SBJ Football: The NFL Season Arrives On Time

Aside from COVID, my biggest question for the NFL is this: Will hostile politicians succeed in making hay of the league’s focus on social justice and race issues? This season is likely to make the scattered kneeling of 2016 and 2017 seem minor by comparison. I’m a skeptic on this topic driving viewership one way or another, but as Jerry Jones noted, that doesn’t mean there’s no risk.

RECOUNTING HOW THE NFL GOT HERE

• When the pandemic hit in March, some coaches, GMs and execs suggested the NFL delay the start of free agency. Or the Draft. Those notions fell on deaf ears at the league's Park Ave. HQ, and in hindsight, delaying those activities only would have made it harder to get to today, the scheduled kickoff. It was the first sign of how the NFL would approach this crisis.
  
  
• Early on, Commissioner Roger Goodell developed a pandemic operating philosophy that hasn’t really changed: Conduct as much business as possible under the new conditions, don’t make hard decisions until you have to and keep your medical experts by your side at all times. It was a deliberate path, one that used every minute available to get things right.
  
  
• Don’t mistake a clear philosophy for inflexibility. One of the first big changes was to cancel the strategically important international games. After COVID-19 case counts surged in the summer, the league agreed to cancel the entire preseason at the request of the NFLPA, and for daily virus testing instead of every other day. Protocols mitigating risk have drastically streamlined complex football operations.
  
  
• It hasn’t been perfect. The NFL kept insisting it was working toward “full stadiums” long after it was clear to most outsiders that such an idea couldn’t happen, causing some frustrations among season-ticket holders and venue operators.
  
  
• But the bottom line is a clear success: Of the countless ways the season could have been delayed, none came to pass. Now it’s time for the hard part.

WITH LEAGUE WATCHING, JAGS STREAMLINE THE STADIUM EXPERIENCE

• For years, the smart money in stadium design went into amenities and spaces intended to make gameday about more than just watching sports. COVID-19 put a stop to all that, and the few fans allowed into NFL games this season will be encouraged to keep their eye on the ball, from their seats.
  
  
• “Eliminating any gathering space” is a goal that pervaded planning, said Jaguars Senior VP/Sales & Service Chad Johnson. The Jags are the only team other than the Chiefs to play this week in front of home fans.
  
  
• Among other things, that means: No smoking sections; more entry ways into the stadium; all self-service ticket kiosks; app-based food and beverage ordering from seats; no condiment stands or mobile vendors; and a 15% boost in staff dedicated to “compliance,” which mainly means asking fans to wear masks, keep moving and follow directional signs.
  
  
• The Jags’ other big goal, said Johnson, is to eliminate all need for contact, so that includes mandatory cashless transactions, enclosed customer service booths, closed food containers and magnetometers that don’t require you to empty your pockets. Delaware North played a big part in the work.
  
  
• Johnson wouldn’t say how much it all cost, but it’s a big hike in spending when ticket revenue will be down about 75%. But the upgrades are permanent, and will hopefully pay off even when the stadium gets back to full capacity. “These are all investments that will live on and make for a great fan experience post-COVID,” Johnson said.
  
  
• Expect whatever works in Jacksonville and Kansas City to be a template leaguewide. “It’ll be helpful for us to see how other teams are doing it,” said Vikings COO Andrew Miller, who is hoping to bring fans into U.S. Bank Stadium later in the season. "We’re going on the road to Week 2 for Indy, and that’s one of the teams that does have fans. We’ll monitor how the Chiefs are doing it tomorrow, and the Colts in week 2.”

The Jags are one of two teams hosting fans in Week 1, and a big goal was to eliminate all need for person-to-person contact

NFL COMES INTO 2020 WITH REGULAR-SEASON VIEWERSHIP REBOUNDING

• The NFL comes into the regular season on the heels of two straight seasons of 5% viewership growth, with ESPN, CBS, Fox and NBC all seeing gains in 2019, notes SBJ’s Austin Karp. Games averaged 16.5 million viewers across all networks last season (including games on NFL Network), the same as in 2016, the last presidential election year.
  
  
• Always closely watched, ratings figure to be a massive talking point in the political context. Conservative critics of the league will jump on any decline to paint the NFL as out of touch for allowing player social justice protests, without regard to the actual reasons. 
  
  
• The league is coming out strong in Week 1, making sure TV partners have attractive matchups. Things start with what should be a popular Texans-Chiefs kickoff game on NBC. Some fans will still be watching Lakers-Rockets (TNT), but that game starts at 7pm ET and shouldn’t have a long overlap. There is no late primetime NBA competition.
  
  
• Fox on Sunday's national window is giving fans a first look at Tom Brady in a Buccaneers jersey against the Saints (expect big local numbers in New Orleans, Boston and Tampa-St. Pete). Fox is blanketing most of the country with that 4:25pm matchup (unless you live in Phoenix or the Bay Area). Fox will need a strong number to top Giants-Cowboys in the same window last season.
  
  
• The weekend concludes with the opening of SoFi Stadium on "Sunday Night Football," as the Rams will host the ratings magnet Cowboys in the venue's first game. On Monday, the "Rooney Mara Bowl" starts the “MNF” doubleheader, as ESPN gets Steelers-Giants. Titans-Broncos wraps up the night. It will still be a tall task for the NFL to top last year’s Week 1 overall viewership, which was up 5% from 2018.
  
