Gang of 9

[70Chip]

Originally Posted by BrudLee

Lost in this is the fact that every single team that owns its own stadium is on the list. The revenue for these teams is higher because their investment is greater.

The Redskins can maximize their revenue on gameday in a way that the Ravens (for example) can't. The leased space in FedEx doesn't go to some state Stadium Authority, or to some third party landowner, it goes to the Washington Redskins. That is what makes the Skins more valuable than, say, the Ravens, whose M&T Bank stadium was funded through a combination of proceeds generated from the sale of tax-exempt revenue bonds, debt service paid by lottery proceeds and the Ravens.

Should the Ravens, who don't have the same responsibilties (financial or otherwise) in their stadium have the same stadium revenue as the Redskins? Nine teams don't think so. Neither does the budding capitalist in me.

PS - this isn't a crack on the Ravens or their fans. Don't get your Googles in a bunch.

Do you know how these deals work? I think the Ravens keep some, if not most of the luxury box revenue. If not, then why go to the trouble of marketing and staffing those premium seats? To me that's the real coup-- getting your locality to build the stadium and then raking in the profits. Snyder has all that debt because Cooke paid for the stadium which basically doubled the Redskins value. Snyder should ask the other owners if they would like to "share" his debt as well. But it would be interesting to see how much money goes back to the locality on one of these long term lease deals. I suspect the teams keep most of the money.

Someone said the Steelers should logically be in the Gang of 9. This is understandable because of their stalwart fans and signature brand appeal. They are a marquis name. Non-football fans know them. You would assume that they could generate large streams of revenue. My impression, though, is that Dan Rooney is sort of an ideologue on these issues. He is firmly in the "think league" camp. He was the driving force behind nixing the original Milstein/Snyder bid and was trying--some would say colluding--to allow John Cooke to retain ownership of the Skins. I think he would prefer the league to operate in a more clubby, civic minded way and not be so motivated by ostentation and profit. He views his ownership of the Steelers as a public trust rather than a business. On some level it's a stylistic rather than substantive difference. At least that has been my (total) outsider's view.