What Playing in an Empty Stadium Would Cost Titans
It is not often that it pays to be a small-market franchise.
The 2020 NFL season – if it is played without fans in the stands – would be one of those times.
OK, maybe it would not pay. But it would not cost the Titans as much as it would the majority of other teams.
Forbes compiled a ranking this week of stadium revenue each of the league’s 32 franchises earned in 2018 to get a sense of what each team would lose this fall if those stadiums are closed to fans. Stadium revenue is determined by the sum of tickets, concessions, sponsors, parking and team stores. All told, it amounted to $5.5 billion, 38 percent of the league’s total revenue that season.
The Titans earned $110 million revenue, which was just shy of 28 percent of their total revenue ($394 million). Only four teams – Buffalo, Cincinnati, the L.A. Chargers and Las Vegas Raiders – had smaller figures and two of those, the Chargers and Raiders, will play in new, state-of-the-art stadiums in 2020 that likely will enhance their earning potential.
By comparison, Dallas earned a league-high $621 million in stadium revenue, which was more than 65 percent of its total revenue. Likewise, New England and the New York Giants also would lose more than half of their total revenue.
"I think it's feasible that negative testing players could play to an empty stadium," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said recently. "Is it guaranteed? No way . . . There will be virus out there and you will know your players are negative at the time they step onto the field."
Nashville is the country’s No. 28 television market. Only six teams, including the Raiders, play in smaller markets.
