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NFL Owner’s Committee

JHUMUNC 2017

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NFL Owner’s Committee

Topic A: Rule Changes and Player Personnel

Topic B: Team Logistics and Marketing

Committee Overview

The National Football League capped

off one of its most successful seasons in

recent memory, and as popularity for the

game continues to grow, the NFL’s revenue

continues to grow with it. Thanks to Roger

Goodell, the NFL hopes to achieve its goal

of $25 billion dollars in revenue within the

next five years. Due to the recent growth

and success of the NFL, the owners have

much to discuss at their annual meeting,

including rule changes that each teams bring

forward. Just last year at their annual

meeting, the NFL Owners voted to narrow

the field goal uprights, and paired with the

longer extra points, kickers struggled like

never before. It is up to owners to decide

what rule changes they wish to implement,

and how they would like to change the game

of football possibly forever. In addition to

all this, many teams are considering moves

to higher market cities coming off the heels

of the St. Louis Ram’s stunning return to

Los Angeles. It is up to the owners to decide

whether or not these franchises should be

moved from their initial location, which has

the potential to turn sour and ruin public

relations and the league’s reputation. The

owners will also decide if conference

realignment with teams is necessary and the

feasibility of marketing the NFL abroad.

Finally, the owners are now given the power

to decide on player personnel decisions and

the ramifications that come with it (ie. Tom

Brady). With the potential for big decisions

and long lasting changes to be made at this

year’s meeting, it is truly up to the owners to

see that the National Football League has a

prosperous season in 2016-2017.

Parliamentary Procedures

For this committee, we will follow

standard parliamentary procedure. We will

remain in constant moderated caucus, unless

a delegate motions otherwise, and most

actions will occur through the passing of

directives. Directives and all other

procedural matters will be passed with a

simple majority.

This committee is a specialized crisis

committee — this gives you the freedom to

change how you want to run your

committee. It would be preferred if the

topics were discussed in a moderated caucus

so the committee may move through them in

an orderly fashion. With that said,

unmoderated caucuses can be used fairly

regularly if it will help the conversation

move forward.

For those that are new to Crisis, it is

much more fast-paced than any of the

standing committees. It will test how well

you can adapt to presented situations. If

something comes up during committee that

you feel needs to be addressed, feel free to

call a ‘Point of Order’ or a ‘Point of Inquiry’

to clarify— we will do our best to

adequately answer your question. In order to

make something happen, delegates typically

use Directives. Personal Directives, or crisis

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notes, are direct actions you send through

notes to Crisis Staff that you wish to

implement. These are very open-ended, so it

is in your best interest to be very specific in

what you want. If your Directive needs to be

voted on, it will be passed with a simple

majority (50% of voting members +1

additional member). If you feel you need to

address something outside of committee, try

your best to communicate that to the Crisis

Staff during the sessions. We will do our

best to find you and help you with your

situation.

Delegate Biographies Cincinnati Bengals Owner: Mike Brown

Michael Brown has been the owner of the

Cincinnati Bengals since 1991. He is the son

of football legend Paul Brown, who founded

the Bengals in 1968 as part of the then

American Football League. Mike Brown

began his duties with the Bengals as an

assistant general manager, making personnel

decisions as well as dealing with issues on

league rules and team policy. Brown has

been criticized immensely since taking the

helm of the Bengals organization for a

variety of issues including threatening to

move the franchise unless a new stadium

was built, building a losing culture, and not

ceding football decisions to a general

manager, thus effectively running the team

himself.

Baltimore Ravens Owner: Steve Bisciotti

Steve Bisciotti became a majority of the

owner of the Baltimore Ravens in 2004,

when he purchased the remaining equity

from Art Modell after purchasing only 49%

in 2000. Previously, Bisciotti started an

aerospace company called Aerotek, which

grew to the Allegis Group, which is now the

largest privately held staffing firm in the

United States. Many describe Bisciotti as one of the NFL’s best owners.

Los Angeles Rams Owner: Stan Kroenke

Stan Kroenke, of the sports conglomerate

Kroenke Sports Enterprises (which includes

the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Rapids,

Colorado Avalanche, and the Los Angeles

Rams), is also the largest shareholder of the

English football club Arsenal. He originally

bought a stake in the St. Louis Rams after

their relocation to Missouri in 1995. He

became the full owner of the St. Louis Rams

in 2010 and orchestrated their move to Los

Angeles in 2015.

Carolina Panthers Owner: Jerry Richardson

Jerry Richardson is a former NFL champion

for the Baltimore Colts. After his career, he

opened the very first Hardee’s franchise in

Spartanburg. From there, he began to grow

his business empire by founding Spartan

Foods, and later become the CEO of

Flagstar, a food service company

responsible for over 100,000 employees. It

was not until 1993 that Jerry Richardson

tried his hand in the NFL, whereupon he

founded the Carolina Panthers and became

the first former player since George Halas to

become an NFL team owner. Richardson

utilized his vast business acumen and was a

major player during the final negotiations

that ended with a new player's agreement.

Pittsburgh Steelers Owner: Dan Rooney

The son of famed NFL pioneer and founder

of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Dan Rooney has

served as the Chairman of the Steelers since

2003. Apart from being known for his

political career, in which he served as an

ambassador to Ireland, Dan Rooney has

been instrumental in the advancement of

minorities in the NFL. In fact, Dan Rooney

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has been so impactful that the NFL now has

a requirement that mandated each team to

interview at least one minority candidate

while filling a vacancy. This requirement

has become known as the Rooney rule.

New England Patriots Owner: Robert Kraft

Robert Kraft is the Chairman and CEO

of a multi-billion dollar Corporation, known

as the Kraft Group, whose main holding is

the New England Patriots. As chairman and

CEO of this corporation, Robert Kraft also

owns the New England Revolution of the

MLS and Gillette Stadium. Since becoming

the principal owner in 1995, his New

England Patriots have seen an unparalleled

era of success, resulting in 4 Superbowl

victories, to go along with a total of 7

Superbowl appearances. He is seen as one of

the best and brightest owners of the NFL,

respected by many, yet he too has his

enemies who are keen to point out the

Spygate fiasco of 2008 and the alleged

equipment violations of 2015.

