What does it take for Roger Goodell to sustain a real blow? He takes PR hits regularly. The public at large clearly does not trust him to care about or do anything to curtail the domestic violence problem in the NFL. The league and its public face are not monoliths. Their legacies will be multi-faceted, but when it’s time to write the story of the Goodell era of the league, it will be hard to ignore him getting it wrong over and over again when one of his players is accused of hitting a woman or a child.
PR hits are what they are. They are stories that may dominate a news cycle for 48 or 72 hours, but largely, they are blips on the radar. Roger Goodell has avoided a real black eye, something that seriously tarnishes his standing amongst the 32 team owners, which is saying something considering he’s the one that signed off on the movie Draft Day!
That changed last week. The arrogance and short-sightedness required to let the class action lawsuit brought against the league by subscribers to NFL Sunday Ticket get to a jury is astounding. Appeal or not, there is now public record that at least one judge believes the league happily price-gouged its most dedicated fans for years.
Bad PR and fans grumbling is one thing. All of the scrutiny around player discipline has not once stopped Roger Goodell from getting a new, more lucrative deal when it comes time to renew his contract. The way the league handled the Sunday Ticket lawsuit is the first time the guy showed true incompetence. That’s something that will be hard for Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft, and the rest of the gang to ignore.
Goodell’s position has always been that everything the NFL puts on a screen is a premium product. He’s confident that media rights are distributed to reflect as much and access to every game the league plays in a given week should be priced in that way. The ratings reflect that the NFL truly is the most valuable property on television. It’s why even the tiniest packages fetch nine figure price tags.
Now, make no mistake, the NFL is grateful that you watch, but the team owners do not care about you. They sure as hell aren’t going to do you any favors. Revenue will always come before people, and to be fair, the NFL is a business. Being shocked when team owners behave as such says more about you than it does them.
However, the league, and Goodell particularly, bend over backward to keep that reality out of your mind. Look at the way the NFL disguises marketing efforts like Salute to Service and Crucial Catch as support for military veterans and cancer research, things that any decent person would support. Maybe I’m just too cynical when it comes to big business in this country, but I can’t believe team owners are as concerned about raising money for these worthy causes as they are about selling new hat and t-shirt designs.
Disguising naked capitalism as fan and community engagement may not be as valuable as securing eleven-figure media rights deals, but it counts. The NFL has been really, really good at it under Roger Goodell’s leadership. That’s what makes failing to negotiate with the plaintiffs in this class action lawsuit so shocking.
The initial ruling may not hit the NFL as hard as some industries, but no one can ignore a $4.7 billion judgement against them, especially when the final bill could actually end up being triple that amount. At least one person who gets to be in the room where the biggest decisions are made at the league owners’ meetings has had that thought. I’d bet they have also thought that there is no reason the lawsuit had to get that far.
NFL Sunday Ticket is a premium product. I don’t think anyone that is a sports fan would say otherwise, but it’s the only product of its type that is sold in a monopolistic way. It’s offered one way from one provider.
Compare that to NBA League Pass or NHL Center Ice. It’s fair to say that demand for the NFL is on a different plain than those two leagues, but they have both proven that it’s possible to make their all-access products available in a variety of places and in a variety of ways and still turn a serious profit. The only reason the NFL hasn’t made the same options available is they wanted to deprive their fans of any option other than the most expensive one. That’s the textbook definition of monopolistic behavior.
We’re all in the media business and we know the deal. The day we stop making our employers money, our jobs are less secure. The day we cost them money is usually the day we are asked to gather our belongings and follow security out of the building.
NFL owners still have plenty of reasons to stand behind Goodell, but he should be in the doghouse, at least temporarily. He just lost a bet that could cost his bosses $14 billion. Even if they forgive his error, I don’t expect they will forget it.
Demetri Ravanos is a columnist and features writer for Barrett Media. He is also the creator of The Sports Podcast Festival, and a previous host on the Chewing Clock and Media Noise podcasts. He occasionally fills in on stations across the Carolinas in addition to hosting Panthers and College Football podcasts. His radio resume includes stops at WAVH and WZEW in Mobile, AL, WBPT in Birmingham, AL and WBBB, WPTK and WDNC in Raleigh, NC.
You can find him on Twitter @DemetriRavanos or reach him by email at DemetriTheGreek@gmail.com.