  
• Where the NFL may run into trouble is later this month and early October as the presidential campaign ramps up. Cable news outlets continue to see elevated viewership numbers – a phenomenon that led a sharp drop in 2016. Last week alone, in terms of total-day viewing compared to the same period in 2019, Fox News was +38%, CNN was +45% and MSNBC was +46%.
  
  
• Two NFL games are set to run head-to-head with presidential debates, and they are both "Thursday Night Football" games on Fox/NFL Net. Bills-Chiefs (Oct. 15) and Eagles-Giants (Oct. 22) will compete with the second and third debates, respectively.

SIGNS OF HOPE ON THE ATTENDANCE FRONT

• After an August full of bad news about fans at NFL games, we’ve seen a trend back toward the positive just since this newsletter published last week.
  
  
• After some tough conversations with local politicians, the Colts got clearance for 2,500 fans to open on Sept. 20. The Browns and Bengals both got variances from the state of Ohio for 6,000 fans at two games each, and the Broncos received approval from Colorado to start seating 5,700 fans on Sept. 27.
  
  
• This should encourage NFL strategists for two reasons:
  
  
  • Politicians seek safety in numbers.
    
    
  • COVID-19 case counts are generally declining from mid-summer highs -- not fast enough for epidemiologists, but fast enough for politicians who might need justification for loosening the rules. The more stadiums that open without causing new outbreaks, and the more caseloads decline, the easier it gets everywhere else.
    
    
• One thing that caught my eye in Colorado: The Broncos’ point person on their negotiations with Gov. Jared Polis was Brittany Bowlen, who is deceased owner Pat Bowlen’s preferred successor.
  
  
• There’s a potentially dicey trial with her half-siblings over control of the team still looming, but the purpose of making Bowlen VP/Strategic Initiatives was to give her reps and credibility in the front office. You can't do much better than Polis, a popular governor, personally praising her for figuring out the fan problem.

NFL STARTS 2020 WITH THREE NEW LEAGUE SPONSORS

• The NFL will open the season with three new brands joining its large list of sponsors: Subway, Postmates and Invisalign.
  
  
• Subway took over the league’s QSR category, which had been vacant since the end of the 2018 season when McDonald’s opted not to renew. As part of the long-term deal, Subway will receive exclusivity in the QSR and fast-casual restaurant categories. Pizza Hut retains its rights in the pizza category.
  
  
• Also new to the NFL this season is Postmates, which fills a new league category -- official food delivery service. As part of the multiyear deal, Postmates signed on for major events like the Super Bowl, NFL Draft and Pro Bowl.
  
  
• Official clear aligner is also a new category for the league. Align Technology, the orthodontics company behind Invisalign, signed a deal with the league last month.
  
  
• Two brands who exited deals with the league were Aramark (B2B marketing rights) and Genesis (luxury automobile).

Download the 2020 NFL Sponsors

SPEED READS

• Sunday night will see the first NFL game at SoFi Stadium, albeit without fans. But an empty venue right now isn't discouraging SoFi CEO Anthony Noto, who told CNBC: "We went into this investment focused on leveraging the great credibility of National Football League -- the Rams and Chargers -- to make SoFi a household name. ... People have to trust using our products and part of that trust is becoming a household brand name, so our investment in the stadium over 20 years is an important strategy to achieving that type of notoriety and familiarity and trust."
  
  

• NFL players will wear new anti-racism T-shirts designed by the Texans'Michael Thomas starting tonight through the weekend. A collaboration of the NFLPA, NFL and OneTeam Partners, the front of the shirts read "Injustice against one of us is injustice against all of us,” and the back says, “End racism.”
  
  

NFL players will wear new anti-racism T-shirts designed by the Texans' Michael Thomas starting tonight

• The Chiefs are the favorites to win Super Bowl LV, but sportsbooks around the nation are “more worried" about Tom Brady and Buccaneers, per ESPN’s David Purdum, who reports more bets have been placed on Tampa Bay to win it all “than have been placed on any other team at multiple sportsbooks.” FanDuel said its “worst-case scenario, as of now, would be Tampa Bay winning.” The sportsbook is “facing a seven-figure liability on the Buccaneers to start the season.”
  
  

• ESPN’s Neil Everett this morning on "SportsCenter" noted California right now is dealing with "more than two dozen fires," including "three of the five largest ever" in the state. One of the blazes may affect Sunday’s Cardinals-49ers game in Santa Clara. Everett: "The air quality index will determine if the game goes ahead scheduled. Right now, it’s OK, but the skies are telling an ominous story in Northern California."
  
  

• I spoke to Jason Wright, the new Washington NFL Team president, for this week's SBJ, and he addressed his plans for the franchise. Wright also joined the SBJ Unpacks podcast yesterday to discuss how he plans to create a cohesive front office, designing a new team culture and being the first African-American team president in the NFL.
  
  

• What can NFL fans expect from their Week 1 TV viewing experience? My colleague John Ourand wrote about virtual fans, covering the national anthem and more in last night's SBJ Media newsletter.
  
  

• It's election season, and candidate yard signs are everywhere, but one Buffalo-based sign company is using some satire to promote Bills QB Josh Allen and WR Stefon Diggs, per Buffalo Business First. Yard signs featuring "Allen-Diggs '20" are "being shipped all over the country," per Zoom Copy owner Rory Allen. “We asked ourselves, ‘What is a safe sign to put on our lawn?’ Our solution was a way to be excited about the upcoming season and parody the presidential race.”

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Something on the college beat catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to either me (msmith@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).