Political cartoon showing the National Football League’s response to domestic violence
The National Football League is not just a sports league, but it is also a very successful business. Its recent, annual revenue approaches nearly 10 billion dollars, and it has been increasing steadily. Yet, the unique thing about the NFL is it seems to be unaffected by scandals and bad publicity. This summer (2014) the NFL had both domestic and child abuse scandals that involved some of the league’s biggest stars. These scandals were compounded with the ever looming concussion and player safety lawsuits. Through all this media attention, TV ratings have grown and franchise value is still expanding rapidly. These are shocking facts that show how enamoured North America is about the NFL. We learned in class that often bad publicity leads to a decrease in revenue, but this is apparently not the case with the NFL. For example Lululemon had a huge loss in revenue when their CEO said that their pants weren’t for all women. I think that the strength of the NFL brand and the increasing TV revenue proves that professional football is a fantastic business to be a part of. On the other hand, I think the NFL should try to put more effort into resolving and preventing these issues from occurring. I believe that, eventually, the fans will find a substitute if they become truly offended and disgusted by the employees of the league. Both the NBA and NHL have fewer scandals, and are building a more international fan base. It is not difficult to envision football eventually being overtaken by other American sports. I would recommend that the NFL not take these scandals lightly just because they haven’t suffered economically as of yet.
Image: Cartoon by Steve Sack “Star Tribune”
Articles used: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/12/magazine/whats-the-nfls-incentive-to-change.html?ref=business
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-09-12/if-the-nfl-were-a-real-business
http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2014/10/08/directv-extends-its-deal-with-nfl-for-12-billion/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2014/08/20/the-nfls-most-valuable-teams
http://www.thewire.com/business/2013/06/lululemon-ceo-stepping-down/66087/