The NFL has been experiencing a nightmare situation over the Ray Rice case and domestic violence.
It started when commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Rice, the Baltimore Ravens running back, two games for knocking out his then-fiancee Janay Palmer in an Atlantic City Casino. That suspension brought much criticism, many expressing outrage that it was so lenient.
After a video was released that showed more explicitly what happened between Rice and Palmer, the Ravens released him and the NFL suspended him indefinitely.
There was renewed outrage at what Rice did. Again, many questioned why the Commissioner, with that video floating around, would still be lenient. Goodell denied seeing the video, even though law enforcement confirmed that they sent a copy of the video to the NFL offices.
After Goodell held a press conference in which he basically said nothing, the chorus of criticism became louder. Some called for Goodell’s resignation. Some called for investigations into a domestic violence atmosphere in the NFL. Some sponsors threatened to pull their sponsorships. Some called for a boycott of the NFL.
The last two calls are interesting. The NFL generated $9 billion in revenue last season. Would the sponsors really pull out of the NFL? If they did, would there be a bunch more sponsors lining up to take their place?
Would a boycott really work? It would, but seriously, do you think there would be enough football followers to stop dealing with the NFL to make it successful? Would fans stop buying NFL merchandise, and stop going to NFL games or watching NFL games on television?
As we know, money is what makes the NFL world go around. When the league’s big pockets are affected, things get done. In order for Goodell to go, his actions will need to cost the NFL money. Is that happening, however?
As of this date, no corporate sponsor has backed out of its deal with the NFL. Radisson Hotels suspended its sponsorship with the Minnesota Vikings after running back Adrian Peterson was indicted on child abuse, and Crest dropped its sponsorship of the NFL’s breast cancer awareness program (doesn’t ending that sponsorship make CREST look bad and not the NFL?).
Sponsors have distanced themselves from the controversy, but after years of sponsorship, those corporations are entrenched with the NFL. Sure, pulling out of their deals would hurt the NFL, but it would also hurt themselves as well. The NFL is a marketing juggernaut, and the exposure is not the same with any other league.
Until corporations experience drastic drops in sales, or the NFL experiences a drop in value, those sponsorships will be intact.
One example of this is Anheuser-Busch, the top advertiser in the NFL in 2013, spending $185.3 million. They released a statement saying it was “disappointed and increasingly concerned by the recent incidents that have overshadowed this N.F.L. season.”
They were disappointed and increasingly concerned, but they are not yet ready to talk about pulling out of the NFL. A lot has to happen before they even start to consider that.
If Anheuser-Busch pulls out, how fast do you think Miller steps right in and spend more money on the NFL?
So, if the sponsors won’t pull out of their advertising deals over this controversy, then a boycott of the league would work, right? Well…
Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Gay wrote an article about how he was boycotting football last weekend. Charles Warner of Forbes urged people to boycott the NFL and its culture of violence. Deadspin offered fans alternative non-football programming they could watch instead of the NFL.
If you read all the articles written and watch all the television coverage on the controversy in the NFL, you would think the sky was falling on Goodell and the league. Well…
In a recent NBC News/Marist poll, just 29 percent of adults surveyed believed that Roger Goodell should resign. That is not the coverage that we are seeing on television. That same poll showed that 12 percent of those surveyed said the recent bad publicity would make them less likely to watch football.
It is now the “it” thing to bash the NFL right now. Even South Park jumped in on the Goodell-bashing in their season premiere episode Wednesday night. “Goodell-bot” is now a thing on Twitter.
The fact of the matter is that the gloom and doom reporting we are being told do not match the facts.
The overall television ratings in Week 3 of this season actually went up from last year.
No, the sponsors are not ready to pull their ads. No, the fans aren’t ready to bail ship on the NFL. As long as those threats are not imminent, Roger Goodell will not resign. The NFL is a bottom line business, and as long as the owners’ bottom line is not affected, they feel they can survive whatever controversy hits them.
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