My Thoughts on the NFL's Conflicting Responsibilities

          It has become big news as of late that the NFL operates as a non-profit organization. I got to thinking (probably too much) about all the working parts of this relationship. I constructed an answer to 'Who' is responsible to 'Whom' for 'What' question pertaining to the world of electronic media. In this post, I am suggesting that the NFL has a greater responsibility to their charity work, being a non-profit. This doesn't necessarily reflect my opinion on whether or not the NFL should, indeed, be a non-profit organization. Thanks for reading!

National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell is responsible to television networks holding rights to broadcast NFL games for maximizing viewership ratings, and to the audiences served by the NFL for ensuring affordable, responsible entertainment.

The television rights to broadcast NFL games are the most expensive of any American entertainment property. The NFL offers (on a regular basis) what other programming seldom can – a large, diversified, and live viewing audience. The rights to broadcast games are held by CBS, FOX, ESPN, NBC and the NFL Network. With the power that the NFL holds due to its marketability and its long-standing dominance of television ratings comes the leverage to greatly influence network content. This power holds true from the vantage point of advertisers on the five aforementioned networks and their competitors alike. As commissioner, Roger Goodell is responsible for negotiating television deals and initiating efforts to maximize viewership - thus satisfying involved networks. In order to do so effectively, Goodell is also responsible for establishing the NFL as an affordable product. Not only does making the brand affordable satisfy the television audience, it also facilitates the generation of interest surrounding the product- theoretically increasing viewership. While it might seem that satisfying the terms of the television agreements also evidences the fulfilment of his responsibility to audiences served by the NFL, as the commissioner of a non-profit organization Goodell faces an even more intensely scrutinized responsibility.

“Freedom means responsibility. That’s why most men dread it!”-G.B. Shaw

NFL: 2012 Fiscal Year (from GuideStar)

Members of audiences served by the NFL typically pay federal income taxes while the NFL league office is exempt from paying federal corporate taxes. This fact has been the focus of many activist groups and legislators recently, as United States Senator Tom Coburn (R, Okla) filed a bill in September 2013 to revoke the NFL’s tax-exempt status as it doesn't appear fair to the average tax-payer. However according to the ‘990 federal tax form,’ submitted by the NFL League Office for 2012, the league took in approximately $255.3 million in revenue and spent $332.9 million. All 32 NFL teams pay annual membership dues to the league office, which accounted for over 250- of the 255.3- million dollars. And while the league office is exempt from paying taxes on the membership fees, the respective teams don’t share the tax-exempt status so the revenue is ultimately to be taxed at the municipal level. To fulfil their obligation to the federal tax-paying United States’ citizen, Goodell and the NFL reportedly donated $2.3 million in grants to community groups in 2012, including $15,898 to the United Way and $10,000 to the March of Dimes.

It is important to understand that all federal tax-payers, even those with no interest in the NFL, make a monetary sacrifice to support organizations which are tax exempt. Millions more choose to make further investments by way of purchasing merchandise and tickets. Goodell’s commitment to the charitable work that the NFL does is due to every federal-tax paying citizen. He has a responsibility to use a portion of the league’s untaxed revenue to improve the well-being of neighbourhoods in, around, and outside of NFL cities. Another important aspect of this responsibility is that Goodell must work to ensure affordable and responsible entertainment.

“People better get what they want or else they will end up wanting what they get.” –G.B. Shaw

Affordable Entertainment

As a result of the federal-tax paying citizen helping to support the NFL, Goodell is responsible for keeping the product on the field affordable. An affordable product also helps the NFL to satisfy their television agreements by giving the television-viewing audience exposure to their local teams and thusly advertisers on rights-holding networks.

 “Audiences are created by broadcasting.” –Gilbert Seldes

Television Blackout Rules

There are many factors that go into determining which games are aired in regional television markets. The restrictions that most commonly affect fans within a respective team’s primary or secondary market pertain to blackout rules. Each of the 32 NFL teams are assigned a ‘primary market,’ and most also have a number of secondary markets. Typically areas that fall within 75 miles of an NFL stadium are considered part of that team’s primary market. In regards to regular season Sunday afternoon games, all away games are aired in the primary and secondary markets of the teams featured in the contest. All sold-out home games are aired in primary markets but if a game is not sold out 72-hours before kickoff, it gets blacked out in all primary and secondary markets.

Goodell has a responsibility to the audiences served by the NFL to work with teams to sell tickets at a profitable, yet affordable-enough rate for fans to buy enough to sell out the stadium. If they fail to sell the game out, those in local television markets see a game that they’re likely to be less interested in. In instances where games get blacked out, Goodell doesn't completely fulfil his responsibility to provide the utmost exposure to advertisers on rights-holding networks. From the standpoint of a fan within the television-viewing audience which has been subject to blackout, Goodell fails to provide coverage to some federal-tax paying NFL fans.

