NFL executive Brian Rolapp has an old photo on the wall of his office, hanging right in his line of sight. It shows a group of prep-school football fans so captivated by a game that they ignore a building engulfed in flames behind them.
“Without exaggeration, it sits in a place where I look at it every day,” said Rolapp, the chief media and business officer for the National Football League.
For years, pro football has inspired that kind of passion in millions of fans. The NFL generated about $15 billion this past season, making it the king of U.