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Cleveland Browns fans have not had much to cheer about in quite some time. It’s been over a decade since the team last made the playoffs back in 2003, the longest playoff drought in team history and 2nd longest active drought in the NFL. Over that span, the Browns have used 18 different quarterbacks — most in the NFL — en route to a league-worst .321 winning percentage. As a result of these struggles, the Browns have consistently ranked in the bottom third of NFL attendance over the past four seasons while their once-proud fan base has grown increasingly disenfranchised. However, the team may very well have addressed all of their concerns in one fell swoop. If the immediate fallout is any indication, the selection of Johnny Manziel at #22 overall in Thursday’s NFL Draft may just be the shot of adrenaline that Cleveland needed.

According to TiqIQ, Cleveland Browns tickets now carry an average price of $146.31 on the secondary market. While they are still among the least expensive tickets in the league, this figure reflects an increase of 5% since the draft — rendering the Browns among the largest movers in the league. Despite one Pro Bowl appearance from Derek Anderson during the quarterback carousel, it’s been pretty clear that the Browns have not had a true franchise quarterback since they were committed to Tim Couch in his formative years. With Johnny Football now in town, this is no longer the case. Fans in Cleveland are so excited to see their new quarterback of the future that even preseason tickets are up an average of $3 on the secondary market.

Over the past four seasons, the Browns have ranked 19th, 24th, 26th, and 25th in attendance percentage. The four year average has not been pretty, checking in at just 92.15% in a league where roughly a third of teams sell out every last ticket in any given season. While single game tickets have not yet been publicly released for this season, Browns Team President Alec Scheiner has already stated that the team has decided to keep ticket prices flat despite the increased demand in an effort to start selling out FirstEnergy Stadium again. Season ticket packages, which are currently publicly available (and selling at a much higher rate since the draft) have also remained flat. Apparently, everything is going according to plan. “We know right now that every one of our games is going to be sold out for next season,” Scheiner went on to say.

While Scheiner and Browns owner Jimmy Haslam have stated that the selection of Manziel was “strictly a football decision,” the incremental revenue via the Johnny Football effect is certainly a welcomed benefit. FirstEnergy Stadium has a stated capacity of 71,516, which means that the Browns will, on average, sell about 5,600 more tickets per game this season based on the four year average attendance figures. Using the team’s median ticket price of roughly $55 dollars as a baseline for extrapolation, the additional ticket sales should result in incremental revenue of roughly $2.5mm from just the regular season. Undoubtedly, the team will sell additional preseason tickets as well. Of course, it is important to note that under the NFL’s revenue sharing plan, teams keep 60% of the revenue from gate receipts with the rest going into a communal pot.

Given Manziel’s slide to #22, his selection is a virtual guarantee to pay for itself. Manziel will be due roughly $8.25mm over the four years of his rookie contract, about $12mm less than Blake Bortles who went #3 to Jacksonville. While Manziel should recoup his contract value solely from his effect on ticket sales, Darren Rovell has suggested that Manziel will be a top 5 seller in the NFL this season as well. Of course, revenue from jersey sales also goes into a pot split amongst the NFL’s 32 teams. But after years of being dependent on revenue sharing to keep the lights on at EnergyFirst Stadium while the team underneath toils in mediocrity, the league and team alike must be quite excited for the Browns to begin contributing again thanks to the addition of Johnny Football.

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