Whose fault is this - players or owners?

[hawaiiansteel]

NFL players bracing for a lockout in 2011

By Scott Brown, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, February 4, 2010


FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The NFL is headed for its first work stoppage in almost 25 years, players' union boss DeMaurice Smith said today.

The collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the players and owners expires after the 2010 season, and Smith said owners are preparing for a lockout by negotiating TV contracts that pay them in 2011 even if there are no games because of a labor standoff.

When asked at the National Football League Players Association's annual news conference today about the chances if a lockout occurring after next season, Smith said, "On a scale of 1 to 10, it's a 14. It's that serious."

The two sides don't appear to be any closer to a new CBA than they were at this time last year.

The owners, citing rising operating costs and a slumping economy, want the players to accept a lower percentage of the total revenue generated by the league. Smith said the players, who get roughly 60 percent of gross revenue, are unwilling to take what he said is an 18 percent cut.

Smith said all NFL franchises made at least $25 million last year.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will address the labor situation tomorrow when he delivers his annual state of the league address.

NFLPA president Kewin Mawae said the players are preparing for the worst and have been advised to save a quarter of their salary next season in preparation for a lockout.

The owners and players have enjoyed labor peace since a players' strike in 1987.

"I truly believe in my heart that we'll get a deal done," Mawae said, "but there's going to have to be some give and take."

[hawaiiansteel]

De Smith: "Virtually impossible" to go back to capped system

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on February 4, 2010 5:01 PM ET


The NFL is expected to play 2010 without a salary cap in place. NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said that once that genie is out of the bottle, it will be "virtually impossible" to go back to a capped environment.

It's the first time Smith has used words that strong about the salary cap. Whether it's rhetoric or not, the battle lines here are being drawn. According to Smith, the salary cap system as we know it may be done for good one month from now.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Right now, it is the owners' fault. They are the ones who opted out of the deal. They are squabbling with each other over the extend of revenue sharing that should take place between clubs (cash cows like Jerry Jones and Dan Snyder on one end, and owners crying poverty on the other end like Ralph Wilson and Mike Brown). The players union suggested that the current deal be extended for 6 more years, and there would be total labor peace...no uncapped "Final League Year," no potential lockout, etc. but the owners are claiming that the players take up too high of a percentage of revenues and want player salaries to be scaled back by 18%.

[hawaiiansteel]

Union targets public opinion by claiming the NFL is "non-profit"

Posted by Mike Florio on February 4, 2010 6:08 PM ET

The NFL Players Association hopes to conjure public support in connection with the ongoing labor battle against the league. And so the NFLPA will be posturing from time to time in the hopes of selling sound bites, even if the sound bite has no relevance to any of the real issues -- or if the sound bite is flat-out misleading.

Case in point: Union chief De Smith recently has been peddling the notion that the NFL is a non-profit entity. He made a big deal about it during Thursday's press conference, as he roamed the stage like a trial lawyer in the well of a courtroom.

In a conference call with reporters conducted after the union event, NFL general counsel Jeff Pash explained that the non-profit concept is a "non-issue." Pash explained that the league office merely passes profits through to the teams, and that the teams then pay taxes on the profits.

So the league office generates no profit, but the teams generate plenty. And the teams pay taxes on those profits.

But, like many trial lawyers, Smith is seizing upon a complex concept and offering a grossly simplified explanation of it in a manner that suits the interests of his client.

If nothing else, it makes me feel even more better about my decision to get out of the law business. But it won't help the league and the union to work out a deal. And it will make it even harder for the union to command any respect from the 32 NFL owners.

[Mister Pittsburgh]

No salary cap = inferior product. Greed has pretty much ruined every other thing in this world.

[BURGH86STEEL]

No salary cap = inferior product. Greed has pretty much ruined every other thing in this world.

I agree.

[Slapstick]

Jackasses like Jones and Snyder want to slay the goose that lays the golden egg...

Just like in the fable, once they open the goose up after killing it, they aren't going to find any fricking eggs...

If the league isn't competitive from top to bottom, the NFL will lose prestige...it is the strength of the league that makes NFL franchises so valuable, not the ambition of the owners...

And Smith can say what he wants, but after a year long lockout, the players will stuff that stupid genie back into the bottle and agree to a salary cap...hockey players did...

[Chadman]

It very easy to blame the Jerry Jones' & Dan Snyder's for this, but to play Devils advocate, let Chadman just point out that-

It is the OWNERS that have to pony up the money for the players. They are the ones taking a financial risk on these guys, and on their team. It is in their best interests, and their company's (franchises) to make as much money as they can too. Yes, the players put their bodies on the line- but without these big money spending owners, these players don't get the money they are used to either. 40% of the NFL revenue goes to the owners- yet they outlay 100% of the financial risk for each franchise.

The players get 60% of the NFL revenue, but outlay.....umm......well......physical pain, or to be exact, the POSSIBILITY of physical pain for themselves. The players don't actually invest any of their own finances into the organisations.

So yes, it's easy to point fingers & claim Dan Snyder & Jerry Jones are spawn of Bealzebub. But from their point of view, they want to even up the financial return between owners & employees.

Get it to 50/50, and there can't be much complaint, can there?

[hawaiiansteel]

NFL players gear up for impending lockout

By Scott Brown, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW


FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Forceful and at times defiant, NFL union chief DeMaurice Smith said Thursday that the players are bracing for a lockout in 2011 and vowed they will not blink even if a stare down with owners stops play for the first time in almost 25 years.

