Paper Example on NFL TV Deal: Profits vs Fans, Prestige

According to Chapter 18 of the book, when NFL signed another four-year TV deal, it gave every team the chance to increase its TV revenue. During that time, rules were relaxed to enhance easy game passing and increase scoring, which made interest to increase. Even though football was initially intended to increase the visibility and prestige of the league, its intentions changed as officials mainly worked towards maximizing profits that even drove off the fans.

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From the document, it is evident that politics plays an essential role in American football. For instance, in the 1980s, instead of citizens watching debates between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, they resolved to watch football. It meant that football mattered more than politics in the nation. Having many football fans even made the TV money to be increased, and there was no evidence that it would any time soon.

1982 to 1994 was regarded as an NFL decade of discontent. The reason is that it had several battles to fight, including increased drug abuse, Pete Rozelle's powers waning, lawsuits, and labor issues. Unfortunately, even with these battles, nothing changed the popularity of the game from its beloved fans. Although they made complaints several times, nothing stopped them from watching football.

Teams representing their towns were one of the grand illusions of the game. It was truer in Oakland as it was believed that it had great footballers Raiders. Raiders were known to come from Oakland. Unfortunately, when AI Davis, the owner, defied the NFL, they were made to move to Los Angels, yet the league and Rozelle were not in agreement. Although the hostility between the two individuals commenced earlier on in 1966 plus the AFL-NFL merger. The two individuals were not well-matched as they believed in their right position, and they were egotistical and willful. Several lawsuits followed as the two individuals did not come to an agreement, and even some politicians were involved in the process.

Chapter 20 of the book starts by explaining the way a new league was introduced in 1982. It was called the United States Football League. Although it majorly played in spring, in 1984, it made an announcement that it would join the fall league. Later on, it filed a case against NFL and sought about $1.69 billion. Although the NFL had lost most of the cases in the past, it gave the lawsuit a trail, and even though they lost, USFL got to be awarded only $1 due to damages. Despite the increasing uncertainty and confusion, TV money continued soaring, and it reached about $1.4 billion for three years in the year 1987. It was during that year that another strike from the players union came up, and it led to games replacement for the first time where athletes were hired in replacing the NFL players. It went on for 24 days, and on a daily basis, the players crossed the picket line. After the strike, the players union filed a lawsuit against the NFL and sought to overthrow the compensation system of the free agency. The move made Rozelle fear the fact that the fans had lost hope in the league.

On March 22, 1989, another history was made in American football when Rozelle retired. The decision he made resulted in a soul battle between the New Guard owners and Old Guard owners. The battle was majorly among the forces which signified the business football side that supported a previous player who became the president of the club called Jim Finks against the other side, which was mainly business. In the end, it was the business side that won the battle that made Paul Tagliabue be elected on 12 ballots. It is this decision that was made that has changed the NFL to date.

It was after the election that the political power of the games was evident. One of the cases was when Paul Tagliabue made a threat in 1993 of pulling Super Bowl from Phoenix in case the voters of Arizona failed to reverse their decision of not recognizing the day of Martin Luther King as a national holiday. Unfortunately, they did not fear the threat and even went ahead to not recognize it. Culturally, their move made the networks and business partners to cease talking concerning point spreads even though gambling remains an essential part of the popularity of the game. Another way was when Tagliabue opted to end philosophy regarding the fact that the council negotiated for its owners against its players. It was evident when the president of Cowboy Tex Schramm and the head of the Union Gene Upshaw were seeking Free Agency in 1977. In the negotiating table, when the free agency topic arose, Schramm told Gene that he could not get it even in five or ten years.

NFL expanded in 1993 after 16 years, although it turned out to be a big problem when Baltimore rejected $200 million meant for a new stadium for two smaller markets, including Jacksonville and Charlotte. The first one was considered as 54th America's TV market. Previously, the ratings of the TV reduced, making the executives of the television be angry, and this made Tagliabue give back $230 million for a two-year period extension with the aim of preserving the status quo. It is also during that time that stadium rise was a driving force. The main reason is that the teams that had most stadium revenue, including signage, parking, concessions, and luxury suites, were considered best positioned as they did not share revenue in the ratio of 60-40. Even with all this, the salary cap remained the same for every team. The issue made some teams lag, including Jacksonville and Buffalo. Rift also continued to rise in other teams and even made some to lower the costs of players instead of sharing a high percentage of gross income. Furthermore, it is over 15 years since the largest television in America called Los Angeles had its team of professional footballers. There seems to be no reason which will make them change because of the economic and political costs of bringing an existing or new team.

In 1995, Davis moved back the Raiders to Oakland since teams abandoned large markets to small ones have, they had favorable stadium deals. At this time, Rozelle could not punish Davis because he moved to Los Angeles as antitrust protection was not efficient. Moreover, expanding franchises in Carolina and Jacksonville turned to be playoff teams, and it resulted in the exit of the initial expansion. It is at this point that the games' public criticism grew, and the fans’ loyalty reduced. Players yearned for free agency; fans rooted for laundry while it brought the owners riches since they looked for different ways of maximizing their income.

Expansion continued in 1999 as there was more revenue in football. The cost was now $700 million as compared to the 1925 gin which was $25, 000. It is at this particular time that the issue of haves and have-nots rose in NFL. The television revenue also increased especially when an 18.1 billion deal was signed for eight years. In 2001, Tagliabue's political skills were shown when he pooled the revenue of the visiting teams. Also, the NFL's power was shown when terrorists attacked the country in 2001. Further, teams' revenue gap rose, and this threatened alliance of the teams and labor peace. At some point, the owner of Bengal even lamented that the objective of having a football team should not be solemn to maximize income. NFL resulted in the establishment of NFL properties and NFL films. Unfortunately, the team was not established for those and even maximizing profits. Instead, its aim was supposed to increase the visibility and prestige of the league.

Conclusion

In conclusion, earlier fans highly enjoyed football that they would even skip political debates to watch football matches. Even with several lawsuits and wrangles, fans continued to watch and enjoy football. The executives of the leagues also changed as time continued; they were mainly interested in increasing their profits. Also, before that, there were several expansions made by the league and even the purchase of stadiums, which meant that the teams would not have to share their revenue in the ratio of 60:40. As time progressed, leagues turned out to be mainly interested in making large revenues, and the owners looked for the best ways of maximizing their profits. The individuals who were in leadership positions did not want to lose their ranks as they said they would continue leading. NFL even resulted in the creation of NFL properties and films, which are currently under attack for not making profits. Therefore, it is clearly evident that politics has negatively impacted politics in America.