Media's contempt of Bengals sparks the ire of present and former Bengals.

[*Nately120*]

(02-19-2020, 10:48 PM)Whatever Wrote: The issue with the Kraft analogy is that every NFL team's success is directly tied to another team's failure.  If a Kraft clone took over the Bengals and hired the next Belicheck as coach and drafted the next Tom Brady and went on a similar tear to the one the Pats have been on, the Bengals would draw a lot more money.  However, the Steelers, Ravens,and especially the Browns would experience dramatic downturns. 

Since tickets and merchandise aren't included in revenue sharing, the only area that makes a difference to the league is TV ratings and the NFL will always put the good/hot/popular teams that draw ratings in the primetime spots, so even if a team is absolutely atrocious for a long period, it doesn't really hurt them.  Plus, the popularity of fantasy football now means that all they really need is a fantasy stud in those spots to draw viewers.

True not every team can be a winner by the nature of the league.  Still, a team that hasn't risen above 12th place in nearly 30 years could likely use a new business plan.  You can't always win but decades of irrelevance are a whole new ball of wax. 

If we win 5 SBs the Steelers can still market the fact that they have 6.