NFL’s Next Steps on ‘Sunday Ticket’

I was supposed to send this newsletter out earlier today, but work was abruptly interrupted so the SBJ crew could cover the USA Men’s Basketball Team’s wild fourth-quarter comeback against Serbia.

The NFL should still consider settling with plaintiffs despite last week’s victory in the “Sunday Ticket” antitrust lawsuit, an expert in sports antitrust law told me.

Judge Philip Gutierrez gave the NFL the lead by eliminating the $14.1 billion it faced. But rather than simply defending itself on appeal, there’s good reason to consider ending the whole thing now by issuing a check, said Jodi Balsam, a professor at Brooklyn Law School and former NFL lawyer. In short, there’s still risk in letting this play out, but the price of ending the case is much lower than it was eight days ago.

“The NFL is at the point of maximum settlement leverage,” Balsam said. “But the plaintiffs are not without leverage, because there is a really strong possibility that the Ninth Circuit will reverse what the district court judge did. But there are still serious questions about what they could achieve financially by sending the case back. To me, it makes sense at this point to engage in settlement talks.”

Even if the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upholds Gutierrez’s ruling in the NFL’s favor, its ruling could still set a template for copycat antitrust lawsuits against other contracts, both in the NFL and other sports leagues. “There was evidence in the record … supporting the jury’s reasonable finding of an unreasonable restraint of trade …,” he wrote.

But given the Ninth Circuit’s history with the NFL, owners and legal strategists need to seriously consider the risks of reopening the plaintiffs’ case, Balsam said.

“What the NFL wants to do here is continue business as usual,” she said. “They want to do it in a predictable way, without having to rely on what the Ninth Circuit or the Supreme Court says. That means something. You could put a price on that predictability. It might not be $4.7 billion, or triple that, but I’d bet it’s high nine figures.”

On the other hand, if the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declares Gutierrez’s ruling final, its conclusion would send a strong message to antitrust plaintiffs’ bars that it is probably not worth taking the financial risk of striking media deals with major sports leagues.

Falcons owner Arthur Blank gave the clearest signal yet of his succession plans Wednesday, hiring his son Josh as vice president/strategist at AMB Sports & Entertainment. Josh Blank has the inside track to take over from his father, but my sources caution against assuming that’s a done deal or drawing too many conclusions about the timeline.

Josh Blank, 27, has distinguished himself in his four years at the NFL headquarters in Manhattan, but people in Atlanta are noticing that Aug. 15 will be the first day he works for either AMBSE or the Falcons. To fully prepare for the top job, he would still need to learn the stadium, events, sales and operations from all sides, and that could realistically take a decade — and there’s still a lot of unpredictability in the meantime.

That said, the entire league took notice of Wednesday’s announcement. Blank, 81, is the NFL’s sixth-oldest controlling owner and has been one of the most important owners to date who lacked a next-generation family member in the team’s leadership ranks. Blank is a popular, trusted leader, and all 32 teams are interested in a smooth transition when the time comes.

The role of vice president/strategy is designed to give Josh Blank insight into every key part of the business while placing him in close orbit with AMBSE leaders such as president Tim Zulawski, CEO Rich McKay and chief commercial officer Nana-Yaw Asamoah. It’s the same title the Broncos gave Pat Bowlen’s daughter, Brittany, when she was being groomed before selling the family to the Waltons.

In the NFL, the younger Blank worked in a junior rotation program that gave him brief stints in football communications, club business development, consumer products and media business development. In 2022, he joined Club BD full-time, where he primarily handled ticket sales and reported to Vice President Rob Hoffman as an entry-level associate.

One source called him “super responsive,” “open to feedback,” “humble” and “hardworking.” Before you dismiss this as just ass-kissing, know that many family members of owners work in the NFL and don’t get that kind of praise from the rank and file.

Blank has six children from two marriages, a family structure that has previously caused succession problems in the NFL. But four of them — Josh’s older half-siblings, Kenny, Dena and Danielle, and his younger sister, Kylie — have shown little interest in football. Josh’s younger brother, Max, is a junior rotation player but says his interests lie in football operations (scouting, player personnel, etc.).

The top tier of the new Washington Commanders sponsorship team is in place after three hires in recent weeks by new Chief Partnerships Officer Jim Rushton. As Rushton told SBJ Football in March, he wanted his own people to lead business development, solutions (strategy) and success (customer/activation). Two are local, brought over from Monumental Sports & Entertainment, and the third is from MSG.

The trio consists of:

• Vice President of Partnership Development Erik Leibovitzwho has spent the last nine years at Monumental, the last five as vice president of global partnerships and business development.

• Vice President, Partner Solutions Lauren Greenfieldwho spent five years at Monumental, most of the last three as vice president of global partnership strategy and development.

• Vice President of Partner Success Andrew Berkowitzwho will drive up I-95 from New York, where he has worked at MSG Entertainment for 13 years, including the last 10 months as senior director of global partnerships.

This new team comes together as the Commanders search for a new president to replace Jason Wright, who is now an advisor and will leave the team by the end of the season. They are currently hiring executives and managers who will work under Leibovitz, Greenfield and Berkowitz.

The team’s sponsorship portfolio bottomed out in the final months of Dan Snyder’s tenure, but it rebounded with 12 new deals in the days since Josh Harris bought the team. But naming rights to the stadium are available, as are a number of other assets and categories.

• SBJ this week released a list of Power Players in the mixed-use development space. Sports properties that made the list include the Cowboys (Blue Star Land), Packers (Titletown Development) and Kroenke Sports & Entertainment. Dolphins owner Stephen Ross also made the list as a developer through his company Related Companies, which has mixed-use plans for 240 acres of land adjacent to the 49ers’ Levi’s Stadium.

• NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has asked owners to set aside Aug. 27 for a possible league meeting to take action on a long-awaited policy to allow private equity firms to buy minority stakes in teams, as I reported last week. The initial meeting will only happen if a special ownership policy committee, first convened 11 months ago, finalizes the policy by then. There is no further word on whether that meeting will happen.

• The Browns will use parking reservation tool SpotHero during the upcoming NFL season around the Cleveland Browns Stadium, notes SBJ’s Ethan Joyce. The platform now offers parking options around all 30 NFL stadiums.

• Speaking of the Browns, the team sent a letter to season ticket holders this week sharing more details about the stadium planning, as well as renderings of a potential $2.4 billion HKS-designed indoor facility in the southwest Cleveland suburb of Brook Park, my colleague Bret McCormick notes. The letter indicates that the stadium will be the centerpiece of a new mixed-use development, including retail, residential space, hotels and other unique offerings, but it didn’t provide any guidance on the next steps in the process. The team’s current lease expires after the 2028 season.

• Bud Light has released an ad titled “Easy to Sunday” for the NFL season, tapping Peyton Manning for the ads, reports Austin Karp of SBJ. The creative, via ad agency Martin and production company World War Seven, is part of Bud Light’s Kickoff campaign that launched last season.

• ESPN is taking more fan feedback into account than ever before as it prepares to release an updated fantasy football app for the 2024 NFL season. The app will include the ability to share animated, snarky commentary with friends on game days, notes SBJ’s Grace Kut.

• On Saturday, ESPN and NFL Network drew a combined 321,000 viewers to the Pro Football HOF Enshrinement Ceremony, down 50% from last year’s 636,000 viewers excluding Olympic competition.