How automakers' pigging out on SUV sales for the last decade could cause the end of professional football as we know it:
After a summer of $4.50 a gallon gasoline wiped out roughly $100 a month in disposable income from every single American who owned a car, the fall months witness unprecedented numbers of new-car buyers staying home.
GM, Chrysler, and Ford collapse.
Bankruptcy or complete wipe-out. For this scenario it doesn' t matter.
All three are heavy, heavy advertisers on NFL football broadcasts.
That money is now gone, leaving huge holes to fill.
The holes don't get filled.
The broadcasting networks, standing on an already shakey pillar of revenue now shot full of holes during their last 8 weeks of the football season, have lost a large chunk of money that is supposed to pay for their NFL broadcasting rights. They can't fulfill their contracts.
The teams share of NFL broadcasting dollars is wiped out, cutting into team money that's supposed to pay player salaries, stadium operating costs, and expenses.
The lower third of the NFL franchises, now starving for money that can not be replaced by 40% increases in ticket prices since at least 30% of their ticket-buying base either worked directly for one of the now defunct automakers or for one of their suppliers and remain out of work, nor by selling stadium advertising to non-existent auto manufacturers, go up for sale.
Unable to find buyers for a third of their franchises, the NFL is forced to contract for the first time in a bazillion years.
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