The players and owners are still far apart on a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The two sides have been unable to reach common ground on how $8 billion generated by the league annually should be split.

They have almost a year to bridge the gap on revenue sharing, but Smith said the owners have been preparing for a lockout by negotiating TV deals that pay them even if there are no games in 2011 and hiring Bob Batterman, the attorney for the NHL when it locked out its players in 2004.

Asked yesterday about the gravity of the labor situation, Smith said: "On a scale of 1 to 10, it's a 14. It's that serious."

The potential standoff has been brewing for almost two years. In 2008, the owners opted out of the current CBA after the 2010 season because they want players to accept a smaller share of gross revenues.

Players get roughly 60 percent of such revenues, and Smith said owners want them to take an 18 percent pay cut. Commissioner Roger Goodell said the owners have asked for a more equitable split because of rising operating costs and a slumping economy.

Goodell will talk about the labor situation today when he delivers his annual state of the league address.

Smith, who is in his first year as the NFLPA's executive director, said the 60 percent share the players get is misleading.

He said $1 billion is taken off the top and given back to the owners to help them with stadium renovations and anything else that creates revenue streams.

The players aren't willing to budge when it comes to their revenue share, Smith said, because every NFL team made at least $25 million last year.

"What we cannot give in to is how a business that averages over $31 million (in profit) per team can look at their employees in the face and say 'Take an 18 percent pay cut,'" said NFLPA president Kevin Mawae, who plays for the Tennessee Titans.

There hasn't been a work stoppage in the NFL since 1987, when the players went on strike, forcing owners to use replacement players for part of the season.

"The reason we are no closer (to a deal) is because I haven't said yes to (an) 18 percent (cut)," Smith said. "For that, I apologize."

Even if the two sides agree on a new CBA before the end of the 2010 season, the NFL could still undergo significant changes.

The salary cap, which the players agreed to in 1994 to preserve parity in the league, is scrapped if no CBA is reached before March 1. The players have said they won't agree to the return of a cap once it is gone, a stance Smith reiterated yesterday.

Players have said that if the NFL goes to an uncapped system, it is only the prelude to a lockout.

Steelers union representative Charlie Batch warned players at an NFL rookie symposium last June about the likelihood of a lockout following the 2010 season.

Mawae said players will be advised to save 25 percent of their salary next season to prepare in the event of a lockout.

"I've been preparing for the worst," Dallas Cowboys nose tackle Jay Ratliff said. "But I'm still optimistic. Even if we don't start when we're supposed to, I believe we'll have some type of season in 2011."

Mawae voiced similar optimism, although he characterized negotiations as both "frustrating" and "moving at a snail's pace."

"I believe we'll get a deal done," Mawae said, "but there's going to have to be some give and some take and not just taking from one side."

WHAT LIES AHEAD?

If the NFL owners and players don't come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) before March 1, there will be significant changes next season. Among them:

» No salary cap.

» No minimum or maximum payrolls. In 2009, teams had to spend at least $111 million and no more than $128 million.

» Players cannot become unrestricted free agents until they have accrued at least six seasons. Players had been eligible for free agency after their fourth season.

» Teams get an extra tag to use on their own players that are unrestricted free agents. They could use a franchise and transition tag or two transition tags.

» Final eight rule: The teams that made it to the divisional playoffs in the AFC and NFC are only allowed to sign as many free agents as they lose.

[Oviedo]

It very easy to blame the Jerry Jones' & Dan Snyder's for this, but to play Devils advocate, let Chadman just point out that-

It is the OWNERS that have to pony up the money for the players. They are the ones taking a financial risk on these guys, and on their team. It is in their best interests, and their company's (franchises) to make as much money as they can too. Yes, the players put their bodies on the line- but without these big money spending owners, these players don't get the money they are used to either. 40% of the NFL revenue goes to the owners- yet they outlay 100% of the financial risk for each franchise.

The players get 60% of the NFL revenue, but outlay.....umm......well......physical pain, or to be exact, the POSSIBILITY of physical pain for themselves. The players don't actually invest any of their own finances into the organisations.

So yes, it's easy to point fingers & claim Dan Snyder & Jerry Jones are spawn of Bealzebub. But from their point of view, they want to even up the financial return between owners & employees.

Get it to 50/50, and there can't be much complaint, can there?

Chadman you sound like someone who really understands business and realizes that sports are a business and not a public works program.

The numbers I heard this morning is that the players are willing to go from their current 60% of the take to 57% while the owners want it to go to 42%. That is a huge gap but I sorta think that the owners have staked out a low ball bargaining position.

The owners are in a very strong position on this with them guaranteeing they get TV money even if no games are played in 2011. The reality is like most labor impasses the players will ultimately break like the NHL players did. It's not like a lot of these guys have other career options. The problem with the players is they want the majority of the revenue but they want none of the risk. Sure they accept a health risk but they don't have to pay off stadiums, pay taxes to local and municipal governments, etc.

I think the league could survive fine without a salary cap as long as they put mechanisms in place that prevent high revenue teams from doing what they do in MLB. This could take many forms like the loss of draft picks for teams that spend in free agency, a plussed up form of additional draft picks for teams that lose players in free agency, pro rated distribution of TV revenue, etc.

I do think it is all but certain that 2011 will be a lockout with no football which should be factored into decision like extending a player like Casey Hampton. If you extend him 3 years it really could be for 4 years and you have to consider what kind of player you would get back after him not playing football in 2011, i.e. big, fat and out of shape.