by Mj Ferruzza

Created on: January 29, 2009

The glory days of the NFL were in the late 1950s and through the 60s. The league, which was just reaching its half century mark back then, was celebrating its tie in with network television and gaining a new fan base outside loyal, yet local fans. Now TV sports fans on the West Coast could watch snowy and blustery games out of the Midwest and marvel how hometown fans would sit through such conditions. It sparked a new kind of fan loyalty across the nation. Advertising and Madison Avenue caught hold of this fever and the game was changed forever.

Football could be played without fans in the stands. Does that sound more impossible or improbable? NFL football makes a huge revenue off of the almighty advertising dollar and marketing ties to its brand names. TV ratings spur the league today. The more people following the game, the more the league can charge for TV and radio ads. The more they can charge for banners and billboards that flank the walls and end zones. The more they can charge for jerseys, pennants and official league gear.

The NFL is very protective of its brand name and its image. It even has uniform "police" and league security task forces out there to make sure players, coaches and officials follow the league mandated rules, laws and guidelines. Breaking any of those will result in financial retribution levied as a fine or loss of compensation.

But the money that the NFL gets from advertising and from marketing does not mask the fact that when an NFL team lands in a selected market, they can mandate how that particular market must operate to keep that team. Play by the rules or your community will lose its beloved team!

Case in point! Indianapolis had a domed stadium in the heart of downtown Indianapolis. It was modern as most stadiums are these days, never had any real parking, and it was connected to the city's convention center. The stadium was built before the Colts arrived from Baltimore. Now 25 years later, to keep the Colts in Indianapolis, the Capital Improvement Board, which runs the convention center, along with the NCAA, strong armed the city to bill a 700 million dollar, state of the art, brand new stadium. The Colts could enjoy the revenues from tickets, concessions and stadium perks. But best of all, what all NFL owners prize from their stadiums, the revenue from the luxury boxes. Smaller stadiums may have 40 or 50 of these money makers, newer stadiums, like the Lucas Oil Stadium, can have over 100 and more. The revenue for these yearly

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