Posted on 10/16/2009 9:01:21 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The concern and negativity expressed by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Indianapolis Colts' owner Jim Irsay, and NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith over Rush Limbaugh potentially becoming a limited owner for the St. Louis Rams was certainly the right thing to do from a public relations standpoint.
And it certainly accomplished its goal, as Dave Checketts essentially had no choice but to drop Limbaugh from his group that is interested in the franchise, which he did last week.
But from a business standpoint, it sends a bad message to prospective owners and could end up hurting the league’s bottom line as a whole.
Not only was the potential for an overlooked team that lacked tradition in St. Louis to become meaningful in the eyes of NFL fans everywhere discarded, but Limbaugh’s tremendous platform that could have been used to promote the league was also lost.
Limbaugh’s job description and resume as a conservative shock-jock speak for themselves, and stating that you want President Barack Obama to fail and insinuating that Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb is overrated because he is black are not the best things to say if you want to become a part of the increasingly P.R. conscious NFL.
But Goodell and Irsay seemed to focus more on what Limbaugh has said, than to whom he has said it to.
Millions and millions of people, many of who like him and many who despise him, and more importantly, many longtime NFL customers combined with those who could not care less for the sport.
I don’t know how having Limbaugh as an owner would have hurt teams like the Jacksonville Jaguars, who can’t sell out their stadiums, because Limbaugh could have been the Jerry Jones of owners for liberal sports fans everywhere.
And I also don’t know how it wouldn’t have increased the value of the NFL’s TV and cable contracts, its advertising spots, and the amount of Rams' merchandise sold across the country.
Advertisers gobble up spots for Limbaugh’s radio show, why wouldn’t they do the same for games featuring a team owned by him?
And the notions that Limbaugh being a minority owner for the Rams would have hurt the team’s ticket sales and resulted in players refusing to sign with the franchise are false.
If there is one thing that fans do best, it's separate their teams from their owners.
Clippers' owner Donald Sterling has admitted to paying for sex and has been accused of housing discrimination, but that doesn’t stop the team’s small number of loyal fans from showing up at the Staples Center.
And Lions fans still support their team sufficiently even after years of poor ownership by the Ford family.
It's easy for players to say that they wouldn’t have taken Limbaugh’s money now, but I don’t know if that would have ultimately been the case.
ESPN NFL analyst Chris Mortensen said it himself when talking about the subject: “Money talks.”
Is the NFL powerful enough to continue to be the most successful professional sports league in America without Limbaugh?
Obviously.
MLS commissioner Don Garber and the NHL’s Gary Bettman would have played Russian roulette with Andrei Kirilenko if it meant having an owner with the shrewd marketing skills and audience that Limbaugh possesses, and would have put up with all of his potential Mark Cuban-type moments on the radio because of that.
The NFL is not the MLS nor the NHL.
But with that said, perhaps the biggest consequence of Goodell and Irsay writing off Limbaugh so quickly will be revealed in the near future when current owners try to sell their teams.
There are only so many multimillionaires with squeaky clean reputations that are interested in becoming an NFL owner.
Former CEOs of insurance companies, Russian oligarchs, and Saudi princes may prefer to spend their money on an NBA or European soccer team instead of making a bid for an NFL franchise at the risk of their character being publicly criticized.
In a league where teams can be worth more than a billion dollars, that could cost an owner millions.
Boycott the NFL!!!
The NFL is sh*t and they love having Olberman doing NFL TV. They practice reverse racism, they screw taxpayers to build stadiums and they are a monopoly.
Turn of the TV and mindless college and pro ball games. Get a life.
I can think of 9 million other things to do with my time.
I think you’ll have lots of company in that regard. Me, I’m not any kind of sports fan but this was deeply offensive to Conservatives, and if I take a (conservative!) WAG that 1/5th the revenue-yielding audience for the NFL is Conservative and half that group won’t be spending another dime on the NFL..and I am deliberately understating my WAG..then every NFL team just lost 10% of its value. That’s hope and change!
Agreed. The NFL can get screwed. Thug league for Michael Vicks of the world. Eff the NFL.
Now you are treading on grounds that many of us NFL fanatics will have to consider after the season is over, so to speak.
Honest to God I thought this article was going to say these guys might be sued for repeating lies and using them as a reason to prompt the dropping of Rush from the buyers group. Instead it is just another idiot writer claiming Rush is a racist.
I’m disgusted by the NFL’s behavior. I am HUGE football fan, but I’ll never purchase another NFL item for a long, long time! It’s all college ball for my money from now on.
That’s right!
Don’t watch. Unplug your connection so husbands can’t watch. Tell them cable/satellite is out.!
If they don’t want lightskinned owners as they brag about the teams are 2/3’s black....they don’t need lightskinned viewers or their money! Let Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow and Rick Sanchaz and the leftist bloggers keep them afloat!
We are as mad as h*ll and we aren’t going to take it anymore!
CAN YOU HEAR US NOW?
I’ve read some of the comments at nfl.com. The vast majority should make them worry about their ticket and merchandise sales. After all, there are always college and high school games where the players don’t make more than the budgets of cities and even some counties.
LOL I’ll probably watch less NFL once legendary Brett Favre retires.
DirecTV channel 212, that was
Seems to me that most football fans are conservative.
Seems to me conservatives should forever boycott the NFL.
It would be idiotic not to (then again, I think it’s idiotic to be a spectator sport fan, so it would not surprise me if football fans do not do sensible things, like boycott the NFL).
virtually impossible if you own any form of cable/direct TV
They run off the big money, the players end up playing for peanuts. It’s a bad economy, maybe they can get George Soros to buy them, and then he can tell them who wins each week and who loses.
Support your College Teams!!!!!...Take time to Remember when Football players weren’t Felons!!!!!!
My new fantasy team is now Boycott.
I will say one thing it sure brought out into the light the “politics” of the NFL. It sure is not a pretty picture and has soured me on them.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.