If you bullied the fat kid in school, took his lunch money and got away with it, why would you change?
The NFL has been taking some serious heat in the past month due to Ray Rice knocking out his then-fiancée and Adrian Peterson allegedly whipping his 4-year-old son with a tree branch - all within days of each other.
Any NFL player ever involved in domestic violence must have been holding his breath, waiting for his comeuppance. But with concerns over head injuries and now women's off-the-field injuries, "the NFL's television ratings surpassed their levels from a year earlier. The uptick points to a surprising reality: Despite all its current problems, pro football is positioned to not only weather its current storm, but also to sail through it toward greater prosperity," the New York Times reports
The NFL has done what other sports, such boxing and basketball, have not been able to accurately do: become a masterfully crafted product.
"Bart Bronnenberg, an economist at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, along with Jean-Pierre Dubé and Matthew Gentzkow, both of the University of Chicago, followed consumers who moved between states and noted that 40 percent of their buying behavior was determined by a steadfast loyalty to the packaged goods they knew from their previous residences, even if those brands weren't particularly popular in their new location. Those preferences, in fact, remained in place for decades. Sports fans often display similar loyalty," the Times reported.
Football initially had a hard time gaining popularity, but television in the 1950's and 1960's played a huge role in its popularity, according to the Times. The games filled weekend programming schedules perfectly. The "stop-and-start" manner of play begs for advertisements. With video games luring younger fans to the game, the NFL has become a maestro of generating revenue.
"Its broadcasting deals generate around $5 billion in annual revenue, and an average game ticket fetches nearly $85 - three times the price of a Major League Baseball ticket. In recent years, the league has also transformed once-mundane events, like the player draft and the scouting combine, into made-for-TV extravaganzas. The NFL now has revenue of $9.6 billion, according to Forbes, which far surpasses Major League Baseball, the next most lucrative sport, which takes in $7.1 billion," the New York Times reported.
