Tyler Lockett's Real Estate Sponsorship
Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2023 4:53 amHave you guys heard of this? A few years ago, Tyler Lockett formed his own company, Liv N Serve Real Estate. Now, after Lockett approached them, his company has become the official sponsor of the Seattle Seahawks, replacing Windermere in that role:
The news from early May the receiver Tyler Lockett's real estate company has become an official sponsor of the Seahawks raised a few eyebrows at the time, given that the non-football business relationship potentially opens the door for the team to give benefits to a player that don't, but should, fall under the salary cap.
“I kind of brought it up," Lockett said. "I learned the worst thing that can happen is people say no, so I kind of reached out to the Seahawks upstairs on the third floor. I talked to them just about the opportunity to be able to do a partnership. I learned about them just throughout the years of me being here, they had one with Windermere and so when I heard that Windermere wasn’t going to do it anymore, I had an opportunity to see if it was even possible to do it. We went through all the rules, the laws, the regulations, we did everything the right way and so I’m thankful to even be able to have a chance to do that.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/ty ... r-AA1ewgSu
Are we opening a Pandora's box? Unless Lockett's company is paying a fair market price for this sponsorship, in other words, roughly the same amount that Windermere paid...and they don't give out these sponsorships for free...Lockett, or his company, is receiving a valuable benefit worth millions. Suppose Joey Bosa tells the Niners that he'll re-sign with him if they sponsor his (hypothetical) athletic wear company that he started? It would give the Niners an unfair advantage over other teams that might be interested in signing Bosa if they did not have such a sponsorship available to offer. And all sponsorships are not created equal. A sponsorship of the Dallas Cowboys is going to be worth more than a sponsorship of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The other problem here is the lack of transparency. This is a sport that is highly dependent on teams managing their player payroll budget, and no one knows how much money, if any, Lockett is paying for this benefit. If they're going to allow such relationships, the amount needs to be made public. Otherwise, it has the appearance of getting paid under the table.
There's also a conflict-of-interest problem. The team isn't going to give away this benefit to a back-up offensive guard. They are only going to cut such a deal with one of their stars, preferential treatment, a perk given to one player but not to others, like having your own office in the training facility like you-know-who. It has the potential to cause a rub with other members of the team.
IMO the league needs to regulate these partnerships. It's compensation that has a specific financial value that is not being counted towards the salary cap. They need to either assign a fair market value to this sponsorship and add it to Lockett's contracted salary for purposes of calculating the cap or ban it all together.
The news from early May the receiver Tyler Lockett's real estate company has become an official sponsor of the Seahawks raised a few eyebrows at the time, given that the non-football business relationship potentially opens the door for the team to give benefits to a player that don't, but should, fall under the salary cap.
“I kind of brought it up," Lockett said. "I learned the worst thing that can happen is people say no, so I kind of reached out to the Seahawks upstairs on the third floor. I talked to them just about the opportunity to be able to do a partnership. I learned about them just throughout the years of me being here, they had one with Windermere and so when I heard that Windermere wasn’t going to do it anymore, I had an opportunity to see if it was even possible to do it. We went through all the rules, the laws, the regulations, we did everything the right way and so I’m thankful to even be able to have a chance to do that.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/ty ... r-AA1ewgSu
Are we opening a Pandora's box? Unless Lockett's company is paying a fair market price for this sponsorship, in other words, roughly the same amount that Windermere paid...and they don't give out these sponsorships for free...Lockett, or his company, is receiving a valuable benefit worth millions. Suppose Joey Bosa tells the Niners that he'll re-sign with him if they sponsor his (hypothetical) athletic wear company that he started? It would give the Niners an unfair advantage over other teams that might be interested in signing Bosa if they did not have such a sponsorship available to offer. And all sponsorships are not created equal. A sponsorship of the Dallas Cowboys is going to be worth more than a sponsorship of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The other problem here is the lack of transparency. This is a sport that is highly dependent on teams managing their player payroll budget, and no one knows how much money, if any, Lockett is paying for this benefit. If they're going to allow such relationships, the amount needs to be made public. Otherwise, it has the appearance of getting paid under the table.
There's also a conflict-of-interest problem. The team isn't going to give away this benefit to a back-up offensive guard. They are only going to cut such a deal with one of their stars, preferential treatment, a perk given to one player but not to others, like having your own office in the training facility like you-know-who. It has the potential to cause a rub with other members of the team.
IMO the league needs to regulate these partnerships. It's compensation that has a specific financial value that is not being counted towards the salary cap. They need to either assign a fair market value to this sponsorship and add it to Lockett's contracted salary for purposes of calculating the cap or ban it all together.