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| I wonder if the owners are laughing at the players the way you are laughing at James Woods right now. 6 |
This appeared to be all but inevitable after Super Bowl XLV, when there was almost no progress made on the owners and players coming to an agreement. This appeared likely before the start of the 2010 season, when there were no substantive efforts made to extend the current collective bargaining agreement between the players and owners. This was always a possibility in 2006, when the players and owners reached the existing agreement in the 11th hour and the owners were able to, and subsequently did (in 2008), opt out of the final two years of the agreement, which would have been 2011 and 2012.*
So much for preparation….. The question now is if this labor clash, and subsequent money to be potentially lost by both sides, has been on the radar for three years and an agreement has not been reached, what is the possibility of a deal getting done soon enough to not interrupt the normal operations of an NFL season?
The clock is ticking. Free agents are not being signed. Trades are not being made. Draft day strategies and needs are now murky because there is no set of guidelines in place to determine who plays where, for how much money, and by what means.
There are two sides to every story. The owners claim that they are not earning enough profit under the (previously) existing agreement. The players are satisfied with the existing agreement and do not want to change the existing agreement. Generalizing the players’ position, they do not believe the owners are in any financial distress that would warrant a rollback of player earnings and benefits or an extension of the regular season from 16 to 18 games.
Greed is one of man’s worst enemies. The NFL is a business that does well in bad economic times. It is a goose that lays a golden egg for all involved. Players earn six figure salaries. Owners have franchises with values near or in excess of a billion dollars. Television networks beg the league to take their money for the rights to broadcast games and advertisers, in turn, beg TV networks to take their money. Sports bars are jam packed every weekend with fans, who will watch games and/or many of whom will stretch their budgets as much as possible, if necessary, to buy tickets.
So…what is the holdup? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Right?
Revenue Sharing
Currently, the NFL brings in $9 billion annually in revenue. The players receive close to a 60/40 split after the owners take $1 billion off of the top for expenses. The owners want another billion. They have cited expenses such as growing stadium maintenance, among other increasing costs. **
Maybe the owners have a point. Maybe they do not. A billion dollars is a lot of money and the players would be conceding, roughly, a net of $600 million by conceding to this demand. I do not believe the players should cough up that much money without seeing the owners’ books. Intuitively, with tickets sales, merchandise sales, and TV ratings exploding, I find it very hard to believe that the average owner is not profiting enough under the current agreement.
On the other hand, if owners truly are squeezed by higher expenses, the players need to cough up some dough for the good of everyone involved, including themselves. Owners are not going to operate without the ability to make a reasonable profit. And if the owners are not making money, the players will make less money.
Judge Hat Trick rules in favor of: Players
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| If money were junk, most owners would look like hoarders. 2 |
18 game schedule
In an earlier article in The Daily Hat Trick, I cited a number of reasons why an expansion of the regular season schedule from 16 to 18 games, while removing two preseason games, was a bad idea. I also concluded that it was inevitable.
In spite of a move that I believe will shorten player careers, water down the significance of regular season games, reduce the collective talent on the field at any given time, and increase the number of meaningless games late in the regular season (all the while every measure of fan opinions indicate that majority of fans, the customers, do not want an 18 game schedule), the owners stand to earn more money from additional television revenues and increased attendance. I think the owners will their way to forcing this move upon us all. That doesn’t make it a good idea.
Judge Hat Trick rules in favor of: Players
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| Please sir! May I have two MORE games! 3 |
Health Care for Retired Players
Players sacrifice the long term good of their bodies to play a game that entertains us and makes owners profitable. I personally believe that the NFL has a moral obligation to take care of players’ medical needs, and the players are signing up for a lesser quality of health after football. The owners already want more revenue and more games. Find a way to GET THIS DONE. There is no league and there is no legacy without the players, who will all retire sooner than later.
Judge Hat Trick rules in favor of: Players
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| "I really was gonna retire this time, but I need the heath insurace." 4 |
Rookie Salary Cap
Without a rookie salary cap, owners have felt increasing pressure to pay bigger and bigger guaranteed eight figure salaries to high draft picks. This reduces the ability of the owners to sign veteran free agent players and (obviously) reduces the ability of veteran players to earn more. Players and owners have some mutual interests in this matter.
Owners would like to push rookie salaries as low as possible. Players need to conduct a careful balancing act in negotiations, not wanting rookies to earn too much without having proven their worth but not wanting to push starting salaries so low that the market value for veteran free agents is lowered. Both sides have valid concerns and because there is a mutual interest in implementing a rookie salary cap, I think that this wrinkle may be the easiest for the two sides to iron out.
Judge Hat Trick rules in favor of: Push
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| Veteran players are getting tired of seeing THIS. 5 |
The owners have a lot. They are rich and getting richer. There is nothing wrong with that. Frankly, I do not care how much owners make as long as I, a fan, viewer, and ticket holder, am a happy customer. With the 2011 season being in jeopardy, I am not a happy customer and will be even unhappier if this labor situation begins to impact the quality of the product I will consume.
It is only a matter of weeks before organized team activities would otherwise begin. Delayed or cancelled OTAs, a means of players preparing for the season, would mark the beginning of the diminishing of the quality of the product fans get to view next season. A spillover into training camp will amplify that impact. A loss of preseason or regular season games will materially compromise the quality of the NFL product in 2011. So for those who say, “What the owners earn is none of your business.” Actually, it is.
I think, absent additional information about teams’ profits and losses, that the owners have a gravy train and want even more gravy, the players’ gravy. So the owners locked the players out? Well, you sure taught them a lesson. Why don’t you owners stand over the players, while they are down, and gloat. Dance a jig! Have a party! Just do not expect anyone else to continue to pay for your fun.
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| Well done, owners! I hope you feel good now. I don't. |
To advertise with The Daily Hat Trick or to submit a guest column, please contact the editor at eric@thedailyhattrick.info.
*Source: nfl.com
**Source: sports.yahoo.com
1) Altered original image from the movie "Friday"
2) Image from trcs.wikispaces.com
3) Image from gettyimages.com
4) Image from b1rdmanonthemoon.wordpress.com
5) Image from imagesfrom.co.cc
6) Image from roflrazzi.com
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