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Friends,

The 2022-23 National Football League (NFL) season officially ended last month when the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII.

And it was objectively a great season for the world’s most profitable sports league.

For example, the average regular season game had nearly 70,000 fans in attendance, and another 16.7 million viewers watched on TV. The average NFL franchise is also now worth more than $4 billion — an 18% increase from 2021 — and it’s estimated that the league crossed $20 billion in annual revenue for the first time in history.

Average Franchise Valuation By League (YoY Increase)

• NFL: $4.4 billion (+18%)

• NBA: $3 billion (+16%)

• MLB: $2.07 billion (+9%)

• NHL: $1.01 billion (+9%)

• MLS: $582 million (+5.8%)

But as we know, the NFL doesn’t really have an offseason, do they?

The 2023 NFL combine is already in full swing this week. More than 300 prospects have been invited to this year’s event in Indianapolis, and thousands of others will be in attendance, including coaches, GMs, scouts, reporters, and 100+ agents.

And while many fans might consider this an irrelevant event, the opposite is true. So today’s newsletter will break down everything you need to know about the NFL Combine — from the event’s history to the multi-million-dollar business behind it.

The History Of The NFL Combine

The NFL Scouting Combine has become a regularly anticipated event on the NFL’s yearly calendar. But it wasn’t always an official league event, and not every team used to do physicals and interviews with players before the draft.

In fact, NFL teams didn’t even conduct pre-draft physical exams on draft-eligible players until the 1970s, more than 50 years after the NFL’s first season in 1920.

But then the New York Jets changed everything. For example, in 1976, the Jets became one of the first teams to invite players to their team facilities for pre-draft medical exams and interviews — and the extra look at players worked.

From 1977 to 1983, almost half of the players drafted by the New York Jets became team starters. The team credited this to their pre-draft evaluation process, and within just a few years, every NFL team was flying players out for pre-draft visits.

But there was just one problem. Not only was this extremely expensive for NFL teams, but college players who had to finish school were missing classes and being put through the same exact medical exam multiple times.

So Dallas Cowboys GM and President Tex Schramm called on the NFL’s Competition Committee to centralize pre-draft evaluations, and the NFL combine was born.

But it wasn’t called the NFL combine at first. For example, in 1982, Indianapolis-based National Football Scouting Inc. (NFS) held the first “National Invitational Camp” in Tampa, Florida. More than 160 top college draft-eligible players were in attendance, and 16 NFL teams sent representatives to conduct medical evaluations.

This success led to the creation of two other camps (BLESTO and Quadra Scouting) that were used by NFL teams that didn’t work with the NFS National Invitational Camp. But three years later, the three scouting camps merged to save on costs and streamline logistics, and the NFL chose NFS to run the centralized camp.

The first two (official) NFL combines were held in Phoenix (1985) and New Orleans (1986), and the event moved to Indianapolis in 1987. That’s where it has been held for the past 36 years — and over time, the event’s focus grew from player medical evaluations to physical tests, psychological tests, and formal and informal interviews.

Now, Indianapolis might seem like a somewhat random city for the NFL to host its annual scouting combine, but the real reason is quite simple.

NFS (the company that runs the combine) moved its headquarters to Indianapolis in the early 2000s. The city is frequently lauded for its centralized location and walkable downtown, and the local NFL stadium was designed with Combine-specific amenities.

For example, when Lucas Oil Stadium was built in 2008, they intentionally constructed extra meeting space that could be transformed into “quasi-hospital rooms and fiber-optic data lines connecting the stadium directly to IU Health for real-time medical evaluation on some 600 MRIs and 1,200 x-rays.”

So while the NFL has received and reviewed bids from Dallas and Los Angeles to host the annual combine, the event will remain in Indianapolis through at least 2024.

Although, don’t be surprised if the event eventually moves to a different city.

How The NFL Combine Works Today

The NFL Scouting Combine is a 4-day, invitation-only event at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis where NFL scouts evaluate the medical, mental, and physical attributes of the top college football players in the NFL Draft.

More than 300 draft-eligible college football players attend the event each year, and with all 32 NFL teams in attendance, it’s referred to as “the ultimate four-day job interview.”

And here’s how the player selection process works:

• The committee receives input on players from all 32 NFL teams.

• Committee members then review and vote on all players, and each player must receive an undisclosed amount of votes to be invited. 

• The committee’s goal is to invite every player that will eventually be drafted into the NFL that year.

• Players can’t participate in the combine if they’ve been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor involving violence or use of a weapon, domestic violence, sexual offense, and/or sexual assault.

• The NFL can also deny players from the combine if they’ve been dismissed from their school or the NCAA.

But the actual testing process is much more intense. For example, players are broken into four groups — defensive linemen and linebackers, defensive backs and special teams, quarterbacks, wide receivers, and tight ends, and offensive linemen and running backs — and they are tested on virtually everything you could imagine.

