where in the world do you get the idea that the Bidwills were ever just "barely breaking even every year?" TV contracts and revenue sharing alone put pretty much EVERY team in the black, especially those teams who spend the least amount of money to put garbage products on the field.
I agree with you.
I looked up the television revenue from the networks (CBS< FOX< NBC>ESPN) and if those figures are right each team received
637.5 M from the start of the contract which runs through 2011. Espn runs through 2014. That's not counting DirecTV. That's also not counting what NFL Network brings in.
I can put this whole lockout problem in a nutshell. The recession has deflated earnings for the owners but the salary cap has remained the same or has gone up. Thus the players share by pct. has gone up. The owners could not foresee when the economy was going to turn around, if ever, so they opted out of the CBA thus taking control of what they WANTED to spend on salaries.
I still have a problem with the players "share" because nobody seems to be able to define the share of WHAT. I doubt that the players share of 59.1% is a share of EVERYTHING that being tv revenue, luxury boxes, ticket sale, parking, consession and fan gear.
Does anybody know?