San Diego Chargers Owner: Alex Spanos

Alex Spanos is a self-made billionaire

of Greek descent. He is the founder of the A.

G. Spanos Companies, a real-estate

development firm. In 1984, Mr. Spanos

bought 60% of the San Diego Chargers.

Over the next decade he began to buy all

remaining shares, leading to his current day

status of owning 97 percent of the team. In

the past few years Spanos and his Chargers

organization have had rumors swirling

around them with many fearing that he

intends to move his Chargers team to Los

Angeles, a rumor which has since almost

been muted due to the St. Louis Rams move

to the same city. Still, there is still a sense of

unease and unrest within the fan base

regarding long term commitment of the

organization to the city of San Diego.

Minnesota Vikings Owner: Zygi Wilf

Zygi Wilf is a real estate developer of

German descent. The son of German

immigrants, Mr. Wilf earned his

undergraduate degree in Economics and

later received his J.D. (doctorate of the Law)

from the New York Law School in

Manhattan. In 2005, Mr. Wilf along with

five of his partners purchased the Minnesota

Vikings. Since becoming the owner of the

Vikings, Mr. Wilf has come through on his

promise to upgrade the stadium in which his

Vikings play in, which he viewed as

inadequate. When the state Senate approved

the new stadium, fear and suspicion of the

Vikings leaving Minnesota was put to bed.

Dallas Cowboys Owner: Jerry Jones

The enigmatic personality that is Jerry

Jones truly began his legacy in football as

the co-captain of the 1964 National

Collegiate Champion- University of

Arkansas. Known as one of the most hands-

on owners in all of sports, Jerry Jones

purchased the Cowboys in 1989. He

promptly fired his head coach, the legendary

Tom Landry and his general manager,

thereby allowing him to have almost

complete unilateral authority of all

personnel decisions. He is one of the most

polarizing figures in the NFL, having gained

a multitude of both friends and enemies

during his 27-year reign. He is known for

being a big spender who does not shy away

from the media, with his billion-dollar

stadium being the latest public project Jones

has undertaken.

Indianapolis Colts Owner: Jim Irsay

Jim Irsay is the son of Robert Irsay,

who was the owner of the Baltimore Colts.

In the winter of 1984 amidst much

controversy, Robert Irsay and the Baltimore

Colts relocated to Indianapolis, the current

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home of the Colts. Irsay has been one of the

loudest and fiercest owners since he came to

power of the Colts in 1997. He has on

multiple occasions petitioned the NFL to

institute a multitude of rule changes that in

general have benefitted the Quarterback,

such as enforcing stricter pass interference

calls and increasing the range of hits that

constitute a “roughing the passer”. It comes

as no surprise then, that the two leaders of

Irsay’s Colts teams have been elite

Quarterbacks, chiefly Peyton Manning and

currently Andrew Luck. Recently however,

Irsay has begun to antagonize his fellow

owners after making allegations and

complaints regarding equipment violations

committed by the New England Patriots.

Seattle Seahawks Owner: Paul Allen

Paul Allen is most famously known for

co-founding Microsoft, along with Bill

Gates. He is the 45th

richest person in the

World, valued at 17.7 billion dollars and is

the founder and CEO of Vulcan Inc, which

is the parent Company to all of Paul Allen’s

main investments, including the Portland

Trailblazers of the NBA, the Seattle

Sounders of the MLS and since 1997 the

Seattle Seahawks. During his time in Seattle,

Mr. Allen has been able to foster one of the

most proud fan-bases in all of sports, and

since his reign, his Seahawks have been to

three Superbowls, winning in the 2014-15

season.

Oakland Raiders Owner: Mark Davis

Son of the late and much scrutinized Al

Davis, Mark Davis has been the controlling

interest owner of the Oakland Raiders since

2011. In stark contrast to his father, who was

known for his very hands on approach, Mark

Davis has hired various personnel to handle

the football aspects while he solely focuses

on the business decisions of the Raiders.

Over the course of the last 4 years, Mark

Davis has worked tirelessly to secure a new

stadium for his Oakland Raiders. In the past,

prior to the recent move of the (now) Los

Angeles Rams, it was thought that the

Raiders would perhaps return back to LA.

For now Davis continues to attempt to

increase the value of his Raiders all the

while fighting to get approval for the

development of a new stadium.

Buffalo Bills Owner: Terrence Pegula

A graduate of Pennsylvania State

University, Terrence Pegula is a multi-

billionaire who like many other owners on

this list made their vast fortunes through real

estate and the owning of the sports teams;

Pegula is the owner of the Buffalo Sabres of

the NHL. Pegula is one of the most recent

NFL owners having bought the team from

the Wilson family in 2014 following the

death of Bills patriarch, Ralph Wilson. He is

well liked by his fan base as he has

promised to keep the Bills in Buffalo.

Furthermore he decided to end the Bills

Toronto Series, which was a series of games

that the Buffalo Bills (under the ownership

of Ralph Wilson) had agreed to play 7

“home” games in Toronto, a device used by

the NFL to attempt its brand internationally.

Kansas City Chiefs Owner: Clark Hunt

Clark Hunt has been the CEO and

owner of the Kansas City Chiefs since 2006,

and is also one of the founding investors of

the MLS. He is the son of Lamar Hunt who

was of the founders of the American

Football League, the predecessor of the

American Football Conference. During

Clark Hunt’s time as CEO, his Chiefs have

woefully underperformed only recently

receiving new life in the form of star

running back Jamaal Charles and cast of

talented defensive players. Clark Hunt also

serves as the chairman of Hunts Sports

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Group which also includes within its

umbrella the MLS team: FC. Dallas.