NFL Combine Annual Events

• Medical examinations 

• Team interviews

• Physical measurements (e.g., height, weight, arm length, hand size)

• Position-specific drills

• 40-yard dash

• 20-yard shuttle

• 60-yard shuttle

• 3-cone drill

• Vertical jump

• Broad jump

• Bench press

The NFL also used to conduct the Wonderlic Test — a 50-question aptitude test designed to measure a player’s cognitive ability, learning skills, and problem-solving skills.

But they officially removed the Wonderlic Test in 2022. And while no official statement was made about why it was removed, many have speculated that the league found no correlation between Wonderlic scores and player success.

Notable NFL QB Wonderlic Test Scores

• 48 — Ryan Fitzpatrick, Greg McElroy

• 38 — Colin Kaepernick, Matthew Stafford

• 37 — Tony Romo, Andrew Luck

• 35 — Aaron Rodgers, Matt Leinart, Sam Bradford

• 33 — Tom Brady, Steve Young, Marcus Mariota

• 28 — Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Russell Wilson

• 27 — Jameis Winston, Joe Flacco, Josh Freeman

• 26 — Jay Cutler, Carson Palmer, Ryan Mallet

• 20 — Michael Vick, Jake Locher, Teddy Bridgewater

• 15 — Dan Marino, Donovan McNabb, Jim Kelly, Terry Bradshaw

Super Bowl QB Wonderlic Scores (1980-2018)

But removing the Wonderlic Test is not the only recent change at the NFL Combine.

The NFL has also introduced stricter protocols for player interviews. For example, if NFL team personnel exhibit “disrespectful, inappropriate, or unprofessional” during combine interviews, teams can be subject to losing a draft pick and/or a $150,000 fine.

The NFL Combine’s Financial Impact

Last year, the 2022 NFL Combine had an economic impact of $9.6 million on the city of Indianapolis. That’s significantly less than the Super Bowl ($600M+) and even the NFL draft ($50-$100M+), but it’s not bad for a glorified workout conference.

The NFL has also gotten more creative throughout the years. For example, last December, NFL owners voted to invest in apparel and footwear company NOBULL through the league’s venture fund, 32 Equity.

NFL Venture Fund Overview (32 Equity)

• The NFL launched 32 Equity in 2013.

• Every NFL owner initially contributed $1 million to the fund in 2013 but contributed another $2 million in 2019 and another $5 million last year.

• The fund has raised more than $250 million in total from NFL owners.

• 32 Equity has invested in several businesses, including Fanatics (bought a 3% stake for $95 million in 2017, which is up 10x), Hyperice, and Genius Sports.

• The fund has generated average annual returns in excess of 30% and is now worth over $100M per team, but all profits have been reinvested rather than distributed.

The NFL has a unique advantage through its ability to make these investments more of a partnership. So, for example, they invested in Fanatics, which is their exclusive merchandise and trading card partner, and they also invested in Hyperice, which is their official recovery technology partner.

This creates a win-win scenario for both parties, and it’s precisely what they did with NOBULL, who is now the presenting sponsor of the NFL Combine — meaning all combine participants must wear NOBULL apparel and headwear during the event.

The Future Of The NFL Combine

The NFL Combine has become a big business over the last several years — for everyone from the NFL and Indianapolis to the players and brands in attendance.

But not everyone is happy with how the event has progressed. For example, at this year’s NFLPA press conference during Super Bowl week, NFLPA president DeMaurice Smith called for an end to the NFL Combine.

His thought process revolves around a few main issues:

1. The event is a distraction during the last school semester.

2. Players have to waive their medical rights and answer embarrassing questions.

3. Players are scouted from such a young age now that the physical evaluation isn’t as important, and the medical evaluation is only done to decrease draft value.

“As soon as you show up, you have to waive all of your medical rights and you not only have to sit there and endure embarrassing questions,” Smith said during the NFLPA’s annual Super Bowl news conference. “And I think that’s horrible, and I don’t wanna pooh-pooh any of that, but would you want your son to spend hours inside of an MRI [machine] and then be evaluated by 32 separate team doctors who are, by the way, are only doing it for one reason? What’s the reason? To decrease your draft value.”

Still, while NFLPA President DeMaurice Smith has undoubtedly raised some fair concerns, it feels like the NFL Combine is quickly becoming too big of a business for the NFL just to get rid of it. But on that front, only time will tell.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. We’ll talk on Monday.

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Extra Credit: Four Days with FC Barcelona

I spent the last few days with FC Barcelona — speaking at a conference, touring Camp Nou, and interviewing President Joan Laporta. It was an awesome trip, and I was able to record some great content (more on that soon).

But most importantly, the trip served as a nice reminder of just how far I’ve come over the last several years — from working at a bank to visiting Barca!

So thank all of you, as always, for reading, subscribing, watching, listening, and sharing my work. I appreciate it more than you know.

Huddle Up is a 3x weekly newsletter that breaks down the business and money behind sports. If you are not already a subscriber, sign up and join 92,000+ others who receive it directly in their inbox each week.