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UPDATE, 10:45 PM: The NFL and its owners have officially locked out the players, marking the league’s first work stoppage since the players went on strike in 1987. Both sides seem so far apart, it’s unclear when they might start talking again. Instead both sides appear headed for a courtroom confrontation. “We are locked out,” union president and former player Kevin Mawae said in a text message to the Associated Press. “We were informed today that players are no longer welcome at team facilities.” Meanwhile, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell posted a letter to NFL fans today after the labor talks ended. Even the spectre of the coming football season being threatened after last year’s huge ratings is enough to give panic attacks to the television moguls.
FRIDAY, 5:30 PM: Looks like NFL fans won’t have to pay up for those recession-unfriendly DirecTV packages next season. Dissolving the union this afternoon after 16 days of negotiations and two extensions to the collective bargaining agreement means individual players can file antitrust lawsuits against the league to prevent an expected lockout by owners. They did, too, with 10 signing on to a class-action suit including star quarterbacks Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Peyton Manning. Said the former union: “The NFLPA will move forward as a professional trade association with the mission of supporting the interests and rights of current and former professional football players.” The league, meanwhile, said the players left “a very good deal on the table.”
If the season is shut down, football risks losing the huge ratings momentum it has earned following blowout viewer and demo numbers this past season, including drawing 111 million viewers to the Super Bowl, the biggest audience for a TV show in U.S. history. The huge network money involved was the subject of a lawsuit last week that ended when a judge ruled the league illegally secured $4 billion from TV contracts — money that players argue was earmarked to fund a lockout that now seems imminent.
The current CBA expires tonight at 11:59 ET.
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Well… Ok.. you got TOm Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees… not bad! But, it means nothing until you get Matt Leinert!
Does this mean Tom Brady is actually avail for the cameo he has in the LOGJAMMERS script?
Bring in the replacement players! The Union caved in last time the NFL tried that. They weren’t that bad. I think the quality of scabs could be better now that they have arena leagues and Canadian football, so the pool of players can be better to choose from.
While you are right that the owners crushed the players back when they decertified back in ’87 a recent Supreme Court case (American Needle v. NFL) established that the NFL does not have broad based antitrust protection. Specifically, “Although NFL teams have common interests…, they are still separate, profit-maximizing entities, and their interests… are not necessarily aligned” meaning that if the owners fail to compete for player services that can found to be in collusion. Really, unless the owners are willing to experiment with a system with no rules regarding player contracts then this is headed for court where the players will have considerably more leverage then they did when they tried this last time.
I’d be surprised if they didn’t grant the NFL the same privileges they allow the other leagues. The NFL teams more than the other leagues seem to have more of an aligned interest since they rely so heavily on profit sharing and have a hard salary cap.
Except for Major League Baseball (which has actual immunity from anti-trust laws) the leagues are already pretty much treated the same.
You fail to mention the language in American Needle that specifically allows for the collective nature of the 32 teams in the case of actually league business, which needs uniformity to have a fair and balanced league.
Don’t forget all those who have spent time in NFL Europe!
These billionaire owners {some of them) and millionaire players (most of them) should get out in the real world and work for decent salaries. They couldn’t make it. The owners have the “balls” to ask and get cities to build them new stadiums and couldn’t care less for ticket holders and fans. I saw my pro football in EBBETS FIELD,POLO GROUNDS AND YANKEE STADIUM. Truthfully if these AH can’t get it together both sides should and will watch commercial tv like us poor joes on Monday Night, thursday Night and Sunday all day.
Don’t be a moron. The average salary in the NFL is about 350k. The average career length is about 3 years. Certainly some star players are multi-millionaires, but not most.
exactly, it’s a three year career and they should be paid for three years work, just like anyone else that works for three years at any job. then they move on and get other jobs, just like any other person has to. so boohoo on 350k whine whine whine.
it’s all so ridiculous, not agreeing on 150 million. not even ten percent of the cash involved, and instead they all, owners and players stamp their feet like petulant brats.
they don’t deserve a thing. any of em.
easier to move on if you’re body isn’t torn apart and your knees don’t need replacing at 26. There’s a lot of sacrifice for the sake of your fantasy football team.