Philadelphia Eagles Owner: Jeffrey Lurie

Laurie inherited his fortune from his

grandfather Phillip Smith, the founder of the

General Cinema Movie Theater chain. He

has an undergraduate degree in psychology

and also has a PhD in Social Policy. In 1993

Lurie, a lifelong Boston sports fan,

attempted to buy the New England Patriots

for 150 million dollars, but eventually

withdrew from the bidding war that ensued.

In 1994 Lurie pulled off one of the riskiest

investment moves of his career, putting the

stock he had in his familial company as

collateral to the 190 million dollar loan he

received from the Bank of Boston to buy the

Eagles. His Eagles are valued at over 2.4

billion dollars.

Washington Redskins Owner: Dan Snyder

Dan Snyder is the CEO of Snyder

Communications LP, an advertising

company, which issued an initial public

offering in 1996, making Dan Snyder the

youngest ever CEO to have his or her

company publically traded on the New York

Stock Exchange. In 1999, Dan Snyder

became the owner of the Redskins after

purchasing them from Jack Kent Cooke for

800 million dollars. His time as the owner of

the Redskins has been met with mixed

reviews. He has continued to pour hundreds

of millions of dollars into upgrading both his

personnel and his stadium, however, since

the beginning of his reign, his Redskins have

accumulated a net losing record and have

yet to reappear in a Superbowl, an award

which they had won three times in their

history. As of late, he has been in the center

of the naming controversy of the Redskins

as well as being blamed for micro-managing

his team into a tailspin of failure.

New York Giants Owner: John Mara

John Mara began his career in the front

office of the New York Giants, back in

1991. Upon the passing of his father in

2005, he became the third Mara to be

principal owner and President of the Giants.

His family connection the Giants team goes

back to 1925 when his grandfather founded

them. During his time as Owner and

President, John Mara’s New York Giants

have won 2 Superbowls, defeating the odds

both times.

New York Jets Owner: Robert Wood Johnson IV

Woody Johnson is the great-grandson

of Robert Wood Johnson I, who co-founded

the multinational medical device and

pharmaceutical company- Johnson &

Johnson. Making the majority of his fortune

through the business ventures sustained by

his eponymous company, Woody Johnson

became the owner of the New York Jets in

2000. In 2005, Woody Johnson had

aspirations to move this Jets to a stadium

that was to be located in Manhattan. But,

since it has been struck down, he has

continued to share a venue with New York

Giants owner John Mara.

Atlanta Falcons Owner: Arthur Blank

Arthur Blank began his career as a

senior accountant. Over time and after

slowly amassing a small fortune, Arthur

Blank co-founded Home Depot. He is now

worth 2.5 billion dollars, and since February

of 2002 has been the owner of the Atlanta

Falcons. A shrewd business man who is

never satisfied, Arthur Blank as of 2015

become the founder of the MLS expansion

team, Atlanta United FC, who are scheduled

to begin playing in the 2017 season.

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Houston Texans Owner: Robert McNair

Robert McNair founded the Houston

Texans franchise (the newest franchise in

the NFL) in 1999. Prior to this, he founded

the company Cogen Technologies, which he

sold to Enron, and now serves as Chairman

and CEO of the McNair Group, a financial

and real estate firm that is headquartered in

Houston. Additionally, he is also owner of

private investment company Palmetto

Partners, and owns Reading F.C. of the

Championship division in England. A noted

philanthropist, he is the head of the Robert

and Janice McNair Educational Foundation

to remove financial barriers that prevented

high school graduates in the Houston area

from attending college, and is known to give

money to many top tier institutions such as

Baylor College of Medicine, Rice

University, and the Houston Grand Opera.

Denver Broncos Owner: Pat Bowlen

Pat Bowlen purchased the Denver

Broncos in 1984 and served as the CEO

until 2014, when he stepped down due to his

battle with Alzheimer’s disease. He still

retains ownership of the team. Bowlen made

his fortune by becoming a successful lawyer

in Edmonton, Alberta and is a popular real

estate developer. Bowlen also owns the

Arena Football League’s Colorado Crush

and the Major League Lacrosse Team the

Denver Outlaws.

Topic A: Rule Changes and

Player Personnel

Introduction

The National Football League

wrapped up another successful season by

seeing the Denver Broncos defeat the

Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50.

Legends like Peyton Manning retired, and

stars like Cam Newton were born. There

were heartbreaks and triumphs along the

road to the Super Bowl, making this season

of the National Football League one of the

most exciting and competitive years ever.

Multiple rule changes were enforced this

year, most notably the moving back of the

extra point and making the goalposts

narrower to increase competition and make

kickers’ jobs harder. The change saw

kickers miss the most extra points in league

history, increasing the likelihood that many

teams attempt two point conversions, rather

an extra point, adding a new wrinkle of

strategy into the game of football.

Now that the season has come to an

end, the annual NFL Owner’s Meeting will

take place, attended by most NFL owners

and head coaches. During the meetings, the

competition committee also meets to discuss

rule changes and personnel decisions to

change for the upcoming year. At the

Owner’s meeting, the competition

committee presents a report of proposed

rules or rule changes which is then voted on

by the owners and is passed with 75% vote

of the owners. In this committee, the

Competition Committee will be dissolved

and all powers on rule changes and rule

developments will now go through the NFL

Owner’s committee.

The NFL would not be the NFL

without its fair share of controversies.

Recently, the league has been plagued with

issues concerning domestic violence, player

safety, and cheating scandals (including

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deflating footballs). Moreover, the

relationship between players and

commissioner Roger Goodell has turned

sour, with many players believing that

Goodell has too much power, and should not

be allowed to unilaterally levy punishments.

It is up to this committee to pass new rules

and regulations or amend old ones in order

to make the 2016-2017 National Football

League season the most successful and

safest year in league history.

