The National Football League

Football is America's pastime. More than baseball, football has become the game every child goes out to play and every father seeks to share with his son. It is a game for men, filled with jaw-dropping hits and head-scratching plays. It is a game. But it is so much more than a game. Today, the National Football League (NFL) has the benefit of having the largest television contract in history based on a game. Teams are building stadiums with cost upwards of one billion dollars, a staggering figure. This growth has come as a result of sound business practices that any business owner can institute in their own enterprise.

Every team needs a quarterback. Oftentimes, the captain of a team, the quarterback runs the offense for the team. He does not have to win the game but he does have to keep from losing the game for the team. Their job is to allow the game to funnel through them, running the places called by the coaches as well as making proper reads on what the defense gives them. In business, a quarterback is the player on the team who recognizes what is going on, on the business landscape around the company. This businessperson knows what the competition is doing and trying to do to throw the team off. And it is because of this ability to read the competitions moves, the quarterback makes the necessary adjustments and calls a play, or plan of actions that will take advantage of what the competition offers.

Defense wins championships. Regardless of how many points a team scores they must stop the opposing team at least once in order to win. A team that has a strong defense ultimately puts their offense in a good situation by giving them a short playing field. This decrease in yardage to the end zone allows the offense to score with greater frequency and ease than a team that always has to start at their own 20-yard line. In business, when a business has people who are always on the lookout for chinks in the armor or problems on the team, they set the business up to be more successful than if they were not there. A defense in business recognizes the marketing and branding efforts of the competition and rebuffs the implications that an opposing companies products are better than their own. When a company is able to successfully defend itself, consumers recognize the best of brand, ultimately making the team winners.

Offense brings attention. Businesses that continually release innovative, dynamic products will always have the attention of the media. A great deal of success is consumers knowing that you exist. And any media coverage is a good thing. On the playing field, teams that score with a high frequency are the fancy of fans as a high scoring game is more desirable than one based solely on defense. When a business has the attention of the buying market the chances of converting them into buyers increases exponentially.

Stability in leadership is critical. Teams who recycle coaches every two to three years find it more difficult to compete in the league today. With coaching changes come shifts in philosophy requiring players to learn new schemes and ways of playing the game. These shifts in strategy wear away the energy of players causing them to spend more time thinking about what they should do rather than focusing on being productive at their position. When a business changes strategy or leadership continually you paralyze the team, creating a polluted work environment filled with loyalty issues, ambition struggles, and distractions.

Prior to the mid-90s revenue sharing between the teams was a hot-button issue. Greedy owners did not want to siphon off some of their revenues and pass them on to less successful franchises. However, with the leadership of recently retired commissioner Paul Tagliabue, the NFL restructured the way it dispenses broadcast and apparel revenues. This created a balanced atmosphere of competition which ultimately brought more attention to the league. In business, partnering with your competitors can have unimaginable advantages. In industries that are highly volatile companies who can broker deals as a united front will see greater benefit from being together than fighting separate fights Similar to unionizing, the NFL saw its strength in having one voice and one sound. It should be this way in business as well.

Teams with a plan always achieve more. The NFL teams whose organizations are run like businesses are the most successful franchises around. From the Dallas Cowboys to the Pittsburgh Steelers to the New England Patriots, each of these franchises has a plan and an organization structured to work the plan to reach the intended goals. When a company not only wants to win but knows there is a right and wrong way to win it sets the standard for excellence. Planning seems outside the boundaries of football. However, teams with a plan know the kind of players they want to draft, the kind of coach that can lead the kind of team the owner wants, and on and on. In business, when leadership knows where they are trying to get the company to, other decisions come into focus as it shapes the kind of executives, managers, and affiliates a company can have.

It was mentioned earlier that a franchise is in the process of completing the world's first billion dollar stadium. Able to seat upwards of 100,000 people, the new stadium for the Dallas Cowboys has already been awarded an upcoming Super Bowl even though a game has yet to be played in the stadium. When fans enter a stadium that they can be proud of, fan devotion is instilled and the experience of coming to a football game grows perpetually. On the other hand, when a team plays in a garbage can of an arena, both the teams and the fans have a measure of angst about attending a game. When a business invests in its site and location it communicates to its consumers that it cares about how it is perceived as well as that comfort and style are important to both the consumer and the company.

Today, fans of the National Football League are diehard about the team they support and the league as a whole. Rabid about supporting their favorite players, fans are just like consumers in the business marketplace. With price points and experience as the two primary drivers, business leaders recognize that not only must they have a good product it must be marketed and experienced well by the company in order for consumers to purchase it. The NFL is big business. We can learn a lot from the game.