The estimate came out yesterday that the NFL could lose $5.5B in revenue if the 2020 season is played without fans. That accounts for tickets, concessions, parking and those giant #1 foam fingers sold in the gift shop. Let’s remember that revenue is different than profit. These teams are not going to lose money in 2020 they are just going to make less in profit. They are still getting huge television money (maybe even more with no one able to go to games), gear sales and they will save in operating costs.
They determine that the Cowboys and Patriots would lose the most money but I would assume that teams with big new stadiums like the Falcons, LA Rams/Chargers, and Raiders would also be in that boat. In the PFT story it said that the Cowboys and Pats would lose half their revenue. Teams like the Titans and Bengals would only lose a third. I would guess that teams like Jacksonville and the Redskins would also be in that boat.
This will terrorize the 2021 cap since it is based on a percentage of revenue. It will be interesting to see how the NFL handles this and teams like the Bengals and Titans will be more likely affected since their owners are more cap sensitive. Perhaps the league cuts all salaries by the percentage of cap decrease? If the revenue hit is 38% then all players play for a 38% discount and the cap stays the same. Maybe the team and owners split it 19%/19%? That would likely be fair but when billionaire owners clash against millionaire players I would hate to be DeMaurice Smith to figure out something where everyone is happy.