Mangini, NFL: Strictly business

By Don Delco
NoLogoNeeded.com staff writer
 
On Sunday, the Cleveland Browns will open its regular season schedule at home against the Minnesota Vikings. Finally, patience put forth by the Browns fans following a long preseason will end. A game that counts actually will be played.

Speaking of that game, coach Eric Mangini, have you settled on a starting quarterback?

“Yes.”

“OK, who is it?”
“I haven’t told the quarterbacks yet. I will talk to them independently. We’re going to keep it internally.”

Hurry up and wait Browns players, fans and the Minnesota Vikings.

Give Mangini credit. His reluctance to allow media or the fans insight into the internal dealings of the Cleveland Browns has remained staunch. Football is a game, but not to Mangini. This is a business. Serious business.

In recent weeks, we’ve been reminded of that fact by turning our attention away from the cloak of invisibility that surrounds Berea.

On its most basic level, the National Football League pays men — large, fast and strong men — to play the game of football. The NFL generates billions of dollars and, as a result, the league is dedicated to its business dealings.

The more the NFL focuses on those business dealings, the more it alienates its base — the fans. Here are the latest examples.

The Washington Redskins have sued a 72-year old woman. Yeah, that seems bad enough, but here are the details:

•Pat Hill is a real estate agent who has purchased Redskins season tickets since 1962.

•Last year, thanks to tanking real estate market, she informed the Redskins that she can no longer afford her 10-year contract she signed for two seats at $5,300 per year.

•The Redskins said no.

•On Oct. 8, the Redskins sued Hill for breaking the contract and the Redskins — who are the second most valuable franchise in the NFL at $1.6 billion behind the Dallas Cowboys at $1.7 billion — sought payment from Hill every season through 2017, plus interest, attorneys’ fees and court fees.

"I wish we never had to sue anybody,” Redskins General Counsel David Donovan told the Post. “Why would you ever want to do that? But this is a business. And we rely on these contracts for our planning, and we do what we can when somebody gets into a situation where they can't afford to pay."

•The Redskins have sued 125 season ticket holders who could no longer afford their tickets. According to the Post, spokesmen for the following National Football League teams said they do not sue their fans over season ticket contracts: Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Green Bay Packers, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Giants and Jets, Seattle Seahawks and Tennessee Titans.

"Lawsuits are generally a last resort sort of thing," said Peter Biché, president of business operations for Washington Sports and Entertainment, which runs Verizon Center, where the Capitals and the National Basketball Association's Wizards play. "We're not in the lawsuit business. That's not how we run our business."

Donovan said: "I wish we never had to sue anybody. Why would you ever want to do that? But this is a business. And we rely on these contracts for our planning, and we do what we can when somebody gets into a situation where they can't afford to pay."

Sorry, Washington, you are seeking around $66,000 from a woman who makes $400 a week now that her business has failed. When you're worth $1.6 billion is chasing down that $66k worth your time and effort? The Redskins have rabid fans and plenty who would kill to get those season tickets. You're not going to be hurting for the missing cash.

Yet, the Redskins are a business and as a business you must account for the bottom line (money) and destroy anything it its path (loyal fans/customers).

BLACK SUNDAY
When it comes to ticket sales — season or individual game — if the game isn’t a sell out within 72 hours of the game, well, those within a 75-mile radius of the city do not get the game televised.
 
Last season, nine of the 256 regular-season games were blacked out as fans of Oakland, Detroit and St. Louis missed games. A year later, this is becoming an issue in 12 cities. In Cleveland, four of the eight home games are sold out.
 
The NFL is not budging on this issue. They are in the business of selling tickets so “the games are attractive as television programming with large crowds so we can keep all our games on free TV,” wrote NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy to Sports Journal’s Daniel Kaplan.
 
PAY-PER-VIEW
With the blackouts looking to be a major factor in the 2009 NFL season, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk and SportingNews.com pens an interesting point:
 

"Let's ponder that for a second. As the football games on TV continue to improve in clarity, and as the array of speakers from which the sounds of the game emanate provide a sensation of being on the field, why would folks who have purchased such technologies choose to shell out nearly a week's worth of pay for the privilege of taking the inhabitants of their homes to huddle in the place all good peanuts go when they die?"

 
Take the NFL Sunday Ticket. Fans pay almost $400 a year to get all the games with the click of a remote. Now, if blacked out games continue to increase, what is stopping the NFL from offering those games at a price? Would you pay $10 to watch the Browns play a late-season game? Sadly, most of us would even if few of us would admit it.
 
FANS TAKE A BACKSEAT
Agreeing on a new collective bargaining agreement for the NFL is not likely anytime soon, according to commissioner Roger Goodell.
 
No CBA in 2010 means an uncapped year. NFL owners can spend as much or as little as they would like. This looks to be eerily similar set up to what Major League Baseball has where there are a handful of teams that consistently win and those teams have the highest payroll.
 
Yet, Deadspin’s Barry Petchesky says not so fast.
 

"We are not headed toward a labor apocalypse, where, like baseball, a select few teams have the ability to grab up all the top players while two thirds of the league has no shot at competing. I'm no economist, but neither are you, so here's the answer in simplest terms: there's an ungodly amount of money flowing, and it's more than enough for everyone."

 
While that makes me feel better there still is the problem that there is no salary floor meaning owners who are money consecutive can keep their cash and produce a horrible on-field product.
 
IN SUMMARY
No fan base is more aware that the NFL is simply a business than Browns fans. What happened in 1995 has never been forgotten or accepted. As much time, effort and money we pour into professional football, as much joy, angst and camaraderie it brings, in the end, this is simply a business that creates a diversion from life for 17 Sundays in the fall.

Coach Mangini, would you like to add anything?

"We don't discuss internal matters."