Crypto crash may not affect NFL debt rating as Mets Park stays stable – Sportico.com
If this winter’s “Crypto Bowl” had you thinking the NFL might be getting too reliant on the techno lure, don’t worry. The implosion of cryptocurrency broker FTX and the plunge in Bitcoin this year haven’t created a ripple in the league’s bond rating.
Ten months after the dominance of cryptocurrency ads during the Super Bowl and six months after the NFL opened the door to teams chasing blockchain sponsors, Fitch didn’t even mention the crypto collapse in its latest debt rating for the league, affirming investment grades in its latest review, out Friday morning.
“The NFL structure promotes financial stability and competitive balance in the league through a high percentage of revenue sharing and potential additional revenue sharing. The NFL maintains robust and stable domestic attendance and viewership,” Fitch said in its note. The agency estimates $1.37 billion in debt for NFL Ventures at A+ and $8.6 billion in league-wide credit facilities at A. These ratings are unchanged from Fitch’s previous ratings, although the league increased the amount of debt a team can have to $600 million, from $500 million, at the recent owners meeting .The additional debt does not hurt the rating “due to the strong visibility of media revenue under the league’s national media contracts,” the agency wrote.
Similarly, strong MLB credit and franchise support helped the New York Mets’ stadium retain its BBB rating from Fitch in a concurrent rating note. (MLB’s debt holding entities are rated A and A- by Fitch.) The Queens Ballpark Company (QBC), the entity that owns Citi Field, had its rating affirmed on $624 million in bonds issued in 2006. “The Metz franchise operates in robust but yet competitive, New York City market with strong personal wealth levels and the largest population and deepest corporate base of any metropolitan region in the United States,” Fitch wrote. Posting 101 wins in the 2022 season, tied for third most in the league, also helped. “Stadium attendance and fan support have shown volatility correlated with on-field performance,” Fitch said.
Citi Field also benefits from the high percentage of naming rights fees that back the municipal bonds used to build the facility, Fitch noted. While crypto firm sponsorships are causing problems for the NBA’s Miami Heat, the Mets are likely enjoying their decidedly old financial sponsor, Citigroup: It’s the third-largest bank in America, with more than $1.7 trillion in assets.
Perhaps the only negative for the Mets in the Fitch report is the inevitable comparison to the other baseball team in town. “Yankee Stadium is ranked one notch higher than QBC, reflecting the franchise strength of the Yankees and the more stable and robust levels of attendance and ticket revenue.”
The rating agency also affirmed its rating for the USTA National Tennis Center, home of the US Open, which is not far from the Mets in Queens. The tennis center has an A rating thanks to long-term broadcast deals that provide about half of the revenue promised to support the bonds. The other half comes from US Open ticket sales, which have a proven history of steady growth in average ticket prices, the agency noted.