Historical Background

The National Football League was

formed in 1920 in Canton, Ohio and was

originally called the American Professional

Football Association, before the name was

changed to the National Football League

prior to the 1922 season. After its birth, the

NFL was originally overshadowed in

popularity by college football, gaining

footholds in small Midwestern towns. There

were only 14 teams in the original

NFL/AFPA, and only two teams from that

original league still remain in today’s

modern NFL. In 1966, as popularity

continued to grow for the sport, the NFL

merged with the American Football League,

an upstart league founded in 1960 that took

away a lot of business from the NFL, in

1966 as popularity continued to grow for the

sport. Thus, the modern National Football

League was born, with the first Super Bowl

taking place in 1967. When the two leagues

merged, it was reorganized into two

conferences: the American Football

Conference (AFC), which consisted of all

AFL teams as well as three pre-merger NFL

teams, and the National Football Conference

(NFC), which consisted of the majority of

the pre-merger NFL teams. Today, the AFC

and NFC both contain 16 teams each,

broken up into 4 divisions. 1

The NFL continued to grow under

the direction of commissioner Pete Rozelle,

who led the league from 1960 to 1989.

During his tenure, annual attendance at NFL

games increased by 15 million people, and

marked the creation of NFL Charities and a

national partnership with United Way. In

addition to this, Rozelle also developed the

Competition Committee in 1968. The

Competition Committee replaced the

outdated rules committee, which was formed

in 1932 to help develop and create the

game’s playing rules as it distinguished

itself from college football. The Competition

Committee’s actions are based off of

feedback from a variety of sources. At the

end of every season, each of the 32 NFL

clubs fills out a survey with questions about

a variety of topics, such as player protection,

officiating, competitive balance, and

technology usage. The NFL Operations

Department also reviews league data on

injuries and instant replay, and discusses

with coaches and general managers aspects

of the game they would like to change. The

Competition Committee then presents their

proposed rules changes at the NFL Owners

Meeting, and the owners vote to pass new

rules or amend old ones (for the purposes of

this committee, the owners will overtake all

of the competition committee’s

responsibilities in drafting and amending

rules). 2

1 Klein, Christopher. "The Birth of the

National Football League." History.com.

A&E Television Networks, 2014. Web. 11

July 2016. 2 "The NFL Competition Committee." NFL

Football Operations. The National Football

League, n.d. Web. 11 July 2016.

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Proposed Rule Changes

While the Competition Committee has

already come out with proposed rule

changes for the NFL Owners for the 2016-

2017, this committee will decide whether or

not to discuss or amend them and then pass

them if appropriate, or completely get rid of

them altogether. The main issues that these

proposed rule changes focus on are player

safety, and the issue of instant replay,

something that has become a hot button

issue for different sports in the modern day.

Here are all the rule proposals by team and

by competition committee:

1. By Competition Committee; Makes

all chop blocks illegal.

2. By Competition Committee;

Disqualifies a player who is

penalized twice in one game for

certain types of unsportsmanlike

conduct fouls.

3. By Baltimore; to amend Rule 5,

Sections 3, Articles 1 and 2

(Changes in Position) to require

players to wear jersey vests with

numbers appropriate for their

positions.

4. By Baltimore; to amend Rule 15,

Section 2, Articles 1, 4, and 5

(Instant Replay) to provide each

team with three challenges and

expand reviewable plays.

5. By Buffalo; to amend Rule 15,

Section 2, Articles 1, 4, and 5

(Instant Replay) to permit a coach to

challenge any official's decision

except scoring plays and turnovers.

6. By Minnesota; to amend Rule 15,

Section 2, Article 1 (Coaches'

Challenge) to eliminate the

requirement that a team be

successful on each of its first two

Instant Replay challenges in order to

be awarded a third challenge.

7. By Washington; to amend Rule 15,

Section 2, Article 4 (Reviewable

Plays) to subject personal foul

penalties to Instant Replay review.

8. By Washington; to amend Rule 15,

Section 2, Article 1 (Coaches'

Challenge) to eliminate the

requirement that a team be

successful on each of its first two

Instant Replay challenges in order to

be awarded a third challenge.

9. By Competition Committee;

Expands the horse collar rule to

include when a defender grabs the

jersey at the name plate or above and

pulls a runner toward the ground.

10. By Competition Committee;

Eliminates the five-yard penalty for

an eligible receiver illegally touching

a forward pass after being out of

bounds and re-establishing himself

inbounds, and makes it a loss of

down.

A full breakdown of the rule proposals can

be found here.

Player Safety

Player safety is an issue that has come

to the forefront of the NFL in one of the

ugliest controversies in modern day sports.

The two most common injuries in

professional football today are knee injuries

involving the ACL/MCL, and concussions.

The ACL is the anterior cruciate

ligament, and one of four main ligaments in

the knee. The ACL is the smallest ligament,

but its function is the most important as it

stabilizes the knees for rotational movement.

It allows football players to cut in different

directions, the bread and butter for many

skill positions on the gridiron.

Unfortunately, this injury is the most

common in athletes, and the chances of a

non-athlete suffering an ACL injury are

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1,000 to 1. More unfortunate is that ACL

tears are one of the most common non-

contact injuries and can occur at any team,

including training camp, which caused stars

like Jordy Nelson and Kelvin Benjamin to

miss the entire 2015-2016 season without

even playing a snap. As prevalence grows,

more and more studies become available

linking ACL tears to genetically predisposed

characteristics in the human body. Dr. Tarek

O. Souryal, an orthopedic surgeon and head

team physician for the Dallas Mavericks,

conducted a study to describe the link

between bony anatomy and ACL tears. They

found that a certain segment of the

population has bone structure that

predisposes them to an ACL tear, however

there are no ways that ACL tears can be

prevented. 3Thus far, no regimen or training

program has been assessed in the National

Football League to prevent ACL tears.

The other and far more controversial

issue with player safety is concussions.

Concussions and other types of traumatic

brain injurious blows in football have been

shown to be the cause of chronic traumatic

encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain

disease which has led to player suicides,

depression, memory loss, and even

dementia. In 2014, researchers with Boston

University conducted a study on brains of

former NFL players, and concluded that 76

out of 79 had tested positive for CTE. 4 The

NFL first began to review cases of

concussions in 1994, when then

commissioner Paul Tagliabue created the

3 "ESPN Feature on ACL Injuries, ACL

Tear, ACL Surgery, ACL Injury, Dallas

Texas Sports Medicine, Dallas

Mavericks." ESPN Feature on ACL Injuries,

ACL Tear, ACL Surgery, ACL Injury, Dallas

Texas Sports Medicine, Dallas Mavericks.

