The National Football League’s Brand and Stadium Opportunities

Authors: Marcos A. Abreu, Brandon D. Spradley

Corresponding Author:
Marcos Abreu
Doctoral Student
United States Sports Academy
One Academy Drive
Daphne, Alabama 36526
mabreu@students.ussa.edu
251-626-3303

Marcos Abreu is a doctoral student at the United States Sports Academy studying sports management.

The NFL Brand & Stadium Opportunities

ABSTRACT
Besides increasing shared revenue, the NFL’s popularity has helped the league establish a singular brand that continues to benefit its 32 teams by increasing brand equity, which derives from consumer perception of the brand name. The strategy has provided the league’s 32 teams bargaining power over host cities when pursuing public funding for newer stadiums that increase retained local revenue streams. Although hosting cities often provide newer stadiums to ensure teams stay and cities without teams often offer new stadiums to entice teams to relocate, in either case, cities generally justify these decisions and convince taxpayers of their importance with NFL and government analyses that numerous economists consider questionable because the studies generally overlook some basic fiscal realisms.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how the NFL’s brand equity increases shared revenue that creates new stadiums opportunities for the League’s 32 teams and how those stadiums opportunities impact; locally generated retained revenues; local economies; Super Bowl hosting opportunities and team relocation. The information presented in this paper could help individuals who work in the area of sports management better understand how an organization’s brand equity influences brand control and agreement value during the negotiation of new revenue stream opportunities.

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