Event Recap: Gary Gertzog '80

Gertzog '80 with members of the ILRSBS E-Board

On Friday, September 28th, the Cornell ILR Sports Business Society was joined by Gary Gertzog '80, the Senior Vice President of Business Affairs and General Counsel of the NFL.

During this Q&A session, Gertzog discussed NFL topics such as globalization, the emergence of the Red Zone Channel, the rise of fantasy football, as well as his career path and career advice for students.

On his career path, upon graduating from Cornell:

Gertzog graduated from Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations in 1980. He knew that he wanted to attend law school, and ultimately decided to pursue this path at George Washington University. It was a strong school, and it was in a big city - the latter of which he didn't get to experience in Ithaca.

Upon graduating from law school, Gertzog was hired by a New York City-based law firm, Townley & Uptike, in 1983. Upon becoming a partner at the firm, Gertzog's first case was a highly publicized vessel collision in New York Harbor. When someone resigned from NFL Properties, he was asked to handle trademark and licensing work for the NFL.

He admitted that, although he was ecstatic about the thought of this opportunity, he tried not to let it show.

"I told them, you know, I got this New York Harbor vessel case I'm working on right now, so I'd have to see if...actually, yeah, I might be able to fit this in."

Gertzog first started by sending cease and desist letters to anyone using the NFL logo. One example he specifically brought up was a group who started selling "New Jersey Giants" gear as a joke on the Giants, who play their home games at the Meadowlands in New Jersey.

When an executive whom he was closely connected with at the NFL was promoted, Gertzog was asked to replace him in the position as the head of NFL Properties in 1994.

On his role with the NFL:

Since joining the NFL, Gertzog's role at has expanded to include the overall legal and business affairs  for the NFL’s commercial operation. The NFL, as he likes to describe it, is:

"Made up of two parts - the first component is the football side which serves as the unincorporated association for the 32 teams. The other part is the business side, which I'm involved with, and that is everything that makes money for the National Football League."

Gertzog said his involvement with the NFL's business includes everything from TV contracts (the NFL Network and the Red Zone Channel), corporate sponsorships, and licensing, to hundreds of companies, league and team marketing, intellectual property, providing business advice, and other media ventures in the form of radio, internet, and wireless devices.

On the biggest challenges and accomplishments over the course of his career with the NFL:

Gertzog said,

"I've been at the NFL for over eighteen years, and have stayed because of the constant challenges there are. Every day is different, every hour is different, and every challenge is different."

Gertzog's first case as an NFL executive was a landmark suit between Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones and the NFL. The business model at the time had the NFL selling and overseeing the marketing rights for all 32 teams. Jones, along with Al Davis, and the other NFL owners, were paying hundred of millions to own teams, and they wanted to control the marketing rights.

While this was one of Gertzog's biggest challenges, it also became a major accomplishment. As a result of this case, the NFL created a new business model where portions of marketing rights were reallocated to the teams, with the NFL still overseeing the majority of them. This model has led to success, and in 2004, it was extended for 15 years. In fact, it has since been extended for another seven years, which has brought long term stability to this former issue.

On some of the NFL's most important business initiatives during the past year:

To resolve last year's lockout, the NFL and the NFL Players' Association agreed on a ten year labor deal with no early termination rights. This labor deal is longer than any deal that has been put into by any of the four major sports.

This was tremendous for many reasons; but most importantly, it provided security and was essential in negotiating new league partnerships because neither side had to worry about a work stoppage in the next ten years. This set a foundation for the NFL's TV deals. The NFL made an eight year agreement with ESPN for Monday Night Football, in addition to a nine year deal between CBS, Fox, and NBC which rotated the broadcasting rights for the Super Bowl  every three years. Both of these deals are the longest deals of their kind.

The NFL also made a ten year agreement with Pepsi. Gertzog said long term deals are essential - the first year or two are mostly used to figure things out, and once they've find the right formula, they start to see a substantial return on their investment over the long run.

Another important development has been the emergence of the NFL-operated channels, the NFL Network and the Red Zone Channel. This year, the NFL Network finally came to an agreement with Cablevision and Time Warner Cable after years of not being featured on these cable providers. The NFL Network used to televise the NFL's eight Thursday Night games. However, this year, the NFL expanded to 15 Thursday Night games, and they felt that was a key bargaining chip. The NFL Network now has a reach of over 70 million homes, and the NFL feels that they have completed their distribution.

Gary Gertzog ' 80

Asked if the at-home experience was surpassing the in-stadium experience:

While the NFL has taken many steps to improve the quality and accessibility of the at-home experience, it might be at the expense of selling season tickets. With the secondary ticket market available to consumers, season tickets are becoming devalued to fans who can who can pick and choose which games they'd like to attend, instead. Becausee most of the NFL's revenue is generated from media rights, it wouldn't be as strong if seats weren't being sold.

"We need to convince people that there is nothing like the in-stadium experience. That nothing compares to showing up early to tailgate in the parking lot, or being at the game when the home defense has to make a stand on 3rd & 1 - and you're on your feet screaming along with 80,000 other fans. There simply is nothing that compares to being at the game."

