Episode summary
NFL Teams Are 10 Times Scarcer Than America's Landfills
Summary
The host argues that the Seattle Seahawks’ $9.6 billion sale is a clean example of how rare assets can command extraordinary value. He uses that deal to frame three durable competitive moats: network effects, switching costs, and unique assets, with the discussion centered on why scarcity matters most when the asset is both limited and hard to replicate.
He contrasts landfills and NFL teams to make the point. Republic Services’ landfill base is scarce, with about 1,200 U.S. landfills, but the host says NFL franchises are even scarcer: only 32 teams, and 124 major professional teams across all U.S. sports. That scarcity, combined with the shift from legacy TV to streaming, gives live sports unusual pricing power because advertisers still pay to reach viewers who do not skip the action.
He then compares long-term returns from team ownership with the broader stock market. The Seahawks’ value grew from $194 million to $9.6 billion, which he says works out to a 14% compounded annual growth rate, above the S&P 500’s 9.9% over the same period. But he also says the Lakers example shows that owning a franchise is not always better financially than buying the index, since the same $67.5 million invested in the S&P 500 would have become $12.5 billion.
Key takeaways
- The host says unique assets are a critical moat because scarcity can make an asset far more valuable than its raw economics suggest.
- He argues NFL teams are scarcer than landfills, with 32 NFL teams versus about 1,200 U.S. landfills.
- The host says live sports remain attractive because advertisers can still reach audiences that skip ads in streaming and legacy TV.
- He says the Seahawks’ sale implies about a 14% compounded annual return, beating the S&P 500’s 9.9% over the same period.
- The host notes the Lakers case cuts both ways: a stock-market investment from 1979 would have outperformed the franchise purchase financially.
- He frames Republic Services’ landfill portfolio as a real-world example of a unique asset moat.
Notable quotes
“There are three types of really strong durable competitive advantages or durable moats”
“One are network effects. You think like Visa, MasterCard, or Facebook”
“there are only 1,200 or so landfills in the United States. So, it's a very scarce and unique asset relative to the size of the US”
“NFL teams are heck of a lot more scarce, okay? NFL, there are only 32 teams”
“The value of sports teams has increased a lot as regular, conventional, legacy media has really been demolished over the past 10, 15 years”
How the episode opens
Good morning. This Dolan Jovano behind the markets. Happy Thursday.
God, the days start to blur. Today is Thursday, September 10th. The NFL season started last night.
And while I am not a particularly big sports fan, I mean, I watch it when it gets to playoffs, of course. But, you know, it really speaks to what we've been talking about lately, which are different unique assets and the different types of competitive moats that a business can have. And this really follows on the sale of the Seattle Seahawks, which closed last week for 9.6 billion dollars.
It closed on the 3rd. And you know, really, I thought it was an excellent opportunity to keep talking about this competitive strategy we're talking about. Remember something.
There are three types of really strong durable competitive advantages or durable moats. Moats we call them, okay? There are three.
We discussed this. One are network effects. You think like Visa, MasterCard, or Facebook.
The more people who get on the network and use it, the more valuable the entire thing becomes. We talked about switching costs as a moat, a durable competitive advantage. If everybody at your company uses Microsoft Office, it is a pain in the butt to switch to something else.
You have to retrain everybody. It's a very sticky situation. Hard to get out of.
Very sticky products, okay? That's another durable competitive advantage or moat. And of course, we talked about unique assets and scale.
But, we're going to talk about unique assets. Unique assets is another kind of moat that we talked about. And you know, we talked about Bill Gates' decision to buy his largest non-tech position is in Republic Services, which handles waste management.
Basically, it's a concept. Waste management is a waste disposal company.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- scarce assets
- unique assets
- live sports advertising
- network effects
- switching costs
Companies and tickers mentioned
- V
- MA
- META
- MS
- RSG
- NFLX
- DIS
- Visa
- MasterCard
- Microsoft
- Republic Services
- Netflix
- Disney
- Warner Bros. Discovery
Watch the episode
Watch “NFL Teams Are 10 Times Scarcer Than America's Landfills” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
More from Behind The Markets Podcast
-
Nvidia CEO Out: 4 Reasons I’m Not Panicking About Nvidia -
The Mag 7 Sell-Off: My 3 Secrets to Picking Stocks -
Morgan Stanley’s AI Winners List Is Full of Bank Stocks -
Anthropic IPO: Why I’m Not Rushing to Buy at $1 Trillion -
Chip Stocks Sell-Off: Why the AI Build-Out Just Went From 3 to 5 Years -
Midterm Election Results: The Stock Market’s Winners and Losers
Behind The Markets Podcast, this episode and its artwork belong to their owners. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
