If/when the NFL has to propose $14,088 billion (plus interest and fees) in the Sunday Ticket litigation, each team will have to come up with more than $440 million.
For many of the ultra-rich, there aren’t that many coins in the piggy bank.
There is a difference between paper value and liquid cash. And if 345 Park Avenue has to broadcast the Bat-Signal for $440 million per team, some owners will have a hard time coming up with that amount.
We won’t name names because we don’t have access to information that would allow us to make reliable estimates of the cash each owner has on hand.
In the case of a team, we know. The Packers, as a publicly traded corporation, are required to prepare an annual report. Last year, the team… had 583 million dollars in “cash and investments”.
It could be difficult to conduct business any other way if more than 75 percent of available cash and investments have to be handed over to the league.
Other owners may not be as liquid as the Packers. That could make it even more important for owners lacking $500 million in gold bullion to accept private equity investments. Which, if enough teams seek private equity, could depress value.
It’s supply and demand, with a touch of desperation. If, say, a third of the owners (again, we don’t know the real number) need help to get to $440 million, they will compete with each other for private equity deals and, in turn, drive prices down.
The easiest route to raising $450 million might be to take out a loan. To do that, the league as a whole would have to agree to each team taking on that much debt. If nine or more owners have the money and want to screw those who don’t, any attempt to raise the debt limit could be ruled out.
None of this matters if the league ultimately wins the case. Betting everything on the possibility of victory moving away from the jaws of defeat is not a strategy. It is a recipe for bankruptcy, as far as the owners are concerned, whose liabilities could suddenly dwarf their assets, once $440 million is added to the wrong side of the ledger.