At the time, pro football was less popular than both Major League Baseball and college football. But Rozelle recognized the potential in television, a growing medium at the time, and football’s suitability for it with close-ups on the action and built-in pauses for commercials.
Despite initial resistance from team owners, Rozelle signed a deal with CBS and made a revenue-sharing agreement with the teams so that each received $332,000 — at the time enough for most teams to cover their payroll, their biggest expense.
Today TV brings in about $2 billion a year, and the revenue-sharing agreement helps create a level of parity in the league, making it more competitive and entertaining, and ensuring that each team is financially viable. The value of TV rights has grown in recent years with the rise of video streaming, as sports — and football in particular — have proved to be one of the few forms of television viewers need to see live.
If there’s a modern-day Pete Rozelle in the business world, Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)‘s Jeff Bezos would seem to be a good candidate.
Bezos spotted the opportunity in online retail in 1994, when the Internet was in its infancy, and was clever enough to focus initially on books, a broad category where he could outstock any bricks-and-mortar retailer. From there, the retail selection expanded, and Bezos pioneered innovations such as e-books and other forms of online media, to create a network effect, giving Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) many of the competitive advantages that make it so powerful today.
You can’t win ’em all
In sports and stocks, everyone wants a winner, but it’s important not to be overzealous.
No football team has been a repeat Super Bowl winner since the Patriots did it in 2003 and 2004. In investing, even the best stock pickers are right only 55% of the time.
You can do all your homework correctly, but ultimately no one knows what the future holds, and future stock prices are determined by future events. As any football fan knows, whether it’s bad officiating or an overtime coin toss, there is always an element of luck involved. But the best athletes have short memories and don’t let a mistake like a dropped ball distract from the next play.
In the stock market, good investors need to follow this approach and accept that not every stock will be a winner. Learn from your mistakes and move on.
The article The NFL and Corporate America — Sharing the Same Playbook? originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Jeremy Bowman.
Fool contributor Jeremy Bowman owns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool recommends Amazon.com, Apple, Coca-Cola, and Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) and owns shares of Amazon.com, Apple, and Walt Disney.
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