As much as National Football League teams are feeling a financial squeeze already, commissioner Roger Goodell fears the economic downturn really could hit the league early next year, when tickets for next season go on sale.
“There’s no secret on sponsorship, advertising, licensing — those numbers are going to be impacted by the current climate. We’re aware of that,” Goodell said in an interview on Friday. “We’re still, unfortunately, in the beginning stages of this. And most of our tickets are sold in the spring. And so 2009 is going to be more of a barometer of how impactful [sic] the economic environment’s going to be on the NFL.”
Asked if individual clubs were already having problems, Goodell replied: “Sure. Absolutely. For [a variety of] factors. What’s happening to sponsorship. What’s happening to licensees. What’s happening to our ticket holders, club seat holders, suite holders. This affects all of us.”
He would not identify particular teams or go into other financial specifics.
Goodell did note, however, that stadiums are still filling up on game days and that the billions of dollars in TV rights fees — the main source of NFL revenue — continue to come in from long-term deals negotiated in 2005.
He addressed a variety of other topics, including an 18-game regular season.
Goodell wants to extend the NFL’s season, but said it “clearly is not going to happen” next year and probably no sooner than 2011. Adding two regular-season games would mean cutting the pre-season to two games and could lead to other changes, Goodell said, such as expanding rosters, allowing players put on injured reserve to return during the season and creating a developmental league.
Goodell said he expects to try shifting the Pro Bowl to the week between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl.
“Having it the week after the Super Bowl, it’s somewhat anticlimactic,” Goodell said, adding the all-star game could rotate between Hawaii and the US mainland.
On regular-season ties, there are no plans to change overtime to avoid results such as last weekend’s 13-13 finish between Philadelphia and Cincinnati.
“I do like our overtime rules,” Goodell said.
Asked if the league has become too strict on punishing players for hard hits, Goodell said: “We don’t fine for hard hits; we fine for illegal hits.”
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