The NFL's Roger Goodell could write a book. "How to Utterly Destroy Your Brand in a Month." Totally worth that $30 Million.
Roger Goodell's five-year contract extension is still expected to be finalized, but SportsBusiness Daily's Daniel Kaplan reported Friday that talks have hit a snag due to negotiations regarding the NFLcommissioner's severance pay.
Once the deal is signed, Goodell "is set to earn more than $30 million annually in salary and bonuses," per Kaplan.
According to Kaplan, Goodell "wants to ensure he would receive most of the low nine figures that he would be due to receive from '19-24, even if for some reason the owners let him go."
...for some reason.
In August, the NFL had the second highest score of the major sports leagues. Right behind MLB with 57 favorable to 23 percent unfavorable. In September, the NFL was at 40 percent unfavorable to 44 percent favorable.
Those are striking unfavorable numbers. Far higher than any other league.
And college football's ratings hardly changed in that time. So it's all about the anthem. The NFL decided to embrace the anthem protests and alienated a big chunk of its core demo.
According to the poll analysis, "more critically for the NFL, the fall off in favorables occurred among important audiences. Among males, NFL favorables fell 23 percent, going from 68 percent to 45 percent. In looking at a more specific audience, males 34-54, NFL favorables fell 31 percent, going from 73 percent to 42 percent. Among this group the NFL has a surprising negative image, as it went from +54 percent in August to -5 percent in September."
And that is a rather crucial demo. It's the NFL's core. It's the people who have the money to prop up the NFL's monopoly. And who aren't going anywhere. Their tastes are set and they will have decades in which to pursue them. This is what any brand works toward. And if they shift, the NFL's business model suddenly has a gaping hole in it.
But the left would rather destroy an industry to win a culture war than back down. The NFL however has become much less enthusiastic about setting its piles of money on fire to support black nationalism.