Years ago, fully brainwashed by the mythology carefully manufactured through the magnificence of NFL Films and the mellifluous voice of John Facenda, the realization that the NFL is actually a business hit me harder than figuring out that grown men don’t stomp their feet on a canvas mat when hitting each other, like the pro wrestlers of the day did.
Pro football is undoubtedly is a business, first and foremost. It’s part of what drives this website and prompted Playmakers -- a desire to nudge the powers-that-be away from their tendency to place wealth and power over the good of the game.
Here’s the latest example of the manner in which pro football will try to separate people from their money. Via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, the Buccaneers are now requiring new season-ticket holders to buy season tickets for two full seasons.
It’s a clear acknowledgement that the Bucs know they most likely will have Tom Brady for only one more year, and that by next year the demand for season tickets would reflect whoever the quarterback not named Tom Brady is.
Is it fair? It is right? It doesn’t matter. The Buccaneers have the right to attach the condition, and the customer has the right to say, “No thanks.” The Bucs are banking that few will.
Again, it’s a business. And the Bucs are exercising what they regard as good business sense.
It’s all the more reason for Tom Brady to exercise some good business sense of his own, and to recite to ownership one of the most memorable lines from Goodfellas.