New Clayton Article Rips Ralph

[GG]

A fairly straightforward article, if you ask me.

[Kelly the Dog]

No it didn't.  The NFL basically sells itself.  And with networks like NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, ESPN, TNT, and OLN falling over themselves and willing to pay tons of money to air whatever games they can, it's like taking candy from a baby.

 

And while we'll never know the inner workings of the "intense" negotiations that went on with the new TV contracts, what I DO know is that the NFL got BUFU'd BIGTIME by the NFLPA with the new CBA.  It was actually embarrassing to see the billionaire boys club get sodomized by the millionaire boys club.

 

And what's going to be even BETTER is seeing the billionaire boys club take a kick to the throat by a "feeble" 87-year old man if they try and get cute with their revenue sharing plan.

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No. Teams were only worth less than 200 million in the mid 90s. Several teams were bought around that time for under that price. The prices that the new owners paid are what jacked the price up and they paid hundreds of millions more than the going rate because they wanted the deals. Snyder and McNair in particular. The day Snyder agreed to buy the franchise for 800 million in 1999, Ralph's team's worth went up over 200 million just because of it. Snyder didnt have to pay that much, he wanted to be the man. The Bucs were bought for 192 mil in 1995, The Eagles 185 mil in 1994. The best example is the NY/NJ teams. The Giants were bought for 75 million in 1991, and then nine years later, the year after Snyder bought the Redskins for 800 Million, the NY Jets, playing in the same cities and stadium as the Giants, sold for 635 million.

 

http://law.marquette.edu/cgi-bin/site.pl?2130&pageID=2209

 

One amazing thing about that article: The Stadium naming rights for Reliant Stadium? 300 million. 10 mil a year for 30 years.

[MadBuffaloDisease]

No. Teams were only worth less than 200 million in the mid 90s. Several teams were bought around that time for under that price. The prices that the new owners paid are what jacked the price up and they paid hundreds of millions more than the going rate because they wanted the deals. Snyder and McNair in particular. The day Snyder agreed to buy the franchise for 800 million in 1999, Ralph's team's worth went up over 200 million just because of it. Snyder didnt have to pay that much, he wanted to be the man. The Bucs were bought for 192 mil in 1995, The Eagles 185 mil in 1994. The best example is the NY/NJ teams. The Giants were bought for 75 million in 1991, and then nine years later, the year after Snyder bought the Redskins for 800 Million, the NY Jets, playing in the same cities and stadium as the Giants, sold for  635 million.

 

http://law.marquette.edu/cgi-bin/site.pl?2130&pageID=2209

Yes PRIOR to the CBA, the value of teams was less. But remember that up until that point, football was shared among the 3 major networks of NBC, CBS, and ABC (later ESPN/Disney). With Fox's overbid for the NFC package starting in 1994, it left one network out in the cold, and set the stage for one-ups-manship everytime the TV contracts came up. And every year one network gets left-out in the cold, waiting until the NEXT time to jump back in the fray with another overbid.

One amazing thing about that article: The Stadium naming rights for Reliant Stadium? 300 million. 10 mil a year for 30 years.

I'd say at best Ralph gets $2M for naming rights. That's a drop in the bucket.

[Kelly the Dog]

Yes PRIOR to the CBA, the value of teams was less.  But remember that up until that point, football was shared among the 3 major networks of NBC, CBS, and ABC (later ESPN/Disney).  With Fox's overbid for the NFC package starting in 1994, it left one network out in the cold, and set the stage for one-ups-manship everytime the TV contracts came up.  And every year one network gets left-out in the cold, waiting until the NEXT time to jump back in the fray with another overbid.

 

I'd say at best Ralph gets $2M for naming rights.  That's a drop in the bucket.

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You're talking Tv contracts. That is what sells itself, you're right. I am talking team worth. Ralph's team went up from being worth 200 million to being worth 700 million basically because of Al Lerner, Daniel Snyder and Bob McNair. The Ravens were bought for 275 mil in 1996, after the CBA you referred to. Two years later, Lerner paid 530 mil for Cleveland, the city the Rvens fled from. And then the next year Snyder paid 800 million. The first few hundred million had something to do with the TV contracts, the last few hundred million didnt, and that made Ralph's team jump in its worth overnight by an astounding sum.

