Online Video Case 3.1 NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: The King of Professional Sports The National…

Online Video Case 3.1

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: The King of Professional Sports

The National Football League (www.nfl.com) is considered the
king of all professional sports in the United States. It was formed by eleven
teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association and adopted the
name National Football League in 1922. The league currently consists of
thirty-two teams from American cities and regions, divided evenly into two
conferences (AFC and NFC), with four, four-team divisions. The NFL governs and
promotes the game, sets and enforces rules, and regulates team

Online Video Case 3.1

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: The King of Professional Sports

The National Football League (www.nfl.com) is considered the
king of all professional sports in the United States. It was formed by eleven
teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association and adopted the
name National Football League in 1922. The league currently consists of
thirty-two teams from American cities and regions, divided evenly into two
conferences (AFC and NFC), with four, four-team divisions. The NFL governs and
promotes the game, sets and enforces rules, and regulates team ownership. It
generates revenue mostly through sponsorships, licensing of merchandise, and
selling national broadcasting rights. It has been extremely successful because
it is advertiser-friendly. The teams operate as separate businesses but share a
percentage of their revenue. NFL revenues amounted to about $9.5 billion in 2012,
and the average player salary was about $1.9 million in the same period.

The players are tough, strong, and fiercely competitive on
the field, but remove their helmets, and a softer side emerges. Marketing
research has documented the positive impact of causerelated marketing on
corporate image. The NFL has a strong tradition of public service and is an
active contributor to various social causes. Bettering communities and helping
others ties into the basic team concept and is an extension of the NFLs philosophy.
NFL players strongly believe and encourage others to get involved, whether it
is time or money or anything elseeven the smallest of gestures can make a big
difference to someone else.

Focus groups and surveys have shown that community
involvement is particularly important for an organization that depends on the
community for support. The NFL has a rich history of giving, and each of the 32
teams has its own community relations initiatives. The fact that there are
around 1,600 players in the league indicates the far-reaching capabilities of
this powerful organization. According to Joe Browne, executive vice president
of Communications and Public Affairs, the NFL views its public service
activities as giving something back to its customersthe fans who attend the
games and watch them on TV. The NFL has worked with a number of nonprofit and
charitable organizations over the years, with each team taking on a different
issue, such as the Philadelphia Eagles building community playgrounds. Each
year the Eagles take time off from the world of sports and business and build a
playground in the Philadelphia area. The New England Patriots help deliver
Thanksgiving dinners to those in need, and the Pittsburgh Steelers visit the
elderlyfootball players reaching out to make a difference.

Back in 1974, the league formed a partnership with United
Way, a national network of hundreds of locally-governed organizations that work
to create lasting positive changes in communities and peoples lives. This
partnership is still in existence today and has encouraged fans to give back to
society. Consequently, fundraising for United Way has soared from $800 million
to $4 billion. The relationship between United Way and the NFL has blossomed
into a charitable enterprise that touches 30 million people each year by
providing funds and programs to the needy. The NFLs ongoing ad campaigns
remind fans that football players are regular guys who want to do good in the
community where they work and live. The effectiveness of these ad campaigns is
evaluated by undertaking surveys that measure peoples awareness, perceptions,
preferences, intentions, and behaviors toward the NFL and comparing them
against benchmark figures.

Based on marketing research, the NFLs marketing strategy
has two pillars: football and community. Football is its product, something
that NFL does best. Community means giving back to the community in exchange
for all its support and love. The support of the community is tremendous, with
18 million tickets sold each season and more than 120 million people watching
NFL games on TV each week. Then, there is the huge impact of the Super Bowlan
event that has been the top-rated telecast each year, seen by more viewers than
any other program, an exposure that has proven to be an effective messaging
medium. The tremendous reach and power of TV commercials helped the NFLs join
the team initiative get a spectacular start with thousands of eager fans
calling up NFL teams across the country, ready to join the team. The NFL believes
that charity and being a good corporate citizen are essential to achieving
success in business. This makes the entire entity stronger. By giving back to
its customers, the NFL shows that it cares about them.

The NFLs impact on the community extends way beyond the
games played on Sundays and Monday nights, because there is a special bond that
fans feel with each of the teams in the league. Consumer perception and
attitudinal surveys have consistently shown that the NFL is held in high
regard, and the League tries hard to maintain these positive perceptions. It
realizes that at the end of the day, the NFL is an energy, a symbol that
represents American tradition, which if not maintained would wither away.

Browne describes peoples relationship with the NFL as a
love affair in which the NFL and the teams have to give this love back to the
people for supporting them so well. Thats what the NFL does through its
various programs such as NFL charities, the NFL football fund, and the disaster
relief fund that the NFL established after 9/11 to give back to the families of
those killed in New York and Washington. There is charity on the field, too;
each time a player is fined, the money is used to help fund various causes.
Fans can get into the game by going to the auctions section on the NFL Web
site, because all of the proceeds go to the players charities. According to
Beth Colleton, director of Community Affairs, NFL stands for quality,
tradition, and integrityall of which come together to define Americana. The
NFL captures the American energy like no otheran energy that continues to
ignite goodwill with each passing season.