N.p., n.d. Web. 11 July 2016. 4 "FRONTLINE." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 11

July 2016.

Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee and

chose Dr. Elliot Pellman to chair the

committee in order to study the effects of

concussions and concussion history in NFL

players. Dr. Pellman was often criticized as

he was not a neurologist, and often admitted

he knew very little about head injuries. Due

to this, the league often produced data that

understated the significance of concussions,

and continued to find information that was

contrary to other studies, including a NIOSH

study that reported that football players are

more likely to have CTE, ALS, Alzheimer’s

and other traumatic brain injuries. A flurry

of doctors continued to produce studies that

showed that repetitive head injuries led to

neurological problems later in life. In 2008,

the NFL commissioned a study done by the

University of Michigan Institute of Social

Research on over 1,000 former NFL players

showed that Alzheimer’s and similar

diseases occur over 19 times more often in

former NFL players than in regular people.

Due to this, in 2009, Roger Goodell and the

NFL Concussion Committee were called

before Congress to talk about their

concussion protocols and under pressure

from Congress and the NFLPA, made

policies and protocols more stringent to

protect the players. However, in 2011, 7

players filed lawsuits against the National

Football League for not providing adequate

protection to the players as they suffered

repeated concussions throughout their

career.

Following this, two former players,

Ray Easterling and Junior Seau were both

found dead after shooting themselves. Both

their brain autopsies revealed they had

suffered from CTE.5 This has heightened

criticism against the National Football

League, and increased the number lawsuits

brought against them. In 2012, the number

5 "Junior Seau Dies at 43." ESPN. ESPN

Internet Ventures, n.d. Web. 12 July 2016.

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of players involved in lawsuits against the

NFL reached 3,402. A federal hearing was

held in 2013 to discuss the NFL’s motion to

dismiss the lawsuits brought on behalf of the

now 4,500 former players. Judge Anita

Brody decided to have representatives from

both sides work together to form a

settlement, which occurred in an agreement

in which the NFL had to contribute $765

million to provide medical help and

attention to former players. In addition, $10

million will go towards funding brain injury

research and safety programs for players.6

The only tangible thing done to improve

concussions in game is the presence of

independent neurologists on the sidelines,

and improved helmet technology. Many

NFL players have since retired at a very

young age, including Chris Borland, AJ

Tarpley, and D’Brikashaw Ferguson, all of

whom have cited their mental health and

future health as reasons for their retirement.

It is up to the NFL Owner’s Committee to

determine the future mental and physical

health of their players.

Playoff Format

As it currently stands, the NFL

playoffs are a single elimination bracket

tournament to determine the NFL champion.

Six teams from each conference qualify for

the playoffs based on regular season records,

four division winners and two wild cards. If

teams have equal records, different tie

breaking procedures exist to determine who

makes the playoffs and who does not. Based

on record, each team in the playoff bracket

gets a seed, the better the record the better

the seed. The top two seeds have bye weeks

for the first round of the playoffs, and have

home field, with the 2nd

seed only having to

6 "NFL, Ex-players Reach $765 Million

Deal in Concussion Case." Philly-archives.

N.p., 2013. Web. 12 July 2016.

play away if they face the 1st seed. Higher

seeds always have home field advantage.

However, the four division winners are

always the top four seeds (division winners

always clinch a playoff berth), which means

it is possible that a wild card team that does

not win their division but still has a better

record than a division winner, will end up

with a lower seed then that division winner.

It’s even possible that a team that misses the

playoffs and does not win their division has

a better record than a playoff team as

evidenced in the 2010 playoffs with Seattle

having a 7-9 record and still making the

playoffs by winning their division, the worst

record to ever qualify for the NFL playoffs.

Because of this, many call for the abolishing

of divisions and seeding, and instead having

the top 6 teams with the best record in each

conference, regardless of division, make the

playoffs so as not to dilute the playoffs with

teams that are undeserving of being there.

Another popular proposal is to expand the

playoff field to 14 teams, however that has

failed multiple times to gain traction in

league circles.

Personnel Decisions and Punishments

With Roger Goodell maintaining his

commissioner status in the league for a

prolonged period of time, many players have

expressed their displeasure with how

Goodell runs the league. Players, such as

Brian Westbrook, James Harrison, and Drew

Brees to name a few have all spoken out

against Goodell’s decisions in terms of

suspensions and punishments for various

wrongdoings. Brees once publicly said, “He

is the judge, jury, and executioner when it

comes to all the discipline. I’m not going to

trust any league-led investigation when it

12

comes to anything. It’s not transparent.”7

Goodell came under fire initially for his

handling of the Ray Rice domestic abuse

case, in which he claimed he never saw a

video of Rice attacking his then girlfriend

before sentencing Rice to a two game

suspension, a punishment that caused outcry

from the public for being too little too late.

Perhaps most damaging for Goodell was

his handling of the deflate gate debacle that

coincided with the 2015 AFC Championship

game between the New England Patriots and

the Indianapolis Colts. The NFL suspended

quarterback Tom Brady four games on the

allegations that he deflated footballs. The

NFLPA filed an appeal of Brady’s

suspension and requested a neutral third

party arbitrator to preside over the case.

Despite their appeal, the NFL announced

that Goodell himself would serve as the

arbitrator for Brady’s case in which he

upheld the suspension.8 In August after the

trial, U.S. Judge Richard Berman criticized

Goodell of being unfair and contradicting

himself multiple times during the

proceeding after the transcript of the trial

had been released. Berman threw out the

trial and vacated Brady’s suspension citing a

lack of fair due process. However, almost a

year later, the Second Circuit court

reinstated Brady’s four game suspension for

the upcoming 2016-2017 season causing

outcry among players and fans alike. 9

7 "Brees Comments on Goodell's Power,

Deflategate and More." Bleacher Report.

