New NFLPA Director Prepares for “War”

by | Mar 16, 2009 | Business of Football, NFL News

DeMaurice Smith, a Washington, DC based attorney, was elected the new Executive Director of the NFL Players Association late Sunday night, replacing Gene Upshaw who passed away last August.

On Monday, Smith had his first press conference with reporters since being elected, via telephone.

Amongst the highlights of the call, Smith said of the league’s current labor situation:

“There isn’t a day where I don’t hope for peace, but at the same time there isn’t a day where we don’t prepare for war.”

Amazing.  It was one thing when Kellen Winslow Jr., still in college, went on a tirade claiming he was a “F*ckin’ Soldier.”

But for a man who has his law degree, and who is expected to lead a labor union for employees that average well over a million dollars per year (and a union that is probably going to be asking for a greater share of the pie, while the owners are going to be shooting for giving them less) to compare what he’s preparing for to war is absolutely ridiculous.

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Cutler still on the market? Vikes fans sniffing glue

by | Mar 2, 2009 | 2009 Trades, Business of Football, NFL Random Thoughts

I still think the Denver Broncos made a mistake in considering any deals in which quarterback Jay Cutler would have gone to Detroit or Tampa Bay in a three-way deal that would have brought Matt Cassel in return.

That said, when I wrote this morning’s post I had yet to read Sports Illustrated’s Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback column.

The revelation that Cutler had already been upset with the team and asked for a trade when offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates, a Cutler confidant, left for USC doesn’t change my mind. But it does raise questions about the genuineness of Cutler’s anger toward being included in talks in the first place.

Further reports throughout the day indicating that Cutler has now locked himself in his room like a petulant child and is refusing to speak with Broncos officials raise questions about his maturity.

Cutler, until proven otherwise, is still a better player than Cassel. His college resume is better, his professional performance is better – Cassel still has to prove that he can repeat the success he had in 2008 without Randy Moss, Wes Welker and Bill Belichick helping him out.

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Ratings Down for Super Super Bowl

by | Feb 2, 2009 | Business of Football, Super Bowl

In news that will probably make fans in New York and Boston giddy, and only encourage the folks in Bristol to continue showing every conveivable Yankees-Red Sox matchup (even when more compelling games are on), the ratings for the Super Bowl dropped slightly this year, from a rating of 44.7 last year to 42.1 this year.  Each rating point represents 1,145,000 households.

The rating for the 2007 game was also a 42.1, and in 2006 it was a 42.2.  East coast fans will likely conclude that the drop in ratings was because neither team in the Super Bowl was from New York or Boston (despite the fact that no teams last year were either–the Giants are from New Jersey, and the Patriots are from Foxboro).

There are other plausible explanation, though–there may have been more fans who were unable to take time off from work, thanks to the economy.  And since it sounds like tickets were cheaper, and it was the first time for Arizona (and since Pittsburgh fans are so fanatical), it’s possible that more people made the pilgrimmage to Tampa to try to attend in person.

Or maybe a whole bunch of people were so sickened by the crap that NBC chose to air as its pregame show, that they turned the TV off in disgust and listened online or on radio.

Still, it was a lot of people watching (estimated at about 90 million), but we do wonder if a ratings drop (combined with the economy, and the fact that some companies finally started mocking the prices–see High Life with their 1 second spots) will impact the price for ads next year…lord knows if they drop by about $2,999, 925 or so, ZoneBlitz.com will be first in line for a 30-second spot…

**UPDATE** After further review, the numbers for this year’s Super Bowl were actually higher than last year’s–take THAT, East Coast Media Bias!

Cowboys resembling Dallas nighttime soap opera

by | Jan 27, 2009 | Business of Football, NFL Media

It’s becoming fitting that the Dallas Cowboys play their games in the same city that was featured in one of America’s once-popular night time soap operas.

This is fantastic – just too good to be true.

Not a week after Michael Irvin announced that his former team would save one of its 80 preseason roster spots for the winner of the former receivers’ reality show, another Dallas Cowboy is getting into the mix.

This time, current wideout Terrell Owens and his entourage announced that VH1 has green-lighted a reality show during which his friends and publicists Monique Jackson and Kita Williams try to help Owens find success off the playing field.

Banyan Productions, producers of Trading Spaces, will produce the show, which is at this point untitled and unsold.

It’s probably a perfect opportunity for Owens to begin this quest. While his 2008 numbers were still good, he disappeared for a chunk of the season, though in fairness, the Cowboys’ entire offense did the same.

And while he continued for the most part to be a solid receiver he is getting up there in age. He also continued his career-long trend of behaving himself for a year or two with whatever team he happens to be on before helping to stir up some controversy with whatever quarterback he happens to be playing with at any given time (see Garcia, Jeff and McNabb, Donovan prior to this season’s tiff with Romo, Tony).

So this reality show will help keep him in the public eye as he ponders whether to patch things up with Dallas teammates or create enough of a distraction this offseason to get himself cut again.

Should be yet another entertaining offseason for T.O. – and thus for the rest of us as well.

NFL Goes American Idol

by | Jan 22, 2009 | Business of Football, NFL ... something

The NFL has danced around reality television for the past few years, with former players in need of money appearing on shows like “Pros vs. Joes,” wannabe stars showing up on “The Bachelor,” and current and former stars who wanted to break into the entertainment world appearing on “Dancing with D-List Celebrities.”

Closer to the league, there have been series around making NFL Cheerleading teams (always dramatic),and of course, HBO’s Hard Knocks series, which followed a few teams through training camp over the years.

But now, thanks to Michael Irvin and the Dallas Cowboys, reality TV may be making it’s biggest foray into making the NFL a laughing stock–the Hall of Fame Wide Receiver announced on Thursday that he is launching an American Idol style show, in which one of 12 “football neophytes” will win a roster spot for the Cowboys 2009 training camp.

That’s right–one of the 80 spots at the Cowboys training camp will be the winner of a reality show contest.  Apparently Jerry Jones is so hard up for cash and/or drama that he is willing to sacrifice a roster spot in an attempt to draw more attention to his club.

I can only assume that the 12 contestants will have some football experience beyond starting 12 career high school games at 4 different offensive line positions–if not, feel free to drop me a line Michael–but still, for the Cowboys to latch on to this idea, and the league to allow it, seems to have the potential to do more damage to the league’s reputation than good.

Then again, given how many people tune in to watch crappy reality stars, I suppose it might actually take off.

Through good economic times and bad NFL keeps plugging along

by | Jan 8, 2009 | Business of Football, NFL Random Thoughts

While fans, media and other observers – even its own players – can occasionally and justifiably rip on the National Football League for being a bit stodgy and anti-fun over some of the rules that have been instituted over the years (see penalty and fine for Wes Welker’s snow angel) there’s no questioning the league’s strength in good economic times or bad.

While the news pages are filled these days with news of job loss, mortgage foreclosures and corporate fraud, the NFL keeps extending and adding corporate sponsors to the tune of seven and eight figure deals.

The Memphis Business Journal Wednesday reported that FedEx would cut its marketing budget by more than 25 percent for 2009, a move the company disclosed on its blog.

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