A painful summer may not necessarily lead a to painful autumn for the NFL.
Mark Maske of the Washington Post notes a number of encouraging signs for the league financially. Preseason blackouts are down, from 13 to 10. The league expects a slight increase in regular season attendance, with blackouts remaining static.
Sales are rebounding after the lockout as well. Maske reports national sponsorships are up 15%. (It’s unclear if that growth is more or less than usual, but it’s obviously not bad.)
We need more time to fully understand the lockouts ecomonic impact, but the early signs are good.
It’s barely been a month since Robert Kraft and Jeff Saturday hugged, but the work stoppage sure seems like a long time ago.