Responsible Entertainment

Consequently, Goodell is responsible to the audiences served by the NFL for holding employees of the NFL to a high standard of conduct as to set examples for those who vest interest in the product. Due to the make-up of television markets in today’s media environment and the leverage held by the NFL to influence network content – the product must be presented as responsible entertainment. Members of the NFL’s youngest demographics are, in part, future football players. Goodell has a responsibility to federal-tax payers to encourage a positive development in today’s youth. This responsibility transcends the families of future athletes as the NFL provides charity to all members in a targeted community.

National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell is responsible to television partners of the league for maximizing viewership ratings, and to the audiences served by the NFL for ensuring affordable, responsible entertainment. He strives to fulfil these responsibilities by ensuring responsible entertainment in generating viewership, partly by using untaxed corporate dollars to provide charity throughout the United States. This is enhanced by efforts to make ticket prices affordable, while still generating television viewership to satisfy the NFL’s television audience. Thus he satisfies his responsibility to the NFL’s network affiliates and the audiences served by the NFL in the national community. 

How do you think the NFL, as a whole, is handling this responsibility?

Gannon Lady Knights - Opening Day

I'm so excited!

Today is the day. Gannon basketball season is upon us. I am looking forward to the debut of Jim Brunelli as Head Coach on the floor of the Hammermill Center.

Jim LeCorchick and Sean Amicucci sat down with Coach Brunelli at the brand-spankin' used Erie Insurance Arena before the season on Fox Sports Radio 1330 am The Fan. When asked about how he planned to transition from Cleve Wright's coaching strategy (which yielded 233 wins with the Lady Knights) into his own, I was happy with his response.


I'm paraphrasing, but the point Brunelli made was that he had sat down with the players individually in order to get a feel for the direction the team had been heading. Brunelli has the luxury of entering a system that had seen nothing but success with players who communicate very well. He also has the luxury of having strong leaders on the court, which probably made for valuable conversation in determining the path this team would trek, theoretically. Coach Brunelli was also happy to say that this team wouldn't center around Papich running the court, pounding the ball inside to Blake or Batts sniping from long-range. His hope was to see ALL of the players involved in every game. I like the sounds of that. 

Batts saw stark defensive coverage toward the end of last season to cool her torrid pace, which is an area I would expect the team to strive to open up. I guess that's what happens when you drain 3's unconsciously like she has done, going into her junior year with the Lady Knights. 

Jen Papich will be Jen Papich. And while she has paced the team in scoring for a large part of her career, I anticipate her senior year to result in the eyes of the PSAC being on her. Her trophy case has got to be getting full at this point, but hopefully by the end of this year she will be sporting some new hardware. 

Kelley Sundberg seems to have opened up her offensive game. The conservative point guard has been great in quarterbacking this high-powered squad but to have just one more scorer on the floor would do wonders.

Amanda Berchtold appears to be a mini-Sundberg with more of a scoring mentality. 

Nettie Blake was an absolute beast in the Maroon-Gold Game last week. This didn't surprise me much. She is a ridiculous rebounder and it looked like she had addressed her "finishing" game underneath the hoop. I call it that because her post play is almost always on point but finishing is where we sometimes see her struggle. I'm splitting hairs here to make the point that while Blake has looked remarkable the whole time she's been playing here, she looked more comfortable in the intra-squad scrimmage. 

Jennie Theis will contribute to this team in a big way this year, playing crucial minutes and spelling the two-headed monster of Blake and Papich. She isn't much of a downgrade. She's a role-player who uses her length and athleticism to rebound and conduct herself comfortably on the court. She could definitely play on my team.

It will be fun to see what roles members of this team fall into under the new head coach. I hope to see you tonight (Wednesday) at the Hammermill Center at 7 for game one of the Gannon Lady Knights basketball season. This year, the Elite Eight runs through Erie.

Other sports stuff

• I got the best of both worlds last night, watching Jabari Parker and Andrew Wiggins go at it AND DUKE LOST! 

• Louisville beat up on Hofstra but I'm not too surprised about that. 

• The Pittsburgh Penguins play the Flyers tonight and look for the first of many games with Kris Letang and Olli Maata as a defensive pairing. While I wouldn't anticipate this becoming an installment for the season, it may be a sneak peak into the future of this team. The Flyers are in bad shape so the Penguins won't want to let up. 

And lastly, this song will be stuck in my head all day because it's the first thing I thought of when I woke up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nPhgbrSJfc

Inaugural Post - About the Author

If you're reading this, thanks!

I've decided to start a blog offering my perspective on sports in the Erie area and nationally.

Like most of you (I'm guessing), I grew up in my living room with my family watching sports. Whether we were dressed in navy and white to support the Penn State Nittany Lions and hometown Oil City Oilers or in black and gold to support the Pittsburgh Steelers, Penguins or Pirates, watching sports was more than an act. It was established as habit, practice and tradition. To this day on opening day for the Pittsburgh Steelers, I receive a text message from multiple sources that reads, "Merry Christmas." Some people choose to wrap themselves in a world strewn with politics or religion; I live and breathe sports.

I mentioned the Oil City Oilers. Oil City is approximately an hour and a half south of Erie, and not hard to overlook on a map. I spent my days there focused on a future playing baseball, until a hand injury which stripped me of my sophomore-playing year and apparently of my ability to hit a baseball determined otherwise. My love of sports transferred as my love of playing further fostered my love of watching the game.

