Joe Banner and Jeff Lurie...

[ice grillin you]

From a team's perspective they have no incentive to stay in big market areas because the TV revenue is shared among all the teams

absolutely not true

local tv and radio revenues are much bigger in a larger market...advertising goes for a lot more in general....the bigger the market the more people the more it costs to show off your product...why you think they instituted revenue sharing in the first place....because large market teams had such a distinct advantage in all these areas

trust me...with a top five market and a rabid local fanbase short of not getting a new stadium at all lurie was going nowhere

[Eaglez]

Maybe advertising, endorsement, and radio revenue, but as far as broadcasting revenue for games it is all negotiated by the NFL (except pre-season). Individuals teams do not negotiate broadcasting contracts like MLB teams do.

The NFL goes to the networks, surveys bids, picks the highest one(s), and grants that network broadcasting rights for a specified term for a specified amount of money. Then the NFL just simply takes that revenue and divides it equally among the 32 NFL teams. There is no incentive to move to a bigger market in that sense because a team would not directly benefit from a move. If the NFL maybe divided broadcasting revenue based on the population of a geographic area, then there would be a greater incentive for a team to move to a larger market like LA, because they would get a larger share of the pie. But the NFL doesn't do it like that, equal gets an equal share of the pie -- big market or small market.

But like you said, there may be some incentives for a larger market like revenue from local ads and what not. But out of the two biggest revenue streams, broadcasting revenue and stadium revenue, stadium revenue is something that is wholly under the control of the owner. So when it boils down to it, most owners don't care where they move to, as long as that area is willing to help furnish a stadium and can put butts into the seats every gameday.

Just one ancedote -- the Chargers had a deal with the city of San Diego in that if the Chargers stayed in San Diego the City would guarantee a sell out for every home game, in that if the game did not sell out, the City of San Diego would purchase every unsold seat. Stupid move by the city, because the Chargers had no incentive to entice fans to come to the games. Why waste money on advertising and other costs associated with it when you're guaranteed a sell-out every Sunday? It was great for the Chargers because they were raking in tons of revenue without expending much cost, but if I was a resident of San Diego I could think of better ways to spend tax dollars.

[ice grillin you]

with a top five market and a rabid local fanbase short of not getting a new stadium at all lurie was going nowhere

[Eaglez]

That's fine, but what i'm saying that you're over-valuing the 'top 5 market' and the amount of local revenue generated through advertisements and radio spots. It means little as long as the market is big enough to have a committed fan base to fill a stadium, because broadcasting and other sorts of NFL-licensed revenue is divided on a equal basis, no weight is given to geographic area or the 'size of the market' for the NFL.

"Top 5" markets matter in MLB, but not for football. Revenue sharing on the sort of basis the NFL has implemented encourages mobility, and lessens the need for a big market. That's why stadiums are a big deal. All a team needs is a small fanbase committed towards filling a stadium and the promise of a new stadium that is preferably subsidized by that City. That's it. All the other important and substantial revenue streams are dealt out on a per capita basis.

[rjs246]

Wow. This argument couldn't be any more exciting.

[Rome]

[SD_Eagle5]

This threads a little old but there were some good Banner bashing articles in the paper this morning:
Link

Always sunny in Philadelphia
By John Gonzalez

Inquirer Columnist

Guess what? Eagles fans are lucky. Apparently, it's all sunshine and rainbows around here.
What, you didn't know? That's probably because Joe Banner never explained it to you before.

Last night, Comcast SportsNet showed an interview during which the Eagles' president clarified a few things, namely that the Eagles can win a championship with Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid, and that both will be back next season.

Then, just to make sure we all understand, he added: "We believe we're very lucky to have them. The good news is that's overwhelmingly the view of our fans. I know it doesn't always come out that way."

Glad he cleared that up. See, when Eagles fans go on the radio or craft e-mails to complain about the team losing to the Arizona Cardinals, their words just come out wrong. In the past, when they openly lamented that the Birds lost the Super Bowl - when they questioned how Reid and McNabb have performed in pressure situations - it was all a misunderstanding.

Same goes for this space, I suppose. I'm a columnist by trade but an Eagles fan by birth. When I wrote that going 1-4 in NFC championship games isn't good enough, it was a simple mistake. I must have accidentally mashed the keyboard with my hand that day.

What I actually meant to write after the Eagles lost to the Cardinals - a team that's long been an NFL punch line - was something positive. Something like, "Three cheers for Reid and McNabb! Huzzah!"

"I was telling a story to somebody the other day," Banner said on Comcast SportsNet. "John Madden coached at Oakland for 10 years, and he won fewer regular-season games [than Reid], and he went to five championship games. He did go to two Super Bowls, versus one. And he did win one. In Oakland, that got him elected to the Hall of Fame. In Philadelphia, that gets Andy - at least from the public's perspective - uncertain about his job's future."

Hmm. Great story. Except Banner was a little confused.

Madden actually won more regular-season games in 10 years than Reid. (And that was back when teams played 14-game seasons.) Madden made six championship games (seven counting the AFL). And he went to one Super Bowl, not two. But Banner did get one thing right: Madden and the Raiders won Super Bowl XI.

So Banner made a few mistakes. Who hasn't?

