Pro Leagues Brace for Economy's Aftershocks

Washington Capitals President Dick Patrick said the team hasn't felt the effects of the downturn in ticket sales, but said there had been a slowdown in cooperate sponsorship sales over the past month.

"We'll be up from last year, but not by much," Patrick said, referring to sponsorships. "Sponsorships have been trouble at the league level and our level. Certain companies have cut back, like the automotive industry, which was a big sponsor for years. So instead of chasing GM or Ford we're focusing on the people we have now."

The NFL has been the most prosperous of all U.S. pro sports leagues, with annual revenue approaching $8 billion. The NFL's biggest source of revenue is from its national TV contracts with NBC, CBS, Fox, ESPN and DirecTV that are worth about $3.7 billion per year. That's guaranteed income for the league through at least the 2010 season, after which the DirecTV deal expires. The NBC, Fox and CBS contracts run through the 2011 season and the ESPN deal, worth $1.1 billion a year for Monday night games, runs through the 2013 season.

The NFL has set single-season attendance records six years in a row. The league had its national sponsorships for this season in place months ago, and individual teams had sold most of their tickets and local sponsorships in the summer. "The only thing people were worried about back in the summer was gas prices," said a top executive with one team.

The executive said the prevailing sentiment around the league is that the NFL and its franchises probably will be fine, but that there is no way of being certain at this point.

"I think people will probably still buy football tickets, but I don't know for sure," said the executive, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he didn't want to be viewed as raising concerns that might turn out to be unfounded. "How many companies will keep buying suites and sponsorships? It's a time of uncertainty for everyone. I'm anxious to go to this [owners'] meeting and see what people say about how things are going in their markets."

The executive said he worries about the possibility of an owner with financial troubles in other businesses taking too much money out of a team to address those needs.

"Do I think a team will go out of business and cease to exist? I doubt that," Carter said. "What we could see is some franchises being sold or relocated."

Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder would not comment for this story, but the stock price of one his companies, Six Flags Inc., was 44 cents per share at the close of yesterday's markets. It has dropped more than 80 percent in the past year. The Redskins remain an economic powerhouse, ranked first in the NFL in annual revenue ($327 million) and operating income ($58.1 million) and second in franchise value ($1.538 billion) in the latest Forbes estimates. Snyder declined to comment through a spokesman.

"We are not immune," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told reporters during a recent appearance in Houston. "We've been talking about what I consider the economic downturn for well over a year and making sure we are prepared for it and planning for it. It affects not only the NFL, our clubs, our owners, and stadium financing, but our business partners. More importantly it affects our consumers, our fans, and so we are very sensitive to it."

Baseball attendance this season was off slightly, which Commissioner Bud Selig attributed to higher gasoline prices and poor weather in September. Selig last week warned club owners to keep ticket price increases in check.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, who was in Washington yesterday, said the league remains in a "growth mode" and that season ticket sales are up over a year ago. "Having said that, we remain cautious," Bettman said. "We are obviously focused on the fact that if the economic downturn continues for a prolonged period of time every business, not just sports and not just us, nobody will be immune."

Staff writers Tarik El-Bashir in Washington and Dave Sheinin in Boston contributed to this report.