Get your facts straight before you start running your mouth you prat. The median player salary in the NFL is $900,000 (with a league minimum of $295,000). With signing bonuses, where players end up making most of their money, their salaries can reach a million dollars or more easily. Obviously there are more players that earn closer to $900,000 than above, but let’s not suggest that NFL players are close to broke. Ok, moron?
They came for the actors and no one stood up for us. Now they’re going after the athletes … don’t be surprised folks when they come after you.
Yeah, but actors are among the least talented people in the world, so much better if you are good looking.
So the least powerful can be preyed upon by the rich and powerful?
You have strange values.
Yep. See Wisconsin… who’s next?
I smell a sequel to “The Replacements”!!!! A lock out for the NFL means work for Keanu and Gene Hackman!
“MOST” of the players are millionaires? Really. Not like there’s any shortage of them, but anyone who thinks the majority on ANY team are millionaires hasn’t looked at a roster alongside the confirmed or suspected payrolls.
BTW, how long do you suppose the average NFL player career is, anyway? Not the record – the average. And how much do you figure the team AND the league make off of that average player throughout that career?
That’s a lot of research and math, so I’ll give you some time to use fingers and toes. But you DO risk coming out of it knowing what you’re talking about.
Average career length is about 3 years. The really shocking thing is the average life expectancy of an NFL player is only 58 years — the game shaves about 20 years off their lives. Yes Peyton Manning makes a lot of money as do the top of the line stars. But the average player, the 53rd guy on the roster, is certainly not a multi-millionaire.
then don’t play the stupid game. they all have a choice to play or not. and at this point, the risks are fairly well known.
“…actors are among the least talented people in the world…”
OK, that’s just plain stupid, even for a tea bagger.
Y’all should make friends with a smart person, and maybe run some of these things past them before you post them on the interwebs. I mean, I get that they’re always anonymous, and that provides some security. But folks DO tend to make judgments of all your pals premised upon posts like yours.
I totally agree. Actors aren’t the least talented people in the world. Comedians are.
You can’t call someone out for anonymous posting if you’re using a pseudonym. It really doesn’t make you look as smart as you’re telling everyone you are. Just saying.
Ya know, with the horrible events that have happened in Japan, I can’t really get worked up or worried about the complaints of a bunch of spoiled players & rich owners.
Maybe they pought to donate their salaries for the season to aid in the relief of those suffering. I know….don’t hold my breath.
There’s really no point to these kinds of posts, which appear after every disaster and during every disagreement. What happened in Japan is horrible. So everyone should stop fighting for their best interest? Quit being football fans? This particular post is pretty benign, but these kinds of posts are usually completely self-serving – “something bad happened in the world, I can’t believe people are still doing the thing I hate anyway even when things are going great” – it’s completely disingenuous. Nothing against this poster, who probably does really care about what’s happening in Japan, but most of the time the person making the diatribe doesn’t really give a rip about the disaster they’re name-checking – what they really care about is cynically using people’s suffering to further an agenda they already had.
well there is always the LFL. They are more fun to watch anyway
@comedymaven. He is right. In sports you either got it or you don’t. In the movie or music biz. Its all about who u know or how could u look. Most of the people have no talent at all. Some do though, but don’t get the recognition that they deserve. sports, there’s no phony referrals for that. U just gotta have it
I agree. The list of talentless nothings who have made it big in H’wood is infinite. Hello Pam Anderson! But you cannot make it to the NFL with looks and sex. Maybe it will get your more endorsement deals, but some sort of actual talent is required.
Sigh.
Such jealousy.
Only in TV and FILM though right?
Because ANYONE can write, direct and act right?
Such ignorance.
In the film and TV biz talent is everything.
Yeah a pretender can slip for a minute or two (Megan Fox, are you listening?) but if you want to stay working you have to be able to bring it, just like sports.
Acting, writing and directing take talent and skills.