I'm sure he was right about the overwhelming view of the fans, though.

[SD_Eagle5]

Lurie should have put a muzzle on Banner a long time ago
Link

Sam Donnellon: Eagles president Banner feels your pain, but plans to do nothing
By Sam Donnellon
Philadelphia Daily News

Daily News Sports Columnist

THERE IS NOW a fifth sports season in Philadelphia.
Most years, like this one, it begins in mid-January and rolls through February.

For lack of a better moniker, call it Banner season, although by definition it has nothing to do with banners, at least championship ones.

It's not really about answers either, or solutions.

Eagles president Joe Banner will be on WIP this morning, continuing his trophyless tour of media outlets. Last night, Comcast SportsNet aired for almost 30 minutes his interview with Michael Barkann. Our not-so-fearless "Daily News Live" leader did all right, but what he really needed was for Jerry Springer to bust onto the set at some point and scream, "Why the hell didn't you trade for Tony Gonzalez!?"

Barkann didn't ask that, or about Roy Williams, or even about how a Super Bowl-aspiring team could enter the season with Tony Hunt and Dan Klecko as their fullback options.

Anyway, as far as I can tell, the basic theme of Banner's tour is that he feels your pain, understands your perennial frustrations this time of year and plans to do . . . well, nothing really.

No change of coach, no change of quarterback, no sacking of general manager Tom Heckert. He says you people are on board with that. Citing an outside organization hired by the team, he claimed, "The popularity of Andy Reid in this city is as high as any coach in any sport in the country.

"The popularity of Donovan McNabb is as high as any athlete almost anywhere ever here in Philadelphia."

Really, he said that.

So take that, Charlie Manuel and Brad Lidge.

In almost the next breath, though, while paralleling the careers of the Eagles coach to former Oakland Raiders coach John Madden, Banner said this:

"In Oakland, that got him elected to the Hall of Fame. In Philadelphia that gets Andy, at least from the public's perspective, uncertain about his job's future."

Which is it: Do we love the man more than any coach in America?

Or do we want him canned?

Banner seems to get caught often between what he should say and what he wants to say. Probably because he and Jeffrey Lurie came into town a decade-and-a-half ago with all that gold-standard hooey, he knows he has to say that anything less than a Super Bowl championship is unacceptable. So he does, repeatedly.

"Valid" is a word he used several times in last night's broadcast when he addressed your criticisms of his coach, his quarterback, and his infrastructure. In almost the next breath, there is invariably a "but" or an "on the other hand," and by the end of the answer the only thing clear is that he doesn't see too much that needs to be fixed here.

Such as when Barkann asked him whether Reid wore too many hats as coach and de facto GM, Banner called it "a totally valid question," then said, "The key to the answer to the question is the quality of the people he surrounded himself with. Andy's got three coordinators . . . who are exceptional and independent and people he has tremendous confidence [in].

"He has Tom Heckert, he has Howie Roseman [vice president of player personnel]. He has a whole staff of pro and college personnel people he has a lot of confidence in. Hopefully I help him with the cap a little bit, so he feels like I've got tremendous help in all three of these areas. So really what we do for Andy is, we kind of narrow the width of the question, and then get him focused on the things that he has to evaluate - watch film on, make decisions on - and he feels very confident in the people kind of narrowing the question. If he was trying to do all of those things and was surrounded with mediocre people, or less quantity even of good people, then it probably wouldn't be a manageable situation."

So . . . Banner sees quality where some see mediocrity. Reid's drafts have been, to most, more miss than hit. His game management has been an issue that does not seem to improve. He has been stubborn about his pass-first playcalling.

"I don't have concerns about the number of hats he's wearing," Banner concluded.

He also said, "We're not opposed to having one of those guys," when Barkann asked him about obtaining an elite receiver like Arizona's Larry Fitzgerald or Anquan Boldin, but he also said, "Can you win without one of those guys? Absolutely."

Well, that seems to be his plan right now. No big receiver in the horizon, no new coach or new quarterback or new semi-GM. No change of duties for Reid, Heckert and Roseman.

"We can win a championship with those people and they will be back, and I've gone on to say that we believe we're very lucky to have them," Banner said. "The good news is, that's overwhelmingly the view of our fans." *

[ice grillin you]

i have no more hateful words for that man...im dried up...he sapped me of everything i love

the madden comparison is so patently absurd (and factually incorrect) that it boggles the mind

[shorebird]

That s.o.b. needs a good smack in the mouth.

[Eagaholic]

I remember sometime within the year Banner mentioned how much of an advantage it is to have a 1st round bye, had no clue that is no longer the case. It makes me worry that this Howie Roseman guy, who I guess was a Banner understudy, is now involved with the personnel side. Maybe AR just ignores him anyway, which I guess is a wash.

I'd like to ask Joe Banner what happens at the end of the year if they finish tied with another team for the Under-the-Cap Bowl title. Does it just end in a tie?

[reese125]

everybody's boy will be on with Eskin today

no screened calls, very tough questions by Eskin, no hang-ups, a complete free-for-all interrogation by callers--cant wait

[PhillyGirl]

Good God.

[Don Ho]

I'm getting prepared.

[PhillyPhreak54]

How was it?