The NFL’s current broadcast model allows the NFL to sell its media rights collectively with all teams sharing in that television revenue. Otherwise, each team would negotiate media rights for their own individual home games. As Dallas Cowboys team owner Jerry Jones explained in his testimony during the NFL’s Sunday Ticket antitrust trial on Monday, that would be very good for some teams and very bad for others.
Jerry Jones testified in the trial this week as a member of the league’s media committee. Jones actually defended the league’s current broadcast model, which shares broadcast revenue around the league. But he also acknowledged that if the league’s current system were not in place, his Dallas Cowboys would make a lot more money than some teams – and he specifically called out the Cincinnati Bengals.
“I am convinced I would make a lot more money than the Bengals,” Jones said according to the Associated Press. “I’m completely against each team doing TV deals. It is flawed.”
As Mike Florio Pro Football Talk points out, Jones’ decision to call out the Bengals in particular may not actually been intentional due to a fuud with Bengals owner Mike Brown.
“His selection of the Bengals wasn’t random or accidental. Jones and Bengals owner Mike Brown have a longstanding feud regarding revenue sharing. As NFL legend has it, Jones and Brown once got into a heated argument during an ownership meeting over Brown’s refusal to sell naming rights to Paul Brown Stadium,” Florio wrote.
Needless to say, it was a pretty savage move from Jones.
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