Jerry Jones doesn’t like sharing

For all of you fans who are sick and tired of Ralph Wilson complaining about not making enough money, well prepare to hear it some more. Jerry Jones, the leader of the Evil Empire against all small market teams, isn’t a big fan of revenue sharing. In fact he pretty much wants it gone. Jones talking to a Minnesota newspaper about the Vikings ongoing new stadium problem, talked about his issues with revenue sharing.

“Right now, we are subsidizing this market,” Jones said, according to Sean Jensen of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “It’s unthinkable to think that you’ve got the market you got here in Minnesota — 3 ½ million people — and have teams like Kansas City and Green Bay subsidizing the market. That will stop. That’s going to stop. That’s on its way out.”

Ouch!

The reason why Wilson always bitches about how teams make so much money off luxury boxes is because those specfic sales are NOT shared with other NFL teams. All the money Jerry Jones makes off those $500,000 suites at the new Dallas Stadium goes directly in his pocket. If the NFL gets rid of Revenue sharing, you can forget about the Bills being competitive, and you can pretty much pencil in at least 2-3 more games in Toronto. In case you don’t understand how revenue sharing works, just read below.

About 2/3 of the NFL’s money comes from the TV deal. The players get about 2/3 of team revenue. So, more or less, the TV contract goes to pay the players. These contracts are typically for about 5 years, and every time they are renegotiated the price goes up. So do player’s salaries.

The money from the TV contract is share and share alike – the Redskins, Cowboys, Bills, and Packers get identical checks. This money is key to the success of the smaller franchises. Without the TV contract money, there is simply no way on earth that Green Bay could ever field a competitive team.

There are a lot of other sources for NFL money. NFL licensed jerseys, for example that Randy Moss jersey you put on your kid last Halloween when you dressed him up as a demon, result in license fees going to the NFL. This money is also equally shared.

When the teams play, there is a “gate,” the money people pay for seats. This is in the neighborhood of about $2.5M per game. This money is split 60-40, with the visiting team getting 40% of the gate. Because of this teams like Jacksonville and Arizona just love it when the Packers or Cowboys come to play. These are the two or three games each year these teams can count on selling out, and the money they get is very welcome.

Toronto/Buffalo Bills eh?