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SBJ Football: NFLPA Banking On Big Media Money


This morning the PA system on the NYC subway told us to “wash your hands.” That’s good advice, but it’s been good advice since they crammed the first commuter into an underground tube in 1904, and they've never said it before. On to football.

 

 

DETAILS ON REVENUE SHARING FOR NFL CBA

  • We finally have the detailed tentative CBA, so let’s get a little wonky. First thing: The players’ revenue sharing split isn’t quite what we thought. At first, I heard that players were going from 47% to 48.5% in exchange for a 17th game. But that’s not right: Anything above 48% is contingent on media-rights negotiations.

  • Players get 48% starting in 2021 regardless, and if the season is extended and media rights revenue grows by at least 35%, they’re eligible for a so-called “media kicker.” It would mean 48.5% if broadcast fees grow by 60%, and 48.8% if they grow by 120%. My colleague John Ourand’s sources say the 60% threshold is very achievable -- squarely in the territory of most predictions. The 120% kicker is more of a stretch.

  • Gambling. Along with sharing fully in all revenue created by NFL gambling, players will get a cut of any gambling revenue in or near NFL stadiums (we’re talking casinos or sportsbooks developed nearby or inside NFL facilities). During NFL seasons, owners will have to share all revenue from gambling in or near the stadium with players. In the offseason, teams only have to share half the revenue from in-stadium gambling and one-third the revenue from adjacent gambling businesses.

  • SoFi Stadium: Owners can hold back from revenue-sharing 30% of any “incremental revenue” generated by the Rams and Chargers in their new Inglewood stadium. That’s defined as all revenue, except for personal seat license fees, above the teams’ top line in their final year in their old cities. This exclusion, along with a pre-existing exclusion of PSL revenue, will continue until “such time that total exclusions equal the private cost” to build the stadium.

 


RESULTS OF CBA VOTE LIKELY COMING SOON

  • With players voting now, politics inside the NFLPA could hardly be more tense. Executive Director DeMaurice Smith has invested nearly a year in getting to this point, but he cannot be seen as explicitly advocating a yes vote -- or even presupposing the result. Which is why I was surprised last week when some reports said he was “confident” it would pass.

  • When I asked NFLPA spokesperson George Atallah about it, he said those reports are incorrect. What are Smith’s expectations? Here’s what Smith said, via Atallah: “There is certainly a lot of emotion but I am bound to analyze and make decisions on the facts. My hope and expectation is that our players and people in our business do the same and make an informed decision either way about their future.”

  • One way or another, we should know the vote totals by next week’s edition of SBJ Football. Possibly much earlier. It’s possible the union would announce totals within an hour or two of the vote closing at 11:59pm ET on Thursday -- which means another overnight shift for us reporters. At worst, they’d let us know the following morning.

  • Anyone who’s saying they know how it will go is making it up. Most assume that rank-and-file players will vote yes, but the deal's opponents have been actively whipping opposition. Turnout is a huge variable too. This morning, ESPN’s Dan Graziano -- who’s as plugged in as anyone -- said: “There’s honestly no way to predict how the vote will go."

  • One more wrinkle: the NFLPA will elect a new president on Tuesday to replace outgoing president Eric Winston, who cannot run for re-election, PFT's Mike Florio notes. Anti-CBA voice Russell Okung is running.

 



CARDINALS NOW THIRD NFL TEAM WITH SEATGEEK

  • The Cardinals have signed with SeatGeek as their primary ticketing partner, supplanting Ticketmaster, effective immediately. That makes three NFL team deals for the N.Y.-based ticketing upstart after the Saints signed up in 2017, followed by the Cowboys in 2018. The news comes the same week SeatGeek announced a new deal with Liverpool, its ninth EPL client.

  • Neither SeatGeek nor the Cardinals would comment. The timing of this is slightly awkward, because the Cardinals needed to start telling season-ticket holders about the transition this week, but the Ticketmaster contract prevents either side from promoting the new relationship until April 1.

  • The deal is just a three-year pact, because the NFL’s contracts with StubHub, SeatGeek and Ticketmaster expire in 2022 and league execs want to reserve their right to shift gears after that. SeatGeek already has its own limited deal with the NFL, allowing it to offer verified tickets on the secondary market under the NFL’s open distribution model, in which Ticketmaster remains the primary league partner.

 

 

SPEED READS

  • Is David Tepper the new Jerry Jones? That was an assessment floated on ESPN Radio Charlotte this week by The Athletic’s John Hayes. “It’s not just football where David Tepper is making an impact," he said. "I’m starting to think about him being the richest owner in the NFL, this franchise being his baby, him being in front of the cameras and talking about players somewhat in a general manager fashion. I can’t help but think that he is a spitting-image of Jerry Jones. For some people that might make their skin crawl, and for others they might say that’s something we need in Carolina.”
  • 49ers RB Raheem Mostert canceled a planned autograph signing for Sunday at the Santa Clara Convention Center. Mostert on Twitter cited the recent outbreak of coronavirus in the Bay Area and the fact that he and his wife are expecting their second child this fall. "It is my job to put my family first. Thank you all for your understanding. I will make it up to you soon!"

  • Commissioner Oliver Luck played up the speed of an XFL game when talking to John Clayton about the league’s debut season. “The feedback we’re getting from fans and broadcast partners is that the games are enjoyable to watch,” Luck said on ESPN Radio Seattle. “The up-tempo part people really like. We’re playing fast. An average game time of 2 hours, 49 minutes, which is around 20 minutes less than the NFL.”
  • The Texans’ Deshaun Watson and Rams’ Jalen Ramsey have reached a partnership with Rally, a platform that lets you invest in small shares of collectibles. For example, users of the Rally platform can buy shares in Watson’s 1988 Lamborghini or Ramsey’s collection of Muhammad Ali memorabilia. The deals came together through a close relationship with Rally co-Founder Rob Petrozzo and Athletes First President David Mulugheta, who reps both Watson and Ramsey. Watson told SBJ’s Thomas Leary that Rally was attractive due to the company’s emphasis on financial responsibility, a topic both he and Ramsey emphasize on social media.

  • Tampa is going to be leaning into the yacht scene for Super Bowl LV next year. Host Committee President & CEO Rob Higgins, who also runs the local sports commission, said the organization is taking a page from when it hosted the 2017 CFP National Championship and plans to offer slips for a Yacht Village in downtown. "It became this iconic image of the national championship with all these yachts parked in front of the convention center," said Higgins on the "Tampa Bay 55" podcast. "We're working through the logistics of bringing that back. I'll never forget that three of four days after the national champion was crowned, ESPN was still out on the river walk broadcasting from Yacht Village. This was the pseudo difference maker that we created from scratch." 

 

 

 

 

------- 4 Commissioners Confirmed to Speak at World Congress of Sports -------

The NFL's Roger Goodell and WNBA's Cathy Engelbert are now confirmed to speak at the CAA World Congress of Sports, March 25-26 at the Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point, CA. They join MLB's Rob Manfred and MLS' Don Garber on this year’s speaker roster. To view the agenda and to register, go to www.WorldCongressofSports.com.

 

 

 

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).