 

Ralph couldnt get huge money but I wouldnt be surprised if he got 3-5 million a year. The first time he did it I think he got a million a year in 1973. I think Rich paid 25 mil for 25 years way back then.

[MadBuffaloDisease]

You're talking Tv contracts. That is what sells itself, you're right. I am talking team worth. Ralph's team went up from being worth 200 million to being worth 700 million basically because of Al Lerner, Daniel Snyder and Bob McNair. Lerner paid 500+ million and then the next year Snyder paid 800 million. The first few hundred million had something to do with the TV contracts, the last few hundred million didnt, and that made Ralph's team jump in its worth overnight by an astounding sum.

The team valuations are tied to the revenue being brought-in, Kelly, of which the RV contract is by far and away the largest piece. Again the values of teams has skyrocketed since 1993-1994, which again coincides with Fox's foray into sports and creating 4 networks for basically 3 NFL packages.

Ralph couldnt get huge money but I wouldnt be surprised if he got 3-5 million a year. The first time he did it I think he got a million a year in 1973. I think Rich paid 25 mil for 25 years way back then.

I would be surprised at anything over $2M. But we'll find out soon since he'll have to sell them.

[GG]

Let's not forget that the owners shared the new franchise fees from the 4 new teams that came into the league in the last 10 yrs.

[Kelly the Dog]

The team valuations are tied to the revenue being brought-in, Kelly, of which the RV contract is by far and away the largest piece.  Again the values of teams has skyrocketed since 1993-1994, which again coincides with Fox's foray into sports and creating 4 networks for basically 3 NFL packages.

 

I would be surprised at anything over $2M.  But we'll find out soon since he'll have to sell them.

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The league expected the Browns to sell for 300-350 million. There was about five groups that put in bids but Lerner, who was worth billions, got in a bidding war of sorts with some other group. They eventually bid 500 million which was way more than expected and Lerner bid 530 million. The third one was reported substantially less than these two who were billionaires. That is twice the price of the same franchise two years earlier. And then Snyder went insane and spent 800 million a year or so later. Those two deals sent Ralph's Bills up from 200 million to 500 million virtually overnight and set the stage for McNair's buying of the Texans at those outrageous figures.

[MadBuffaloDisease]

I see what you're getting at. And the new owners DO have a legitimate gripe because of that.

[PromoTheRobot]

The more that comes out about this situation, the harder it is to know for sure who is right. Ralph is looking like a whiny B word, but it's also true that all of the CBA stuff and qualifiers are not final. In fact no one has actually seen the final CBA! How weird is that? Maybe Ralph knows Kraft, Jones, and their minions are up to no good? Who knows for sure.

 

PTR

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

I don't see anything wrong with this article.

[tennesseeboy]

Article makes sense to me.

[obie_wan]

I'd say the players taking just a 0.5% cut from their original stance of 60% of total revenues, while the owners caved-in to a 3.3% INCREASE in their original stance of 56.2%, is getting rolled BIGTIME! 

 

And there was NO need to do the deal when they did, but they folded like Ralph said, because it was the eve of FA and they didn't want to have massive player cuts.  The deal could have been done at anytime before the end of the 2006 season.

 

And while the uncapped year SEEMED like a windfall for players, it wasn't really.  Increasing the years of service from 4 to 6 before you could become a FA would have restricted TONS of players.  Also benefits would have been wiped-out, and there wouldn't be a minimum.  At worst a team like the Bills spends little, pockets the money, and reloads for the next CBA and cap.

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Owners never should have had to increase the salary cap without the players agreiing to a rookie wage scale - which would have shifted more salary to the veterans (the actual core of the union)

 

They also never should have been backed into a corner and forced to agree to this deal at the last minute.

 

What the hell were the Owenr's negotiators doing for the last 2 years?

 

yeah - they got taken to the cleaners by the NFLPA

[MadBuffaloDisease]

The more that comes out about this situation, the harder it is to know for sure who is right.  Ralph is looking like a whiny B word, but it's also true that all of the CBA stuff and qualifiers are not final.  In fact no one has actually seen the final CBA!  How weird is that?  Maybe Ralph knows Kraft, Jones, and their minions are up to no good?  Who knows for sure.

I'm sure this didn't come out of the blue, and that RW knew what was being bandied-about. Better to come off like a "whiny B word" and pre-emptively save yourself, than say nothing and get screwed later.

