First of all let it be known that no one ever thought that the season wouldn't happen. $9BB is a lot of money to leave on the table and let's be honest without the fans there really is no NFL anyway. And because the NFL has the largest viewership of any sport in the U.S. it means that there is a lot more money to be made through marketing and advertising. Just a quick recap to those who don't understand why it is essential to market through the NFL. The NFL touched 150 million viewers last season or just a little under half of the U.S. total population. The demographic is 18-55 year old males, middle class with a tendency to lean right. If you have a product that fits that demographic and it has the potential to offset the incredible price you are going to pay to see a Patriots vs. Jets game in primetime then you darn well better pony up the money and get on it.
TV stations had been reluctant to sell advertising space because of the lockout but now that the locks have been removed from locker rooms it's turning into a free for all to gobble up all the advertising space. The NFL signs incredibly lucrative tv deals that it distributes to the teams. The TV stations make their money from companies doing media buys to push their products. Now that we have a firm grasp on how it works here is how the landscape will change and look now.
It really won't look too different on the surface but internally it'll be a scramble! The biggest challenge is coordinating the new sponsors and advertisers. There won't e any down time in commercials or a lot of repeats, in fact it will probably be an even better play for the networks carrying the NFL. Money is king and there was all kinds of build up to this season because of all the story lines with the lockout that everyone wants to have a piece of it. The only down side could possibly be the fact that without a full blown training camp that the on field product won't be as good as previous years at the beginning of the season. If marketers actually pay any attention to this it will probably be in weeks 3-7 when the injury bug will hit a group that is out of shape. If I were to put money on it I would avoid these weeks because of the probability. Injuries usually occur at the beginning and the end of the season when people are out of shape and then tired.
With the shortened training camp expect people to still be getting their feet under them even in the beginning. If anything the risk of injury and lack of cohesiveness on the field during the first few weeks will keep the marking and advertising back. There will still be some great games and the die hards are going to love every week their team plays but to the casual fan if Peyton Manning is injured during the time period (and the way things are looking he could be out at the beginning of the season) who is really going to want to watch Indy play? Same goes for Brady and the Pats or Brees and the Saints. The lockout will affect the product which if you are a marketer would mean not as much money being spent in the beginning... but that being said look out for the second half of the season, through attrition you'll see some lean, mean, and fresher than normal teams which will factor into a great closing stretch of the season! My money is on marketing late in the season when it means more and you have the better product on the field.
