Good Article: Favre Toast of Town, Now Toast!

Similar to yesterday, I have a Bloomberg terminal at work, here is an article I do not think was available to the general public. I think it pretty fair and not so complimentary about the Jets, Woody or Favre but then everyone here thinks that anyhow:

****I can not provide a link as you would need a Bloomberg terminal to read it.****

Favre, Once Toast of Town, Is Now Just Toast: Scott Soshnick
2009-01-07 05:01:37.0 GMT


Commentary by Scott Soshnick
Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- There are two elements to consider
when weighing Brett Favre’s future with the New York Jets. One
has to do with football. The other is finance.
Favre, himself, answered the football part, wilting late in
the regular season. The Jets are playoff spectators, which is
why it’d be fiscal foolishness for the Jets to try again with
the National Football League’s fave soon-to-be 40-year-old.
Raise your hands, Jets fans -- or players --- if you’re
pining for another installment of the Favre farewell tour.
Didn’t think so. To use a basketball term, the quarterback’s
tenure with the Jets should be one-and-done.
Here’s why:
When the Jets announced in August that they’d acquired the
future Hall of Famer from the Green Bay Packers, even those of
us chronicling the Olympics halfway around the world took
notice.
For the Jets, buzz had replaced banal.
The debate centered on whether Favre had enough left in his
thunderbolt of a right arm to make the Jets contenders. The
Packers thought Favre was finished. The Jets did not.
Either way, the Jets became debate darlings. They mattered.
Most importantly, the potential customers whose daily dose of
current events is the back page of the New York tabloids took
notice.
Mississippi’s main man was a Manhattan marvel, even without
tossing a touchdown.
Favre was the toast of the town. His arrival was celebrated
at City Hall, where bestowed upon him were a cadre of gifts,
including a Broadway sign, a $4 Metrocard, a stack of Junior’s
cheesecakes and -- how’s this for lofty expectations -- an empty
key ring.
If all went according to plan, you see, Favre would need
the ring to safeguard his key to the city, the one he’d get for
leading the Jets to the Super Bowl.

Made Sense

Favre made sense. He made dollars, too. Not only was his
No. 4 jersey a best-seller, but his arrival coincided with the
selling season for the team’s new stadium.
The Jets were hawking not only luxury suites, but
sponsorships. Even in good economic times companies don’t pine
to align themselves with a moribund franchise, which is,
essentially, what the Jets were becoming.
The team’s sales force even included their reclusive owner,
Woody Johnson, who was the front man for the auction of premier
seats.
Back when the Jets were 2-2, I asked Johnson if the
acquisition of Favre was driven by football or finance.
“We brought Brett in for football reasons only,” he said.

Transfer of Risk

Hard to believe, especially for a businessman like Johnson,
who was astute enough to pre-order steel and other materials for
the $1.6 billion stadium, which they’ll share with the Super
Bowl champion New York Giants. Johnson called it a “one-lump-
sum design-build.”
“We transferred the risk of building to the contractor,”
he said.
You have to believe that Johnson did a risk-reward analysis
with regard to Favre, who, as it turns out, won’t be getting
that key to the city.
After starting the season 8-3 -- igniting talk of a Jets-
Giants Super Bowl -- the Jets, and Favre, floundered. The Jets
finished at 9-7. And Favre, it should be noted, tossed nine
interceptions in the final five games.
Johnson responded by firing coach Eric Mangini, who had
just completed his third season. Frankly, the team’s results
were commensurate with the talent.
Oddly, the coaching change runs counter to what Johnson
told me about his business philosophy.
“Like any business, you have to have continuity,” he
said.

One-Year Experiment

Perhaps that’s why Johnson says he wants Favre back, even
though it’s time for something fresh. Favre was a worthwhile
one-year experiment. One.
Something tells me that Johnson, had he been a quarterback,
would’ve struggled with making reads.
When asked months ago whether football is recession-proof,
he said, “It looks like it is.”
That was before the NFL last month said it was cutting
about 14 percent of its workforce, about 150 employees, because
of the global economic slump. And that was before the Arizona
Cardinals needed an extension from the league in order to sell
out their first home playoff game in 61 years.
Favre, and stop me if you’ve heard this before, says he
hasn’t decided whether to return or retire.
The Jets have one more season to make an impression on fans
and sponsors before inhabiting their new stadium. They had
better have something to offer. Either a winning team or hope
for better days.
Football and finance say it’s time for a change.

(Scott Soshnick is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions
expressed are his own.)

Click on {LETT <GO>} to write a letter to the editor.

For Related News:
More on NFL playoffs: NFLP <GO>.

--Editors: Vince Golle, Laurence Arnold.

To contact the writer of this column:
Scott Soshnick in New York at +1-212-617-2669 or
ssoshnick@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Laurence Arnold in Washington at +1-202-624-1904 or
larnold4@bloomberg.net

 

Surprised no one gives a crap about this. Thought the people that hate Woody,Favre etc would like it from an outsiders perspective...........