[BuffaloWings]

I wouldn't be surprised if the large market owners (Snyder, Jones, etc) whipped up this CBA not realizing how it could hurt the smaller markets - as opposed to an intentional shot. They probably realized the system worked well enough for them, only to find out that it would more than likely hurt the smaller markets than help.

 

Nonetheless, I see both sides of this. I can understand why Ralph is upset about the CBA and that he has a legitimate gripe, to an extent. On the other hand, he does need to adapt and find new ways of bringing in revenue, even if it does mean selling the naming rights to the stadium ("Topps Field", anyone??). He's right in that guys like Jones and Snyder are not like the old guard, but as businessmen, they're doing what they're supposed to - looking out for their own company first. Bottom line....Ralph has to be sure he gets more revenue outside of the existing NFL revenue sharing.

 

I didn't read the article, but the Norwood comment was unnecessary and unprofessional. Clayton lost my remaining respect for him as soon as he insisted Jim Haslett would be the new head coach.

[nobody]

One amazing thing about that article: The Stadium naming rights for Reliant Stadium? 300 million. 10 mil a year for 30 years.

 

 

Which increases the salary cap for each team by about 200k per year.

[ch19079]

why is he talking about norwoods kick? it has nothing to do with the topic at hand.

 

he says that wilson should not worry because the bills "SHOULD" qualify. the whole point of wilsons PC was to say that noone understood what they were agreeing to, and it is possible that the bills do not qualify, which would be the end of the bills.

i for one would worry, if my multi-million dollor company was resting on the word "should".

 

he says the bills should have been afraid of a uncapped year. again clayton missed the point. one uncapped year and a possible lockout in 2008 is nothing compared to the bills not recieving any revinue sharing, which would again, mean the end of the bills in buffalo.

[Kelly the Dog]

Which increases the salary cap for each team by about 200k per year.

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If Ralph doesn't like it, he should sell the rights for 2-3 million a year and pocket the extra 1.7-2.7 and not complain so much. He did it the first 25 years of the stadium. He wants the team to stay in Buffalo. It could allow him the cash to spend on bonuses he SAYS he cannot afford.

[MadBuffaloDisease]

Again Kelly, the $2M he might get isn't the issue. It helps a little (for example, it would cover Price's bonus), but it's a drop in the bucket as I said.

 

And IF Ralph were so interested in making money more than anything, he would have sold the naming rights YEARS ago (i.e. back in 1998, when Rich's contract ended). I think he a) didn't like the idea of the stadium having a corporate name, and b) didn't think it was right to pocket money for naming a stadium HE did not own. But hey, now it's looking like he's being FORCED to do it, so he can say "look, it's not MY idea," while pocketing the money.

[Kelly the Dog]

Again Kelly, the $2M he might get isn't the issue.  It helps a little (for example, it would cover Price's bonus), but it's a drop in the bucket as I said.

 

And IF Ralph were so interested in making money more than anything, he would have sold the naming rights YEARS ago (i.e. back in 1998, when Rich's contract ended).  I think he a) didn't like the idea of the stadium having a corporate name, and b) didn't think it was right to pocket money for naming a stadium HE did not own.  But hey, now it's looking like he's being FORCED to do it, so he can say "look, it's not MY idea," while pocketing the money.

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It IS the issue. It's clearly the issue. The bad guys say if we're going to foot some of your bill, you guys got to pull as much weight as you can. Ralph isn't getting a lot of support because of stuff like this. He's complaining the small market teams don't generate enough money to compete and yet he doesn't take the 2-3 mil that is sitting there waiting to be taken for NO good reason. That's a no brainer Ralph. Hell, he could probably get Ralph's Supermarket chain in California to pay two million a year and keep the goddamn name Ralph's Stadium.

 

It's not the only issue, and again, I am on Ralph's side here. I think this is what he should be doing. But he isn't going about it all the right ways IMO.

[MadBuffaloDisease]

I think we agree it's a SMALL part of the issue. But again, $2M in a drop in the bucket of a potentially MUCH larger loss of revenue, which is what he's arguing over. And I agree he SHOULD sell the naming rights and believe he will. But outside of that and jacking-up prices for Bills games, which won't go over well with the fans, there's not much else he CAN do to generate revenue.