N.p., n.d. Web. 12 July 2016. 8 "Mueller Report Underscores Roger

Goodell's Deceit in Ray Rice Case."Robert

Mueller Report Underscores NFL

Commissioner Roger Goodell's Deceit in

Ray Rice Case. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 July

2016. 9 "Judge Nullifies Tom Brady's Four-game

Suspension." NFL.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 12

July 2016.

Recent Decisions

In the offseason before last season, the

NFL took aim at improving player safety on

the field. Beginning in 2015, the NFL

instituted rules to help players, namely

receivers who are clearly tracking the

football and are in a defenseless position. In

addition, rules concerning peel back blocks

and chop blocks involving the knees and

shoulders of players have been eliminated to

provide an even safer environment for the

players. The league also ramped up its

policy on consequences for unsportsmanlike

conduct and fighting during the game to

alleviate the decision-making in scuffles and

pile-ups. Special teams also changed

drastically in 2015, with the extra point

being pushed back to the 15-yard line from

the 2-yard line, and goalposts narrowing,

making kicking field goals and extra points

considerably more difficult. 10

Question the Committee Must Address

1. What rule changes should the NFL

make at this moment?

a. More playoff teams?

b. More timeouts?

c. More challenges?

d. How will all of these changes

influence how the game is

played?

2. What can be done to increase player

safety in the NFL?

3. What can be done to change the

playoff process in the NFL?

4. What can be done to take away the

commissioner’s unilateral power for

doling out consequences to players?

10

"The NFL Competition Committee." NFL

Football Operations. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 July

2016.

13

5. What should be punishments for

various wrongdoings (domestic

abuse, PED’s, deflating footballs,

etc.)?

Concluding Remarks

The NFL is currently a multi-billion

dollar entity, and the players are getting

richer and richer as each season passes. With

that said, owners and general managers are

making bigger and bigger investments in

‘franchise’ players. How do the owners

work with the Commissioner and the

Referee’s Association to ensure their players

are playing the game in a safe manner while

maintaining the integrity of the original

game of football?

Topic B: Team Logistics and

Marketing

Introduction

As the NFL popularity continues to

grow in the United States, other countries

are quickly catching football fever as well.

While Canada is the only other country

currently with a professional football league

– Mexico had one very briefly but

discontinued it – football’s popularity

globally is growing, especially with many

foreign players being drafted in the 2016

NFL Draft, including Moritz Boehringer, a

German athlete drafted by the Minnesota

Vikings. This year the NFL will host two

games on foreign soil, one in Wembley

Stadium in England, and the other in the

heart of Mexico City at Azteca Stadium. The

NFL must continue to market their brand

globally, as it dominates the United States in

terms of most watched sporting events,

however is not even close to the global

ratings of the FIFA World Cup, or UEFA

Euro Championships.

In addition, rumors of franchises

moving cities have run rampant for years

until January of 2016 when the NFL

approved plans to move the Rams franchise

from St. Louis back to Los Angeles, a town

that lacked a football team since the rams

moved from Los Angeles to St. Louis in

1995. After St. Louis moved, rumors of the

San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders

being unhappy with their current location

surfaced and many believe they are the next

two franchises on the move. The NFL

Owner’s Committee will be heavily

involved with relocation terms for those

franchises, as well as creating new

expansion teams and adding to the 32 team

total in the current NFL. All of these

location changes could even bring a

divisional alignment within the NFL sooner

than expected.

14

Historical Background

The National Football League is the

most profitable and popular of the four

major American professional sports leagues.

In fact, the NFL is so popular that it has an

industry all to itself. The combined value of

the NFL’s 32 teams is $37.4 billion, which

is greater than the national GDP of countries

like Afghanistan, Cambodia, and more than

117 other countries. The Dallas Cowboys

are the NFL’s highest valued team at just

north of $3.2 billion, which is enough to buy

the five lowest value Major League Baseball

teams and buy an iPhone 5 for almost every

person in the state of Texas. 11

The NFL

makes a lot of money not just from its

lucrative television deals ($1.9 billion from

ESPN, $1.1 billion from Fox, $1 billion

from CBS and $950 million from NBC), but

also from fans spending money on games

and merchandise. The NFL merchandise

sales in 2011 reached $3 billion in 2011, and

its revenue sharing pool in 2016 grew 21%

to $7.3 billion in 2015. 12

The Super Bowl

alone accounts for the 21 highest rated

broadcasts in United States history in total

viewership. In addition to this, many

stadiums continue to use taxpayer money to

build stadiums, which has prompted

criticism that we should stop the public

giveaways to America’s richest sports

league, and force owners to spend money on

the stadiums. 13

11

"THE BUSINESS OF THE NFL -

Finance Degree Center." Finance Degree

Center RSS. N.p., 2013. Web. 15 Aug.

2016. 12

"NFL Teams Split $7.3 Billion in

Revenue, Packers Numbers

Reveal." Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg, n.d.

Web. 15 Aug. 2016. 13

Easterbrook, Gregg. "How the NFL

Fleeces Taxpayers." The Atlantic. Atlantic

Media Company, n.d. Web. 15 Aug. 2016.

Professional Football Subsidies

In 2012, Virginia Governor Bob

McDonnell took $4 million from taxpayers’

pockets and gave the money to the

Washington Redskins to allow the team to

upgrade its workout facility. To avoid any

backlash or criticism, McDonnell approved

the “gift” while the state legislature was out

of session. Meanwhile, Redskins owner,

Dan Snyder, has a net worth estimated at $1

billion. 14

While New Orleans citizens

continued to struggle to rebuild their

community after Hurricane Katrina, the

Saints continued to host home football

games at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome

just a year after the national disaster.

