NFL Economics

By TIM GREEN

During my undergraduate days at Syracuse University, I played football and I took two economics courses. I never imagined the two were even remotely connected. Today, however, football and economics are intertwined like two strands of ivy. The game is different. Every time you look up, a team is moving, a player is moving, the rules are changing. At the bottom of it all is the essential building block of economics: money.

Since the early days of the NFL, Cleveland has been the home of the Browns. Now owner Art Modell, following the lead of his counterparts in L.A., Al Davis and Georgia Frontiere, is moving that franchise to Baltimore. How could he not? He has a family trust fund to think of and the state of Maryland gave him an offer he couldn't refuse. Most new football stadiums are financed in part by teams that will play in them. Maryland told Modell that if he came, they would build it. "It" is an outdoor football stadium complete with luxury boxes, concession stands and plenty of parking. Instead of paying rent, and splitting the revenue the stadium generates, as most teams do, Modell will move in rent-free. He keeps every cent of the revenue for himself!

Could a deal get any better? Yes, it could. Modell will also get about 75 million additional dollars for "moving expenses." (Just imagine the number of jocks you could ship from Cleveland to Baltimore for that kind of money.) What does the state of Maryland get out of this deal? A football team, nothing more. The money for this venture will come from taxpayer dollars. In an era where it's hard to find the tax dollars to buy school lunches, build roads, and maintain hospitals, can a football team be worth all that? Maybe, but I doubt it.

It is true that an NFL team legitimizes a city. The Oilers, who will move from Houston to Nashville, will put that city on the map more than the Grand Ole Opry could ever have done. If a city has an NFL team, it's a happening place, a place with a future, and a location where a big corporation wants to be. Corporations, of course, pay big tax bills. That is how these cities and states will justify their big cash outlays. I doubt, however, that Baltimore's new NFL team will bring a spate of Fortune 500 corporations racing over the border just to be close to their new team.

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