By MATTHEW FUTTERMAN
The recession claimed another victim Tuesday, in the mighty National Football League.
Acknowledging the toll on the country's most successful sports league, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced he was cutting 150 jobs, or 14% of the staff, to help reduce league expenses by roughly $50 million.
The NFL joins the National Basketball Association as the latest sports entity to pare spending as the global economy sinks. The NBA announced layoffs of about 80 employees earlier this year.
"These are difficult and painful steps, but they are necessary in the current economic environment," Mr. Goodell said Tuesday in a memo to his staff. "I would like to be able to report that we are immune to the troubles around us, but we are not."
Mr. Goodell said the NFL, which has 1,100 employees, in New York, New Jersey and Los Angeles, will try to make as many of the cuts as possible through a voluntary program that will include buyouts. But layoffs may be inevitable.
While NFL revenue is up marginally over last year, league officials say, the roughly $7 billion in gross income will miss an earlier financial projection by about $50 million. League officials blamed a handful of sponsorship and licensing deals that have fallen through in recent months. Moving forward, they are concerned about the value of deals with companies that have fallen on hard times.
David Carter, who teaches sports-business classes at the University of Southern California, said the NFL's troubles show just how widespread the damage from the economic crisis has become.
"If it can happen at the NFL level, imagine the retrenching that is going to have to go on in the secondary sports leagues," Mr. Carter said. "The belt-tightening is universal."
The recession claimed another victim Tuesday, in the mighty National Football League.
Acknowledging the toll on the country's most successful sports league, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced he was cutting 150 jobs, or 14% of the staff, to help reduce league expenses by roughly $50 million.
The NFL joins the National Basketball Association as the latest sports entity to pare spending as the global economy sinks. The NBA announced layoffs of about 80 employees earlier this year.
"These are difficult and painful steps, but they are necessary in the current economic environment," Mr. Goodell said Tuesday in a memo to his staff. "I would like to be able to report that we are immune to the troubles around us, but we are not."
Mr. Goodell said the NFL, which has 1,100 employees, in New York, New Jersey and Los Angeles, will try to make as many of the cuts as possible through a voluntary program that will include buyouts. But layoffs may be inevitable.
While NFL revenue is up marginally over last year, league officials say, the roughly $7 billion in gross income will miss an earlier financial projection by about $50 million. League officials blamed a handful of sponsorship and licensing deals that have fallen through in recent months. Moving forward, they are concerned about the value of deals with companies that have fallen on hard times.
David Carter, who teaches sports-business classes at the University of Southern California, said the NFL's troubles show just how widespread the damage from the economic crisis has become.
"If it can happen at the NFL level, imagine the retrenching that is going to have to go on in the secondary sports leagues," Mr. Carter said. "The belt-tightening is universal."
11 comments:
This really shows how bad we are doing economically. It is really effecting everyone, everywhere. Its sad that alot of people are going to lose their jobs.
This is just another example of how the economic crisis is affecting everyone. I feel sorry for all the people who have been laid off resently or are about to, what are they going to do now. I think that we need to something to fix this problem before it turns into something worse.
I disagree with the NFl Recession, that NFL Commissioner Rodger Goodell is going to let go 14% of the NFL staff it is going to cause alot of problems for the people who are going to be let go. They are going to lose there jobs then how are they going to make money. I dont like the fact that this is going to happen. Unfortunatly it's not going to be a problem for the 14% of the staff because after they get let go they will either get a Severance Package or Unemployment Benifits. But I still unlike the fact that this going to happen to all those hard working people its not fair, but like most people say life is not fair.
This just proves that not even multibillion dollar agencies can escape the grasp of the econmic crisis. This puts alot of things into perspective for many athletes that try to go pro. Even those who plan to even work in the actual businiess world of the NFL, or any other major sport industries, their dreams are slowly going down the drain. But i mean at least we can say that everyone is getting hit by the crisis, not only certain corporations.
Although this is a tragic event provoked by the economic fiasco, I do believe that it's quite avoidable. For all the money the National Football League, and the National Basketball League make, are there really no other alternatives other than to lay-off people. The money invested in these leagues actually end up in the pockets of a few, and I'm not even talking about players here.
cutting 150 jobs in NFL!! its NFL which has worlds most richest team. this shows how bad our economy is going to be. this economic crisis will affect lots of people with their jobs.
This just goes to show how the economy is getting worse, even when its the NFL. Its going to suck for all people who are going to lose their jobs, but it wont only be them because a lot more places are going to end up falling causing to cut jobs.
As everyone else has said, this just goes to show that the economic crisis is getting worse, and affecting everyone. Though really, now that our sources of entertainment are getting hurt, we may actually get off the couch to fix it!
I think its sad that alot of employees are losing their jobs. People are struggling as it is and this isn't helping. These people work hard and in return they're getting laid off? Thats not fair.
I really do feel bad for all the people who have lost their jobs. I wish there was something we could do to help these people but its just getting so bad who knows whats gonna happen next..
It is amazing to me how many people this is affecting. After hearing about the economy i knew things were going to change, but never would i have thought that the NFL would be affected. I think it is horrible that these people are losing their jobs and i hope they get some money instead of getting fired, but inevitibily there will be layoffs. I pray that anyone who does get layed off can find another job quickly. It makes me cringe to think of a family not being able to eat because the family just doesnt have the money.
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