SBJ Football: Takeaways From A Peaceful Deal For NFL Refs

I watched a screening last night of the Olympic Channel’s “Running in North Korea” at N.Y. Road Runners’ HQ. The documentary followed two Olympians -- one Brit and one Swiss -- as they visited the Hermit Kingdom for its annual marathon. The film is spellbinding -- equal parts uplifting and disconcerting.

NFL-REFEREE RELATIONSHIP IN A GOOD PLACE

• The NFL Referees Association recently ratified a seven-year contract by a vote of 102-3, with 17 abstentions. Unlike the calamitous 2012 lockout (shout-out Packers fans!), these negotiations were quiet and easy. No numbers were published, but NFLRA head Scott Green said the vote count is a good indication the refs like their raises.
  
  
• The entire process carried a “totally different tenor” compared to 2012, Green said. Negotiations never flagged, and the NFL clearly wanted a deal promptly. “There’s definitely been a change,” Green said. “Whether it’s specific, and can totally be put on what occurred previously, or the advantages they see financially in moving forward and getting these things done, I don’t know.”

• It’s risky, but tempting, to draw conclusions about the future of talks with the NFLPA based on the officials’ resolution. The NFL is on a winning streak right now, and that seems to happen naturally when fans are focused on actual football, not everything else that causes headaches on Park Avenue.
  
  
• Training/development was a dominant issue at the table for the refs. A big problem is that football just doesn’t have many places for young officials to get full-speed reps. Enter the XFL? A league source says there have been serious internal discussions about using the startup league as a referee training ground. Green said he’s all for it. 

ENDEAVOR'S FAILED IPO LIKELY STALLS OLE DEAL

• There is nothing about Endeavor’s aborted IPO that necessarily precludes finalizing a purchase of the NFL-founded hospitality outfit On Location Experiences (OLE). However, headwinds are getting stronger, and those headwinds suggest that no deal is forthcoming for the private-equity backed OLE -- with Endeavor or anybody else -- until after the Super Bowl at the earliest.
  
  
• Sources tell me Endeavor remains the only suitor that’s engaged in recent, substantive conversations with OLE. In the wake of its IPO implosion, Endeavor is struggling with a range of urgent strategic questions. Other possible suitors, like LiveNation, have been on the sideline. OLE Chair Eric Grubman: “We are a free agent and looking at various possibilities.”
  
  
• If OLE does cut bait with Endeavor, the timeline gets tough in the short term. The NFL wants the firm’s focus on the Super Bowl, even if partners Redbird Capital, Bruin Sports Capital and Carlyle Group would like to exit. Throw in Thanksgiving and the December holidays, and you’ve got a tight window.
  
  
• The dust is still settling over Endeavor’s bad news, so it’s too early to predict how it will proceed from here, or how fruitful OLE’s “various possibilities” are. But either way, the status quo appears to be the best guess for now.

WHAT DOES NFL COMMITTEE SHAKEUP MEAN?

• Last week, I reported on important changes to NFL committee assignments. So what are some of the bigger implications? Mark Wilf, Shad Khan, Jonathan Kraft and Art Rooney are four team execs who now carry more clout in leaguewide decisions than they did this time last year. Katie Blackburn and Arthur Blank have gone the other way.
  
  
• Khan now chairs two committees whose influence seems poised to grow: business ventures and legalized sports betting. Meanwhile, Wilf took over the stadiums committee from Rooney, but Rooney added chairmanships of Compensation and Workplace Diversity. While Kraft lost a chairmanship when the digital media committee was disbanded, he will stay involved in media and added a newly empowered committee -- Fan Engagement & Major Events (formerly Super Bowl & Major Events). 
  
  
• Blackburn went from two chair spots to none (she was on Super Bowl/Major Events and Workplace Diversity). Blank also is without a chair spot, as he leaves Compensation under a previously reported arrangement and is stepping into a rank-and-file role with the Audit Committee. One other change worth noting: the Buccaneers’ Joel Glazer replaces Clark Hunt atop the international committee.
  
  
• To be clear, changes are not necessarily related to performance or merit. But whatever the reasons, chairmanships come with power and direct lines to senior league execs.
   
  
   

A LOOK AT NFL 100: PALEY CENTER OPENS ITS DOORS 

• The Paley Center for Media in Manhattan opened its NFL 100th season exhibit this week, hoping to blend a museum visit with live fan experiences around football. With help from the NFL and the Pro Football HOF, visitors can see the Lombardi Trophy, all 53 Super Bowl Rings, play trivia and watch Jets and Giants games live in the center’s theater. The coolest part was the video library. You can watch the original TV broadcast of every Super Bowl, including the commercials. I’ve seen NFL Films' highlight package from Super Bowl III dozens of times, but yesterday was the first time I saw Curt Gowdy’s lime green blazer and the rudimentary on-screen graphics from 1969.

Visitors to the Paley Center for Media can catch a glimpse of the Lombardi Trophy

SPEED READS

• I knew that last night’s Rams-Seahawks game was not going to be on NFL Network for Dish Network and Sling TV subscribers as part of a carriage battle with Fox. But I was surprised that the league-owned network was also blacked out everywhere, including Comcast, DirecTV and Cox. What gives? My colleague John Ourand fills us in: NFL Net’s agreement with Dish mandates that NFL Net cannot show different programming to Dish subscribers than it shows to other distributors. When Fox decided that NFL Net could not simulcast last night’s game -- and it was Fox’s decision -- the network was forced to take it down everywhere, not just for Dish Network and Sling TV subscribers. In its place, NFL Net showed NFL 100 programming.
  
  
• SBJ Daily on Thursday did a great job rounding up tributes to late Cardinals Owner Bill Bidwill. Eight decades in any industry is an incredible feat.

• Keep an eye out for Terry Lefton’s column on Monday. Football has been dealing with a decline in youth participation for years, but there’s a silver lining. More girls -- around 2,400 -- are playing high school football than ever, according to the National Federation of State High Schools Associations. Meanwhile, Antoinette “Toni” Harris earlier this year became the first female non-kicker to be granted a college football scholarship, and Jon Butler, the executive director of Pop Warner, thinks a female head college football coach is “inevitable.”
  
  
• Commissioner Roger Goodell made a few appearances today in London ahead of Bears-Raiders on Sunday He toured the newly opened NFL Academy in north London and watched the players practice with Raiders alumni. Then he toured the new Tottenham stadium with the EPL club's chair, Daniel Levy.
  
  
• SBJ’s Austin Karp ran the numbers through the first four weeks, and NFL viewership continues to rise. Games are up 4% from the same point last season, with Fox and CBS seeing their best Sunday afternoon averages since the start of the 2016 season. As for what games caught my eye in the coming weeks, Fox and NFL Net have Giants-Patriots for “TNF” next week, while NBC headlines Week 7 with Eagles-Cowboys on "SNF." Separately, I wonder if Amazon streaming numbers get a boost with the linear "TNF" blackouts.
  
  
• Should be a fun scene in London on Sunday as Tottenham Hotspur Stadium hosts its first NFL game featuring Bears-Raiders. Tickets are sold out, and there's expected to be a significant amount of fan experiences on offer at the $1.2 billion stadium. Here's a glimpse at the stadium's transformation below.

The 62,000-seat stadium was built with the influence of Tottenham’s 10-year partnership with the NFL

Enjoying this newsletter? We've got more! Check out SBJ College with Michael Smith on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and SBJ Media with John Ourand on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Something on the football beat catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to either 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).