Chilly Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 http://www.profootballtalk.com/2008/03/17/...owes-9-billion/ According to Daniel Kaplan of SportsBusiness Journal, the league had more than $9 billion in debt as of October 2007. That’s an average of more than $281,000,000 per team. The disclosure came in a letter from NFL outside counsel Gregg Levy in support of a decision by the league to reduce the per-team annual debt ceiling. The union has filed collusion charges regarding the move, alleging that the league essentially has limited the amount of money that will be available to pay bonuses and other lump sums to players. The Levy letter has been made public because it has been filed in connection with the collusion charges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cantankerous Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 Is this because of all the new stadiums being paid for by the public tax payers? Hmmm...how else could they be so in debt? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwight Drane Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 MARGIN CALL!!!! Don't think the NFL is untouchable with all the crap debt out there. You will be hearing rumors for months of troube from all corners. It doesn't matter how good your asset is, it is all about who the loan party is and who has enough jack to take on a loan in a hurry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Jack Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 In other news, the NFL has mandated a league wide ticket price increase of $500 per seat per game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeF Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 I have not fact checked this, but I bet the $9 Billion is heavily concentrated in the large market teams that are partly financing their own new stadiums....the NFL contributes about $150M of the costs for a new stadium on average--but more and more owners are financing a part on their own...when a part is $500M like the Cowboys Stadium - that's a big chunk of the debt. Ralph is probably not carrying much debt at all...an interesting advantage for small market teams with supportive governments... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keepthefaith Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 http://www.profootballtalk.com/2008/03/17/...owes-9-billion/ $9 billion = dust on the table for the NFL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattM Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 I have not fact checked this, but I bet the $9 Billion is heavily concentrated in the large market teams that are partly financing their own new stadiums....the NFL contributes about $150M of the costs for a new stadium on average--but more and more owners are financing a part on their own...when a part is $500M like the Cowboys Stadium - that's a big chunk of the debt. Ralph is probably not carrying much debt at all...an interesting advantage for small market teams with supportive governments... I thought I'd read that Ralph has little or no debt on the team, so if that's the case (and I'm sure he's not alone), then there must be some teams that are close to half their value in debt. While the NFL is hugely popular, you never know what a downturn could cause in terms of economic havoc even for them. Perhaps this is part of why Goodell is fighting so hard to sweep Spygate under the rug--that kind of news ain't good for business...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloridaSnow Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 .....Sounds like the NFL is practicing a bit of "creative accounting"........ :lol: The contradictory nature of your emoticons confuses, frightens, and angers me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 $9B of debt is not the same as $9B in debt, and by itself is a meaningless number. Lots of very healthy business carry large debt loads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art in PNS Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 I'll Bet Snyder and our Buddy Jerry carry a good portion of that debt between them . I think this credit crunch is more of the reason that Danny Boy is laying low in Free agency than he's suddenly had a vision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chilly Posted March 18, 2008 Author Share Posted March 18, 2008 $9B of debt is not the same as $9B in debt, and by itself is a meaningless number. Lots of very healthy business carry large debt loads. Picky, picky. Changed. I'm curious to know which teams are holding all of the debt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 Picky, picky. Changed. I'm curious to know which teams are holding all of the debt. I didn't mean you....I meant the tone of the article and overall reaction to it. Without analyzing the books, I suspect the NFL has mad cash flow so a large debt figure is nothing to be too concerned about. I doubt the NFL is going Bear Stearns on us anytime soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ans4e64 Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 It doesn't matter, Goodell will just destroy the evidence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 A friend of mine has always speculated that the reason Ralph won't sell the Bills now is that he would have to open his books and show the team is mortgaged to the hilt. Not a bad strategy actually. It's one way to get your equity without a huge tax liability and when you pass, someone else cleans up the mess. If Ralph did something like that, then I'm sure there are other owners who have as well. PTR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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