Monday Money Matters

First, as a former very unsuccessful professional tennis player, I have to pay homage to Roger Federer. Federer is brilliant in all phases of the game and has an elegance and grace that few in any sport possess. Like one of my heroes, Arthur Ashe, Federer exudes the highest classification of cool by his unassuming and modest excellence. Now, having conquered Paris and the French Open, he takes his place at the head table of greatest tennis players of all time. With he and Rafa Nadal ruling the sport, we are right smack in the sport’s golden age. There are few athletes in any sport who truly make one stop and stare – Tiger and Kobe, two other winners Sunday, are among a handful of others. As Carly Simon sings, “These are the good old days.”

On to Monday Money Matters….

A new era has begun in diplomatic relations between NFL players past and present.  After a court judgment in the fall of $28M against the NFL Players Association for the withholding of potential licensing revenue from retired players, the NFLPA appealed and launched into the usual rhetoric about the opinion of the court being in error and the decision changing on appeal, etc. The verdict, as I said during the case, was predictable, as a jury weighed the merits of rewarding a union representing hearty, healthy and wealthy active players against rewarding retired older players with assorted physical and mental ailments and far, far less income from their playing days than the current players.

In the time from the verdict until now, a little change happened along the way. In what is still resonating as a major surprise, NFL player reps selected an unknown commodity in DeMaurice Smith to lead their union and replace the late Gene Upshaw. And Smith made it a priority to reach out to retired players, a group that Upshaw claimed he did not represent. When Smith reached out during a recent speaking engagement in San Francisco, players were pleased but skeptical. Now he has put his money where his mouth is.The NFLPA resolved the $28M award with a reported settlement of over $26M.  The relative lack of discount on the settlement shows a couple things: (1) that despite the posturing at the time of the award, there was not a strong feeling about the merits of appeal, and (2) that this money will be well-spent to win the hearts and minds of a constituency that Smith feels is important to his future leadership of the union.

Just as the NFL cleared its plate for the upcoming bargaining with the union by settling some broadcast negotiations with Comcast, CBS and Fox, the NFLPA has now removed a sizable pebble in its shoe from the agenda and can also focus on the most important task ahead:  forging a new Collective Bargaining Agreement with the league….

As stated before in this space, allowing logos on practice jerseys in the NFL is an idea that starts a slippery slope that no one could have imagined years ago (and many still can’t). Similar to opening up sponsorship categories with lotteries and liquor, the league is responding to concerns from teams about revenue streams flattening or subsiding in the wake of the economic downturn.

When the NFL May meetings ended, team marketing directors had a much different-looking slate of inventory available than they did before the meetings. Opening up these categories allows teams to search and shop for new revenues to offset those that are declining and allows sponsor entry into the NFL team market that had been closed for so long. It’s a gate swinging open to allow for discussions with companies that has never before occurred.

As to the practice jersey logos, this is the natural evolution of opening up valuable inventory. Short of sponsorship of actual game jerseys, this presents precious real estate for sponsors, especially in places like Green Bay and Dallas, where training camp practices are well-attended and covered by the media. Think about what identification a sponsor would receive – its logo on every nightly newscast covering the team, in every morning paper covering the team, in every national story covering the team, as stories are about players, and players will be wearing its logo. This is a huge opportunity for sponsors.And what about the truly sacred real estate, game jerseys? Still sacred? Yes … for now.  Although European soccer and now the WNBA in the United States have crossed that line, it would appear that it’s not one the NFL intends to cross in the foreseeable future.  However, how many of us a relatively short time ago – 10 or 15 years – would have envisioned the places where our favorite teams play to be named after the following:  Gillette, Raymond James, Monster, Invesco, FedEx, Ford, Heinz, M & T, Reliant, Land Shark and more? Now we barely bat an eyelash at these deals.

It’s hard to envision much in the way of sponsorship opportunities that will continue to be off-limits in the future. The bottom line is always the bottom line, and that will rule the day…..

Enjoy your Monday, and get ready for an exciting new look and feel to our site a week from today.

Follow me on Twitter: adbrandt.

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