NFL debt figure released

from today's Street and Smith's Sports Business Journal (3/17):

Court filing: NFL carrying $9B of debt
By DANIEL KAPLAN
Staff writer
Published March 17, 2008 : Page 01

"The NFL, through the league and its 32 teams, has more than $9 billion of debt. The figure, which has never before been public, is disclosed in a letter that the league’s outside general counsel, Gregg Levy, wrote last October to the NFL Players Association in response to the union’s questions about a league resolution to reduce team debt." ...

"The NFL debt figure is far higher than that of other leagues. MLB clubs owe $3.1 billion, according to MLB CFO Jonathan Mariner, though that number does not include the roughly $2 billion in financing for the two pending New York ballparks because that debt, technically, is not carried by the teams. The NBA declined to make public its debt total, but the league’s policies limit all team borrowings to $175 million per club. The NHL also declined to discuss any aspect of its debt, but finance sources have previously said that the league allows teams to carry debt up to half of their franchise value." ...

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