Odell Beckham Jr. was probably not thinking of stock returns when he slammed into Josh Norman during the Giants' loss to the Panthers last Sunday. But the one-game suspension doled out to the star wide receiver may help investors in a midsize Midwestern bank in the process.
As CNBC reported, a football team's on-field performance can have a direct effect on the market performance of its home stadium's corporate sponsor. A fresh analysis shows Beckham's suspension could boost the return of TCF Financial stock by as much as 7 cents a share, or roughly $12 million.
The point spread moved in favor of Minnesota from +4 after the Sunday games to +6.5 Tuesday morning, following the suspension. That translates to a 7 percentage point increase in the Vikings odds. So the suspension itself is worth just north of $800,000 to the sponsor (or 7 percent of $12 million).
That's based on a Big Crunch analysis using a paper from researchers at the University of Connecticut. Two professors looked at the effects on stock prices of stadium sponsors under a number of scenarios.
On Monday, the NFL threw the book at Beckham for the flagrant hit, suspending him for the Giants' next game, a matchup against the Vikings in Minneapolis next Sunday. The Giants' hopes of making the playoffs dropped from 32 percent before their loss to the Panthers to a paltry 8 percent now.
The NFL upheld Beckham's one-game suspension Wednesday.
