy. The ad, which follows the journey of a Giants fan's cutout at MetLife Stadium, will roll out the spot on linear TV this Sunday. 

 

A new NFL-focused Bud Light spot, via Wieden + Kennedy, leans into cardboard cutouts at venues

 

 

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 Tell us about it. Reach out to me (bfischer@sportsbusinessjournal.com) or Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it. Also contributing to this newsletter is Thomas Leary (tleary@sportsbusinessdaily.com).