However, with the emergence of the secondary market, and the Red Zone Channel, and fantasy football, some people might simply prefer to stay home, because the lack of stadium Wi-Fi prevents them from being connected. The NFL is working with companies like Verizon and AT&T to get NFL stadiums Wi-Fi enabled - to keep fans connected with each other. Stadiums are also making an effort to show highlights and statistics from around the league during timeouts and breaks, something they rarely used to do.

Another key issue that might devalue the in-stadium experience that the NFL is working to improve is fan conduct. Fans pay a substantial amount of money to go to the stadium, and might be accompanied by their kids. If a fan's behavior is out of line to the point that it's detracting from others' experience, then that is unacceptable. If a fan's behavior takes away from your experience, it used to be that you'd have to find security and bring them down to your section to address that fan. However, the NFL has set up a texting service that allows fans to do this anonymously - where each stadium security has a number that fans can text with their section number, the issue, and a description of the fan, and security would take care of it without exposing you to that fan.

On the globalization of the NFL:

The NFL has taken many steps in the past decade to foster a globalization of their product. That started with NFL Europe, which wasn't the most successful initiative, but it allowed Europeans to become somewhat accustomed to the game. Five years ago, the NFL had its first regular season game in London, which sold out Wembley Stadium in minutes. Gertzog laughed as he recalled the progression of the English fans during this annual game:

"Five years ago, when the Dolphins played the Giants, I remember there was a touchdown scored, and you could almost hear a pin drop...I was so confused. Then all of a sudden, the kicking unit comes out for the extra point, and when the ball went through the uprights, the crowd went absolutely crazy. It was funny to see, but it just showed that the fans weren't fully familiar with the rules of football. Then three years later I went back, and they finally started going crazy for the touchdowns, which is a good sign!"

Gertzog claimed that the ultimate goal for the NFL is to eventually have a franchise based in Europe to capitalize on this expanding market.

Gertzog's advice for aspiring sports business professionals:

"A lot of students want to graduate and jump right into sports. At the NFL, we get about 2,000 resumes every year to fill 8-10 positions. I would strongly recommend that you try to get experience elsewhere, and master a craft that can be applied to sports. Get a job in law, media, marketing, or finance, and get the experience. If anything that strengthens your resume and your experience, as opposed to someone who jumps right into sports."

Gertzog also stressed how there are also so many ways to work in sports. He mentioned that not only can you work in the agency side that most people associate with sports business, but to also think about businesses that have influences in sports. Companies that have products in sports such as Nike, Under Armour, and EA Sports are a great avenue to work in the industry. Moreover, a brand with strong sports sponsorship ties, like Anheuser Busch or Visa, also gets you close to the industry, too.

Miscellaneous: 

- The NFL took somewhat of a leap of faith in hosting a Super Bowl at the new MetLife Stadium. The NFL, he said, is "crossing their fingers" hoping that it goes well. New York has great potential to host the Super Bowl, as long as the weather holds up. If all goes well, he said to expect a cold weather Super Bowl once every 3-4 years.

- The issue of concussions in football has led to less kids playing at a competitive level in their youth. However, the NFL has realized that a lot of these youth and high school leagues follow the NFL for guidance in making their game safer. The NFL has implemented many rules recently in order to make the game safer, and they see these youth leagues following their lead. The league is investing and donating heavily in order to gain a better understanding of head injuries and continue to do so.

- The NFL recently allowed teams to have ads on their practice jerseys. However, Gertzog doesn't see the NFL going in the direction of ads on their game uniforms. One reason is to maintain the purity. However, it also might serve as a conflict of interest for competing sponsors who already pay the NFL billions of dollars.

- Though the Pro Bowl has terrific TV ratings (higher than some NBA postseason games), the product itself has been somewhat disappointing, and the NFL is concerned about the competitiveness of the game. Gertzog feels that this might be due to the fact that the Super Bowl is the absolute peak of the NFL season, and that anything after that is due for a drop off in hype, excitement, and overall interest.

- With the recent news of the approval of Farmers Field in Los Angeles, Gertzog also said that the NFL has a goal to eventually bring a franchise to the nation's second largest media market. It would be too complicated and expensive, and would also ruin the logistics of having a sound number of teams (32) to introduce an expansion team. Thus, the NFL would be more open to moving a franchise to LA if it were ever needed or appropriate.

- Gertzog described fantasy football as one the "stickiest applications." In other words, fans who use one website for fantasy football, are more inclined to use that website for their future leagues. The NFL is still behind Yahoo! and ESPN Fantasy with 2.8 million subscribers at the moment. However, the NFL wants to continuously promote their competitive advantage which is the integration of NFL videos and highlights.
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We are thankful that Mr. Gertzog took the time out of his schedule to speak with our group. We all gained a tremendous amount of insight on the business of the NFL, and are fortunate for that opportunity. We hope to stay connected with Gertzog moving forward, and would welcome him to speak with our group at any time in the near future!