Microsoft’s $400 Million NFL Marketing Deal Is Going Horribly Wrong
ByTravis Pulveron January 29, 2016inArticles›Sports News
When Microsoft partnered up with the NFL and became the league’s official technology provider the hope was the association would help boost the image of the device, the Microsoft Surface. For $400 million over the next five-years, Microsoft had to hope the NFL would at least do that if not boost sales.
Instead, it appears that the NFL has inadvertently promoted the competition while making the Microsoft Surface look bad.
It doesn’t help when fans see players get violent with tablets on the sideline, like Johnny Manziel , Jay Cutler , and Aaron Rodgers have done this season (even though it had nothing to do with the device). There is a perception that the devices have had trouble working on the sideline throughout the season.
Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
On several occasions, teams have had trouble getting their tablets to work on the sideline. The most recent occurrence came during the AFC Championship game when the Patriots tablets did not work for a while. Once again, the perception was that the tablets were the issue, but that was not the case.
It was a network issue and not the tablets:
“Our team on the field has confirmed the issue was not related to the tablets themselves but rather an issue with the network,” Microsoft said in a statement. “We worked with our partners who manage the network to ensure the issue was resolved quickly.”
However, no matter how much the NFL and Microsoft say after the fact that it was the network that failed, the 53.3 million people watching the game are only going to remember the game announcers talking about the Microsoft Surface not working.
That is a little ironic, since Microsoft was upset because the announcers kept referring to the sideline tablets as iPads or iPad like tools earlier this season. It’s nice that they are finally getting it right after two years, but had they got it wrong one more time it wouldn’t have been such a bad thing.
According to Microsoft, there has not been an issue with one of their tablets since the company began its partnership with the NFL.
“In the past two years, Surfaces have supported nearly 100,000 minutes of sideline action, and in that time, not a single issue has been reported that is related to the tablet itself,” Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Windows and Devices Group, wrote on a company blog about Microsoft devices.
“On rare occasions like we saw on Sunday, the stadium has network issues that prevent the delivery of images to the Surface devices. In these cases, we work with the NFL to quickly troubleshoot possible network issues so we can get the photo imaging solution to proceed as normal.”
Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images
As true as that is, how many fans read blogs about Microsoft devices or other tech related sites that have reprinted the quote? Chances are good not nearly as many as the number of fans that were watching the AFC Championship.
With over 100 million people expected to watch the Super Bowl, it is probably safe to say Microsoft and the NFL are doing everything they can to make sure the network doesn’t fail and the announcers do not say iPad even once.
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Peyton Manning Stands To Make $4 Million If He Can Win The Next Two Games
ByTravis Pulveron January 21, 2016inArticles›Sports News
When the Denver Broncos and New England Patriots kick off Sunday to decide who has the best team in the American Conference of the NFL, for most of the players the goal is clear. They want to win. They want the chance to play in the Super Bowl and earn the title of world champions. They want the glory.
However, for at least one player it will be a chance to earn a little more money as well as the glory. When Peyton Manning restructured his contract after last season he did give the team some relief under the salary cap by reducing his salary from $19 million to $15 million.
What a guy, right? Well, he didn’t do it out of the goodness of his heart. He just agreed to earn it another way. Should he guide the Broncos to victory in the AFC championship game, he would earn a $2 million bonus. Follow that up with a win in the Super Bowl and he earns another $2 million.
Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images
Technically, the two bonuses are classified as NLTBE, or ’not likely to be earned.’ An NLTBE bonus is a way for a team to put off having part of a player’s salary applied to the salary cap. Should the incentive be reached, the value of it counts toward the next season’s salary cap.
If it was a LTBE bonus (likely to be earned) it would count towards the salary cap after the player earns it. That type of bonus would do the team no good in this case since the value of the bonus would apply to the current season’s salary cap, so there would be no relief in restructuring unless the bonus was not earned.
The team doesn’t get to choose which designation goes on the bonus. If the goal was achieved last season it qualifies as a LTBE bonus. If it was not, then it qualifies as NLTBE. Since the Broncos did not win the AFC championship or Super Bowl last season his bonuses are considered NLTBE.
That’s great for Peyton, but doesn’t that just screw the Broncos over next season? Not necessarily.
Teams have to have room under the salary cap for all LTBE bonuses. However, if the goals needed to earn them are not met the team is allowed to apply the space they had to keep open to next year’s salary cap. If a team has more LTBE bonuses not earned than NLTBE bonuses earned they can actually receive a credit towards the following year’s salary cap.
So, should the Broncos go on to win the Super Bowl and have $4 million in LTBE bonuses from other players not be earned then Peyton’s bonuses will not count against next season’s salary cap.
Manning is already slated to be a $21.5 million cap hit next season. While $25.5 million would be a pretty sizable hit, he would not be the largest in the league ( Drew Brees is going to count $30 million towards the Saints’ cap in 2016).
However, should he get cut or retire he will only cost the team $2.5 million in cap space next season, a savings of $19 million. With injuries making his current level of play pale in comparison to what made him famous many expect him to ride off into the sunset at the end of this season whether it is after the AFC championship or the Super Bowl.
Riding off with a $4 million bonus sure wouldn’t be a bad way to go.
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