Each team’s debt limit would reportedly increase by $150M
Earlier today, sources close to ESPN said that the NFL and club executives agreed to a proposal that would raise the debt limit for every team for the 2020 season. The debt limit will be raised to $500M from $350M for each team under the proposal.
The agreement was reached by the two sides on a conference call yesterday. ESPN’s sources are saying that the agreement was made in response to financial uncertainties caused by the ongoing Coronavirus Pandemic. Owners are scheduled to vote on the proposal next Tuesday.
The idea of raising the debt limit has been discussed by the league and team owners for weeks. Teams and owners know there will be a huge loss in revenue if games are played without fans in stadiums this coming season. Patrick Rishe, who is the Director of the Sports Business Program at the University of Washington in St. Louis, estimates that the NFL would lose $138M a week in revenue. He also believes the league could lose up to $2.3B if the full season was played without fans.
There is no clarity on what the 2020 NFL regular season could look like. The league did release the full regular-season schedule last week and expects to start the season on time. The NFL regular season is set to begin on September 10th when the Kansas City Chiefs play the Houston Texans.
