The coronavirus pandemic put sports on hold for the time being, but there’s still a chance the NFL season begins as expected on Sept. 10 – potentially without fans in the stadium.
While this is great news for football fans, it also comes with some consequences if fans aren’t allowed at games. While the NFL has probably been the least affected of the major sports leagues in the United States, there’s a chance the league – and its teams – could lose an exorbitant amount of money.
The NFL earned approximately $5.5 billion from stadium revenue in 2018, according to Forbes, which includes tickets, concessions, sponsorships, parking and team stores. The league – and its teams – stand to lose all or some of that money if they can’t open their stadiums to a full audience of fans.
The Jets would be among the most affected by this possibility. Based on the 2018 season, the Jets earned $218 million of a reported $475 million directly from operations at MetLife Stadium. If fans are barred from games, that would equate to roughly a 45.8 percent loss in revenue. The $218 million loss tied for fifth-most in the league with the Texans behind the Cowboys ($621 million), the Patriots ($315 million) and the Giants ($262 million), who share MetLife with the Jets.
The trickle-down effect would hit the players, too. Players will earn 47 percent of football-related revenue in 2020 as part of the newly-signed collective bargaining agreement, but that number will surely be lower than in years past. If you look even further down the line, these losses could even lower the salary cap for the 2021 league year even after it increased by $10 million to $192 million this season.
None of this will matter if the NFL season is canceled or postponed, though. The lost revenue in either scenario would be far greater, so even a season without fans would be a win for the league. Will teams and players suffer for years after the pandemic ends? Yes, but that’s the case with almost all businesses and employees this year.