Critique "The NFL Lockout"

The NFL Lockout is a very interesting situation from both the sports and economic perspectives. I believe the article presented many good facts and had a very good understanding of the economic effects of the NFL lockout, but left out other economical factors that could contribute to the situation. As stated in the blog, the NFL is one of just few legal monopolies in the United States. A monopoly is defined as a market structure in which a commodity is supplied by a single firm. The NFL’s monopoly does not just affect the football players, coaches and owners of the teams it can also have an effect on many other industries. For instance, the NFL Lockout will have a drastic effect on television networks, companies such as Reebok, NIKE and the other independent suppliers that carry NFL inventory in their stock.

This can cut billions of dollars of revenue across many different industries, for example companies that have made large profits off of sporting events such as the National Football League through advertising, selling products at the games or to fans of the game. Many television commercials directly target the “NFL Fan” companies will have to find different ways to advertise and promote their products one obvious example are beer suppliers such as Bud Light and Coors Light that have very targeted advertising. The economical impact of an NFL Lockout could be devastating to companies that rely on the NFL season to promote their products.

Another issue that would become apparent if the 2011-12 NFL season was not played would concern the billions of dollars of NFL “stock and inventory” that many retailers possess. Without a season there is very little reason for consumers to want to continue to purchase NFL items. This could have a direct effect on the price of NFL items, for instance a team’s jersey might sell for $70 now, but without a season the price could fall causing profits to be cut. This could also affect similar sports such as College Football, fans of the game of football might turn their support to college athletics because of the lack of the NFL. This could cause Cross elasticity of demand to change from NFL apparel to College football apparel. Cross elasticity of demand is defined as a measure of the influence of a change in one good’s price on the demand for another good. The NCAA could benefit from increase of sales due to the absence of the NFL, therefore end up increasing College Football apparel selling prices causing NFL apparel to drop in price and profit.