Taxpayers have, in stages, provided about

$1 billion to build and renovate the

Superdome. Tom Benson, who is the Saints’

owner, is worth an estimated $1.2 billion,

and keeps nearly all revenue from ticket

sales, concessions, parking, and

broadcasting rights. Taxpayers even

contributed for the addition of leather

stadium seats to the Superdome. Twelve

teams have turned a profit on stadium

subsidies alone – receiving more money

than they needed to build their facilities15

. A

relevant example is embattled Cincinnati

Bengals owner Mike Brown, and his plan to

tear down Riverfront Stadium, and build a

brand new Paul Brown stadium in its place.

Initially, Brown wanted to keep the

franchise in Cincinnati, and rejected offers

from other cities to move the team.

However, in 1995 he was frustrated by

Riverfront Stadium’s small seating capacity

and lack of luxury boxes, and he believed

14

Easterbrook, Gregg. "How the NFL

Fleeces Taxpayers." The Atlantic. Atlantic

Media Company, n.d. Web. 15 Aug. 2016. 15

Easterbrook, Gregg. "How the NFL

Fleeces Taxpayers." The Atlantic. Atlantic

Media Company, n.d. Web. 15 Aug. 2016.

15

this was one of the main things hindering the

Bengals success. 16

In 1995, Brown said that

Cincinnati had breached its lease agreement

when it was late by one week in paying over

$167,00 in concession receipts. He

threatened to move the team to Baltimore if

Hamilton County would not fund a new

stadium. 17

Hamilton County quickly gave in

as Cincinnati’s City Council and the

Hamilton County Commissioners agreed to

fund the brand new Paul Brown Stadium

with a proposed county sales tax increase,

which needed voter approval. Voters quickly

passed a sales tax increase to increase the

funding of a new facility for the Bengals and

a second new facility for the MLB’s

Cincinnati Reds. Paul Brown Stadium was

finished in 2000. In 2007, the Hamilton

County Commissioner, Todd Portune, filed

a lawsuit in federal district court against the

NFL and the Bengals, claiming that revenue

shares from the Bengals from 1996-1999 did

not support Mike Brown’s claim that the

team was under any type of financial

pressure. A majority of people that support

Portune feel that Brown lied to them in

saying the Bengals would be more

competitive with a new stadium. 18

The

Bengals have only had seven winning

seasons out of 16 since the stadium opened.

Rick Eckstein, co-author of “Public Dollars,

Private Stadiums,” states that the Hamilton

County-Paul Brown Stadium arrangement is

“the single most lopsided stadium deal since

1993”. 19

16

Forbes, Gordon, 1995, June 20. Bengals'

boss sees stadiums as solutions, USA Today,

6C. 17

1995, June 25, Bengals set ultimatum, The

Washington Post, p. D05 18

Associated Press, 2000, August 16, Public

gets look at new Bengals' stadium. 19

"Fuel to the Fire: More on the Stadium

Deal." 'WhoDeyRevolution' N.p., 11 Dec.

2008. Web. 16 Aug. 2016.

Moving Franchises

The most prevalent NFL news this

offseason from a business standpoint, as

stated previously, was the Rams franchise

moving from the city of St. Louis to Los

Angeles. The owner, Stan Kroenke, who

originally helped the Rams move from

Anaheim to St. Louis by purchasing a 30%

stake in the company, went into arbitration

with the City of St. Louis in early 2013 over

a clause in the Rams lease contract that

stated the Rams current stadium had to be in

the top tier of NFL stadiums. The arbitrators

agreed with the Rams, and allowed the

Rams to break their original stadium lease

and go to a year to year lease agreement. 20

In early 2015, news broke that Kroenke was

teaming up with a company named

Stockbridge Capital Group to build an NFL

stadium in Inglewood, California, a suburb

of Los Angeles. St. Louis, realizing it could

lose the Rams, introduced plans for their

own open air, riverfront stadium in St. Louis

named National Car Rental Field. 21

However, Kroenke had no talks or

discussions with city officials and expressed

no interest in keeping the team in St. Louis,

leading top St. Louis officials to feel they

were being cheated by Kroenke. In addition,

fans were outraged due to the fact that in

2014, the St. Louis Rams had an 86%

attendance record despite a 6-10 season and

10 consecutive non-winning seasons before

that. In addition, NFL Commissioner Roger

Goodell was criticized for stating that the St.

Louis funding plan did not meet the criteria

set by the NFL, even though St. Louis’s plan

20

Florio, Mike. "Rams Win

Stadium arbitration." ProFootballTalk. N.p.,

2 Feb. 2013. Web. 16 Aug. 2016. 21

Farmer, Sam, and Roger Vincent. "Owner

of St. Louis Rams Plans to Build NFL

Stadium in Inglewood." Los Angeles Times,

5 Jan. 2015. Web. 16 Aug. 2016.

16

was very affordable. 22

Goodell later gave a

significant amount of money to the Raiders

and Chargers to improve their stadiums and

help fund their markets. The Raiders,

Chargers, and Rams all originally applied to

move to Los Angeles, however, the NFL

approved the Ram’s application to relocate

from St. Louis in early 2016. There are still

multiple rumors concerning the movements

of the Raiders and Chargers, with latest

sources speculating the Raiders could end up

in Las Vegas, and the Chargers could join

the Rams in Los Angeles. At this time,

however, no movement has been made. The

NFL Owner’s Committee has the

responsibility to approve of and sanction all

movements of franchises to different cities,

and no team can move without approval of

the majority of NFL Owners.

Establishing New Expansion Franchises

The most recent expansion team that

joined the National Football League was in

2002, when the Houston Texans joined the

newly formed AFC South. Recently, Las

Vegas is a popular name associated with a

brand new NFL franchise, but why only

focus on a team on United States soil?

According to an October report from

Yahoo!, the British Treasury Department

will reportedly do everything in its power to

make sure and approve of a permanent NFL

team in London sometime within the next 5

years. 23

Given that the NFL is regularly

22

Hunn, David. "Goodell: $300 Million for

St. Louis Stadium 'fundamentally

Inconsistent' with NFL Policy."