My senior year of high school at Oil City Senior High was filled with the production of an online news magazine entitled, "Oiler News." While I wasn't among the group that founded the idea for the show, I was pleased to be asked to anchor the show once a week. A group of four of us, for the most part, navigated the intricacies of creating this show, which is now the focus of a class at OCHS. The school built a studio and purchased equipment for the production of the show for class credit, which wasn't exactly the case for use at its inception. I wouldn't trade the days I spent in the "green room," with some of the most ambitious and progressive minds that I've ever been associated with. I would prognosticate that you'll hear the names of these guys down the road at some point and the parallel drawn will likely be one of success. My love for broadcast journalism started in the hallways of that small-town high school; and at the time I didn't even realize it. I color-commentated the 'Franklin-Oil City basketball game,' which was a big rivalry game in the area while still a senior at OCHS.

Upon coming to Gannon University as a freshman, I was told in my fundamentals of speech class that I was to host an air-shift on 90.5 WERG on a weekly basis. After my first training session, I never wanted to go back. Talking on the radio was a terrifying endeavor and as my voice cracked on that sunny August day in 2010, I was sure to never return. In not so many words I went on to become the assistant sports director that same semester. Gannon-graduate Zack McDermott was the sports director at the time and he afforded an internship opportunity with the Erie Otters after the fall semester of that year. At the time a junior, Zack asked me to fill the vacancy as sports director. So, as a freshman on a staff of mostly upperclassmen, I set out to head the sports staff shortly before the start of.....LADY KNIGHT'S SEASON!

McDermott had taught me well, however, and the staff at the time operated as a well-oiled machine. I was quickly exposed to the chaos that is basketball season at the Hammermill Center and it didn't take long before I shared the same love for Gannon athletics as I have for the teams my family and I followed from the confides of my home. Before I knew it I was aside Steve Bohen and Ray Reisdorph at the broadcast table. Learning the ropes wasn't exactly the easiest thing to do, as a live broadcast is...well...live. I am grateful to both Steve and Ray for allowing me to learn by their example. I still have a long way to go as a broadcaster, but with their guidance, I've become comfortable with the nuances that come with commentating a great team with a devout following. I look forward to the Elite Eight in the Erie Insurance arena come playoff time, but first to the long season that starts this week!

As voted on by my peers, I won the 'rookie of the year' award at WERG my freshman year.

Sophomore year was when I focused largely on establishing my staff of sports experts. I was lucky to have one of my best friends, Zack Borland (sports director at 90.5 WERG from 2011-present) join the staff despite being a biology-turned-chemistry major. Zack is from Cranberry, Pennsylvania and if you've ever heard us on-air together you've likely heard the story of how he ruined my senior night by jacking a grand slam off of me in my third career start as a pitcher. The 'Prime Time Sports Guys' won the best on-air non-music feature at WERG my sophomore year.

Junior year was a doozy at 90.5 WERG as I was the General Manager. This was the most valuable experience I've had to this point as I was presented with real-world issues in the world of media. The station operated under hectic circumstances and we stayed afloat in conditions where I'm sure many college radio stations would flounder. We out-shined our peers in terms of "numbers" during this time despite extenuating circumstances. The experience was validated during a trip to New York City in late February with various members of the station. Our destination was the 2013 Inter-collegiate Broadcasting Systems conference. It was neat to go to seminars to learn and end up leading conversations and offering guidance to moderators who were unsure of their very topic of focus. This confidence can be directly attributed to the Gannon University communications department which continues to churn out industry-ready professionals. The Operations Director at 90.5 WERG, Chet Laprice and Deb Carlson of 90.5 WERG and Connoisseur Media deserve much credit for their continued service to the Gannon and Erie communities. I was humbled to receive the 'station-MVP award,' from WERG after my junior year.

This past summer I worked in a factory in Titusville, Pennsylvania overnight and drove to Erie on Wednesdays and Fridays. I drove to Erie to fulfill my internship requirements with Connoisseur Media, where I am now employed. I think my supervisor, Greg Szuba got tired of listening to me talk about sports as we drove around Erie because he walked me into the studio of JET 1400 to speak to Jim LeCorchick one Wednesday morning. I had heard of this JR and seen him at sporting events around town, but this was my first experience meeting him face-to-face. Little did I know that he would ask me to co-host a show on Fridays from 4-6 on Sports Radio 1330. I started at Fox Sports Radio The Fan on-air with Jack Quinn. More recently, I've started to join JR himself in studio on Fridays and the group of JR, Sean Amicucci, Jack Quinn and the "Fantasy Professor," Frank Corapi Sundays from 11-1 on "Never Enough Football."

You can follow me on Twitter: @womermisnomer or e-mail: womer003@knights.gannon.edu.

Thanks for reading and look for further blogs starting today. I'm new to the bloggosphere so I'm open to advice! If you want my take on any issues in particular, feel free to start a thread or propose it to me to be included in a blog. Go Gannon!!