NFL Player to Own a Franchise: Why Its a Big Deal (And How It Could Change the Game)

You know, I heard some folks talkin’ ’bout this football thing. They say some NFL player is gonna own a whole team. Can you believe that? Back in my day, players just played. Now they wanna own the whole darn thing.

This whole thing, it’s called a franchise. Sounds fancy, don’t it? Like somethin’ you’d order at one of them fancy restaurants. But it ain’t food, no sir. It’s like ownin’ a whole business. And these football teams, they’re big business, I tell ya. Worth more than all the cows in my county, I bet.

Now, they got these rules, I hear. Somethin’ called a franchise tag. Sounds like somethin’ you’d put on a price tag, but not quite. It’s like, if a team really likes a player, they can put this tag on ’em. Then that player, he’s gotta stay with that team for another year. They ain’t free agents like some bird flying in the sky. He’s gotta stay put. And they gotta pay him, mind you. A whole lot of money. More money than I ever seen in my life. I guess it works for the team and the player, if you are good, you can make a lot of money.

• They say this tag thing started way back, like in ’93. That’s before some of these young’uns were even born!
• And it’s only for one player each year. Can’t go around taggin’ everyone.
• It’s a big deal, this tag. Keeps the good players around, I suppose.

Now, about ownin’ a team. They say you gotta be rich as a king. Richer than a king, even! They look at a lot of things – how much money the sport makes, the market, stadium deals, and the brand. It’s not just playin’ the game, see. It’s a whole lot of money movin’ around. Gotta have a lot of money to even think about ownin’ a team. And they check all your money stuff, your debt and how much you make. It’s all very complicated, these NFL team owners, it ain’t like sellin’ eggs at the market.

And get this – you can’t just be any old rich person. No sir. They got rules about who can own a team. Can’t be no big company, or one of them non-profit things. Nope, gotta be a person, a real live person. And you gotta have connections, they say. Know the right people. And you gotta be smart about business. Shrewd, they call it. Like a fox. You gotta be a real fox to own one of these teams.

I heard that Tom Brady, that famous quarterback, might be buying a team. This NFL player to own a franchise thing is rare, I can tell you that. They say he’s going to be an NFL owner. Well, good for him. He’s good at playin’ football. Hope he’s good at ownin’ a team too. It’s a whole different ball game, I reckon. I guess Patrick Mahomes is also doing a lot of business, I heard he already owns four teams. He’s young but really knows how to make money.

This whole thing is a big deal, I tell ya. It’s like a whole other world, this football business. They even got a special newsletter about it, called “Business of Sports.” They say the Super Bowl is in Las Vegas. Las Vegas! Can you imagine? All those lights and all that noise. It ain’t like around here, that’s for sure.

But it seems like this has been goin’ on for a long time. They say for more than a hundred years. Can you believe that? A hundred years of football and money and all that. It’s a lot to take in, ain’t it?

This player to own a franchise, well, he better know what he’s doin’. It’s a big responsibility. And a lot of money. More money than I can even imagine. But hey, if he can do it, more power to him, I say. It’s a long way from just throwin’ a ball around, that’s for sure.

NFL player, franchise tag, all that stuff. I hope these young people know what they are doing. It is a lot of money. A lot of work. Not like the old days. A lot more money than the old days.

I’ll stick to my garden and my chickens, thank you very much. But it’s interestin’ to hear about, I guess. This whole NFL player ownin’ a team thing. It’s somethin’, ain’t it? Yes, it sure is somethin’. A big somethin’. These young people, they sure are different these days. Different than when I was young.