I have been a die-hard Packers and Brett Favre fan since 1995. I have seen them win the Super Bowl and lose it. I have seen two interceptions cost playoff games. And I have seen Favre break every quarterback record on the books. Lots of good times and lots of heartbreak, but I was a Packer through and through. One Halloween, when I lived in the dorms at the University of Oregon, I actually dressed up as Brett Favre (last minute idea). I can list verbatim, how many touchdown passes he threw in each of his 18 seasons in the NFL. It’s actually pretty pathetic. Regardless, last year, things got tough for me when Brett Favre retired, decided to come back, was met with a cold-shoulder by Ted Thompson and the Packer’s front office and then eventually signed with the Jets. I opined the following in my never-read and since discontinued blog:

“When it was announced this year that a then retired Brett Favre would be on the cover of Madden 09, speculation ran wild (well not really) that Favre may actually avoid the Madden curse. Others predicted that perhaps Aaron Rodgers would lead the Packers to a 19-0 Super Bowl win or maybe the tractor the media tells me Brett spends his entire off-season on would break down, but few could have predicted this mess. The Madden curse has struck again in its most creative guise yet!”

The Madden Curse also struck Favre with a late season collapse. After 11 games, the Jets were 8-3 and Favre had 20 touchdowns as compared to 13 interceptions. They finished 1-4 with Favre throwing 2 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. Then he retired again. This time it was for good, unlike the previous time in 2007 when he retired from the Packers, or the previous five seasons when he mulled retirement after the final game each year.

Fortunately or unfortunately, he decided to come back again and stick it to Ted Turner and the Packers by playing for their arch-nemesis; the Vikings (was the entire Packers organization the cover of Madden 2010?). However, at the last minute he decided not to go through with it. Vikings coach Brad Childress then said the issue was over. Unfortunately, the Vikings quarterbacks still sucked and after the first preseason game, Brad Childress convinced Brett to come out of retirement and join the Vikings, which is where we are now.

Needless to say, Brett Favre has a difficult time making up his mind, loves attention and does not give a crap what anyone else thinks about him (he also likes gunslinging, having fun, mowing lawns and wearing blue jeans while playing pickup football). But how does this relate to economics? Well, it doesn’t much. But I’m going to try to make an inane connection in order to cash in on frequently searched Google terms.

Stretching things to an absurd extreme does allow me to make a few economic observations. Namely, who wins and who loses from all this Brett Favre mania. Who wins, financially speaking, is obvious; Brett Favre, the NFL and the media.

Brett Favre may have ruined his reputation, but whenever your name is in the news every other day, endorsement deals follow suit (plus his rather large contract). The NFL also gets its share of the hype. The more attention paid to Brett, the more attention paid to the NFL. The more attention paid to the NFL, the more the NFL gets paid.

The media, specifically ESPN, has been able to run nonstop coverage on Favre. Will he come back or won’t he? This pointless speculation pumps up ESPN’s ratings like anabolic steroids pump up Deuce McAllister (allegedly). They’ve actually been able to get people (me included) to watch Sportscenter with brilliant insights such as “Brett Favre likes to play football” and “he can throw the ball really hard.” I’ve even heard John Clayton claim that “Brett is like a kid out there,” he just “loves to play the game.” Wow, sometimes, business is easy.

The Vikings will also be a major winner; at least they’ll bring in a lot of cash. Favre didn’t help the Jets a lot on the field last year, but he sure sold a bunch of jerseys and made sure every home game was a sellout. There’s only one problem for the Vikings: they won’t see much, if any, of that money.

You see, the NFL is socialist. That’s right, the men of the gridiron are a bunch of pinko commies. Unlike Major League Baseball, every team must share its revenue into one big pot, which is then distributed out to the various soviet franchises by the wise, technocratic commissars at the central NFL front office.

In this sense, the economics are clear: the NFL takes any profits the Vikings may have gained from this transaction and spreads the wealth, so everyone ‘wins’ in a way that would infuriate Joe the plumber. The NFL still gets its share (like all socialist governments); the media, being capitalist, gets its share, too; and Brett Favre will almost certainly still be able to trade in his jersey for a pair of Wranglers after the season is over.

On a side note, who the hell am I supposed to root for this year?