Stltoday.com. N.p., 18 Dec. 2015. Web. 16

Aug. 2016. 23

Holden, Eric. "London and the Cities

Most Likely to Win an NFL Expansion

Team." AXS. N.p., 23 Oct. 2014. Web. 16

Aug. 2016.

playing games in England and now Mexico,

it is reasonable to ask if the NFL is going to

expand with one or multiple new franchises

in these countries. This committee will

examine the possibility of the league adding

new franchises to expand their global

market. If the league does not feel it is

viable to establish a new franchise, the

alternative is to move a current franchise to

either England or Mexico. If the owners

choose this option, which franchise would

leave the United States and re-establish in

their new home?

Division/Conference Realignment

The last expansion and realignment in

NFL history was in 2002, when the Houston

Texans joined the NFL as a franchise

expansion team. With the Texans joining the

NFL, the teams realigned into eight

divisions with four teams in each division

and then four divisions in each conference.

This led to major changes in the NFL’s

landscapes, with the Seattle Seahawks

switching conferences from the AFC West

to the NFC West. The Arizona Cardinals

moved from the NFC East to the NFC West,

and the AFC South (Colts, Jaguars, Titans,

and Texans) and NFC South (Falcons, Bucs,

Panthers, and Saints) were formed. With the

addition of a team, the NFL modified their

playoff format to four division winners and

two wild cards from each conference

advancing to the playoffs, a huge difference

as previously three division winners and

three wild cards advanced in the playoffs24

.

In addition, the NFL added the modern rule

that the division winners are now seeded one

through four in their respective conference.

The NFL Owner’s Committee have the

24

Murray, Ken. "Nfl Vote On Realignment

Nears." Tribunedigital-thecourant. N.p., 21

May 2001. Web. 15 Aug. 2016.

17

jurisdiction to change any alignments they

see fit once franchises move or are added to

the National Football League. Recently,

rumors of the Chargers and the Raiders

moving to Los Angeles, have sparked

divisional realignment talk, with some

believing that the Chargers would move to

the NFC West, while one team from that

division would move to the AFC. 25

NFL Global Marketing Strategy

In 2007, the NFL held its very first

regular season football game at Wembley

Stadium in London, and every year since

then the NFL has held at least one game

across the pond called the NFL International

Series. Some NFL games are wildly popular

in London, and most are well attended with

some being sold out within hours of tickets

becoming available. The first game in 2005,

between the Miami Dolphins and the New

York Giants, sold over 35,000 tickets in the

first 90 minutes of sales and thousands more

sold in the hours that followed26

. The

Jacksonville Jaguars are a team that are in

pole position to move across the pond, as the

Jags have had a tough time isolating a

market in football heavy Florida, and

retaining a solid fan base, but many cities in

the United States need expansion franchises,

let alone a franchise in England. In 2016, the

NFL International Series will expand to two

more stadiums in London, while also

holding a game in Azteca Stadium in

Mexico City. Prior to 2005, the NFL’s main

way of promoting football globally was

25

Petchesky, Barry. "NFL's Los Angeles

Move Could Bring Divisional Realignment."

Deadspin. N.p., 2015. Web. 16 Aug. 2016. 26

Holden, Eric. "London and the Cities

Most Likely to Win an NFL Expansion

Team." AXS. N.p., 23 Oct. 2014. Web. 16

Aug. 2016.

through the American Bowl, which was a

series of preseason games played around the

world that ended in 2005, and NFL Europe,

a small developmental league based in

Europe that ended in 2007. However, in

2005, the Arizona Cardinals defeated the

San Francisco 49ers in Azteca Stadium in

Mexico City, under the branding name of

NFL Fútbol Americano. It was the first

regular season NFL game held outside the

United States and drew the NFL’s highest

game attendance at the time with 103,467 in

attendance. Roger Goodell has voiced his

pleasure with expanding the league’s appeal

overseas since the end of NFL Europe, and

has even openly discussed the idea of

holding a future Super Bowl game in

London. 27

The NFL has also studied the

possibility of adding a 17th

regular season

game to all teams, that would take the place

of the fourth pre-season game and would be

played in different countries around the

world. 28

Thus far, all London NFL games

have been popular, with tickets for two

games per season selling out in two days

almost nine months in advance. According

to the NFL, only 3% of those attending the

London games are Americans or American

expatriates, while 22% are from London,

and 60% are from elsewhere in the United

Kingdom. 29

27

"NFL Commissioner Says Super Bowl

May Someday Be Held in London." ESPN.

N.p., Oct. 2007. Web. 16 Aug. 2016. 28

"NFL Looking Closely at Expanding to

17 Games with International Flavor." ESPN.

N.p., May 2007. Web. 16 Aug. 2016. 29

Zimmerman, Brandon. "NFL Banking On

'Passion' Of U.K. Fans To Make London

Expansion A Success." SportsBusiness.

N.p., 28 Aug. 2013. Web. 16 Aug. 2016.

18

Questions the Committee Must Address

1. Where and what should the NFL

look to do (nationally or globally) to

expand their fan base?

a. Should the NFL hold more

games overseas to continue to

expand the popularity of

football?

b. Should the NFL altogether

introduce a new franchise

team in London or in a city

abroad?

c. Should the NFL move a team

from a smaller market to a

larger market with more

potentially lucrative deals?

2. What teams should be moved to a

different conference if realignment

or expansion should occur?

3. Should relocation terms be granted

to teams unhappy with their current

city-stadium deals?

4. Should conferences be removed

altogether?

5. Should owners be forced to pay for

their own stadiums?

Concluding Remarks From determining the future of player safety, to expanding the popularity of football to every corner of the world, the NFL Owner’s Committee has many responsibilities that need fulfilling over the extent of this conference. The

From determining the future of player

safety, to expanding the popularity of

football to every corner of the world, the

NFL Owner’s Committee has many

responsibilities that need fulfilling over the

extent of this conference. The NFL is at a

point where, under the right leadership, it

can advance to new heights no other

American sport has done before, in terms of

popularity and business. It is up to the NFL

Owner’s Committee to decide on a path, and

lead the way.