Dundalk Restaurants and Bars on Edge with NFL Lockout

Football season remains months away, but Debbie Maxwell, part-owner of Pop’s Tavern on North Point Boulevard, is concerned. Not about the Ravens handling archrival Pittsburgh in the scheduled season opener, but whether there will be a season at all given the current NFL lockout.

“This will hurt us big time," Maxwell said. “I rely on the football season in the winter time for business. I’m a big Ravens fan. I have a free buffet and happy hour on the weekends the Ravens play. We have about 30-50 regular people who come here to watch the game.”

In fact, Maxwell invested in four new televisions at the end of last season, a purchase she’d hoped to pay off this season.

“I just bought four new TVs—a 73-inch, 53-inch and two 42-inch screens—for the Super Bowl with the intentions of using them for the next season,” she continued. “I invested a lot of money and if we don’t have football, I’m in big trouble.”

Tom Phelps, one of the owners of Howard’s Pub located on Holabird Avenue, expressed similarly strong concerns.

“It will kill the bar,” Phelps said. “We have a package store that will survive, but our carry-out is predicated on our business during football season. People from the Ravens’ Roost come here during and after home games.”

If there is no NFL season, Dundalk-area business owners are not the only ones with much to lose. The state will also see a massive loss of dollars. The most recent study by the Maryland Stadium Authority in 2007 found Ravens games had the following economic impact:

- Generated in excess of $216 million in gross state product in 2006.

- Supported a total of 3,088 jobs in 2006 and roughly $100 million in Maryland personal income.

- Generated nearly $10 million in state taxes, including $3.5 million in admission tax.

- Generated more that $3 million in local taxes, including $870,233 in admission tax.

“The Ravens have opened up a myriad of avenues to help generate economic activity in Maryland,” said Anirban Basu, chairman/CEO of the Sage Policy Group and author of the study. “Not only is each Ravens home game a blockbuster event, but M&T Bank Stadium is now being increasingly utilized to host concerts, major collegiate football games, NCAA lacrosse tournaments and other events, each of which generates significant economic impact and marketing for Baltimore and Maryland.”

Sylvia Adams, manager of the Poplar Inn located on Wise Avenue, said the restaurant benefits several ways from the football season.

“NFL on Sundays and Mondays does increase the business,” Adams said. “On a bye week we notice a difference in sales. So if they don’t play this season, food and liquor sales will suffer. Not only that, but people who have home parties buy wings from restaurants and stores and I feel this will have an effect on everyone.”

Clyde Garrison, owner of Robbie’s on Sparrows Point Road in Edgemere, said people like to come out and socialize during the season, and they’re not going to do that if the Ravens are not on television.

“About 25 percent of my business during the NFL season is based on those people,” Garrison said.

At the center of the labor strife is $1 billion of guaranteed annual revenue for the owners. The remaining $8 billion was split, with the players getting around 60 percent and the owners 40 percent.

The owners want another $1 billion of guaranteed money to offset increasing costs, but the players wanted to keep the current deal. The players also claim the owners don’t provide financial statements to verify the increase in operating costs.

There was also talk of extending the regular season from 16 to 18 games, but the players said that proposal was dead on arrival.

Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti said during his annual meeting with local media members that even though it appears many NFL owners are making substantial profits, that is simply not the case. In reality, several teams are barely operating in the black.

“I think we've got an acute problem here with the general profitability of the teams,” Bisciotti said. “We always knew this was not a big cash-flow business, but when you've got guys like Jacksonville tarping up 10,000 seats to stop blackouts, when you've got teams that are voluntarily staying at the minimum of what they have to spend on the salary cap in order to not go upside-down financially, then we already have a structural problem.”

Drew Brees, quarterback for the New Orleans Saints and a plaintiff in an antitrust case against NFL, sees the situation much differently. He said the players are fighting for every player who was part of the NFL.

“I represent not only the 1,900 players that are in the league now but the guys that played before us that we’re basically standing on their shoulders now,” said Brees in a statement. “They’re the ones who created what we have now in this league. And also we represent the guys that are going to come after us. And so it’s ... I feel very strongly about our case. I feel very strongly about the facts and about the law.”

Those logistics are moot to the local area, which simply relies on the fans' dollars.

Baltimore radio host Ed Norris agrees. The 105.7 The Fan host explained his concerns during

If the NFL lockout of players continues through the fall and affects scheduled football games, it could cause "tremendous economic downturn" in NFL franchise towns such as Baltimore, Norris said.

However, at least one local business owner remains hopeful. 

Bernadette Ruzicka, who runs the on Eastern Avenue with her husband Melvin, said the store also sells Orioles memorabilia and flags. She, however, relies on a power much higher than the Ravens to weather any economic storms.

“We have other things going on here and we’ll still get fans,” Ruzicka said. “I don’t think they’ll be locked out. But we don’t rely on the Ravens. We rely on God above to bring us through. It’s going to affect all of us, restaurants and small vendors, if they’re locked out. But you bring it to the Lord and He’ll bring you through.”