Not everyone can do it at all, much less do it well.
I wonder if Vince McMahon is dusting off his old XFL gear and grinning while a light bulb forms over his head
The owners should hire substitute players.
Only if I can pay for the season tickets with monopoly money.
(yes, pun intended)
If I had to pick a side that was more “right”, it would definitely be the players, but quoting that stat about life expectancy is misleading. While former players do have a higher chance of early death, it is almost entirely due to obesity. Even current players are obese at a much higher percentage than the population in general, which is high to begin with.
The next biggest risk factor is anabolic steroid use.
Sorry, steroids is #3. being murdered or committing suicide is #2.
Most NFL players are not millionaires. Most NFL players sign smaller contracts and are out of the league faster.
That having been said, in the end, this works out bad for the NFLPA exactly because of that; players don’t have enough money in their accounts to withstand a long holdout, the owners do.
The owners big demands basically are a rookie salary cap, add two games to the season, and a hold of players at 50% of team averaged earning or less.
How long will it go on? Who knows. Fortunately, the College Football season isn’t threatened. I can come up with other things to do on Sunday, the games that matter will never be under any threat
Yeah, because the NCAA is soooo great… huh?
Using young people to make itself BILLIONS with a capital B! Oh, but these young people get a free ride scholarship so that’s fair huh?
How many Billions does the NCAA make from it’s new MARCH MADNESS contract?? Oh yeah that’s right 770 million A YEAR for the next 14 years. And that’s just for the month long tournament.
The NCAA is no better than the NFL owners. Actually they are worse. At least the NFL players are adults for the most part, not 17-22 year olds. “Oh, but no one is forcing them to play”, WHATEVER.
However you want to cut it the NCAA has created a system of “semi-slavery” and reaps Billions. NCAA college athletes are no longer “student athletes”. They are unpaid professionals who can get their scholarships taken away at any point, for any reason and there’s nothing they can do. You can feel all high and mighty about watching college athletes like you’re so superior to those professionals, but what you are watching is “semi-slavery”. A kid gets a 50k education free but the university makes literally tens of millions. Doesn’t seem right to me. Oh, when was the last time tuition fees went down? Well you know those owners.. errrr University Admins. need their 300k salaries paid somehow.
Good points, Greg.
I’m just thinking about all the money I’ll stop squandering in bars during gametime.
Won’t nobody think of the real victims here: the team owners? How’s the poor, desperate owners of the NFL going to afford new yachts now? Don’t you know that some owners only have five vaction homes? The conditions they are now forced to live in are inhuman.
The worst part is that thanks to all the evil unions sucking up all the money from the hardworking idle rich, the government won’t have any money to bail us out like they did for Wall Street.
This really sucks! Hope something can be worked out.
Okay, here’s your deal. Take it or leave it: You get coddled your whole life, in every grade of school. You get a free ride to a good four year school. You get easy classes, time off for practice, and if you do moderately well there are guaranteed a good job by a rich alumni down the line. You can study and take tough classes to prepare yourself for the real world, but don’t have to.
Then you get a gig in the NFL, national spotlight, hero of thousands even if you are a scrub, and get $310,000 for three years (league minimum, average tenure). You might make more with bonuses and if you get rehired, but this is your minimum guarantee.
So- free ride to school, guaranteed high paying job for three years, endless connections for life after this. You will be about 25 years old with a huge stake in the bank when this is done. Take it or leave it?
I bet 99% of us would take it and be happy. The other 1%? well, you know.
That’s the thing about 1 per-centers. They’re either bat shit crazy OR amongst the best in the world at what they do. Either way, they just can’t help it, can they?
Don’t know about the owners, but if a player can make me money, or at least prevent me from losing money, I treat that player with RESPECT.
You want to know what real power is in a negotiation?
Not being present.
I used to play football in college (was okay), boy, I’d take that deal to play in the NFL, even if I was on the bench most of the time.
I love my NFL, but I really can’t bring myself to care about the prospects of no NFL when there are grown-up real world issues going on right now to deal with.
the owners are gonna get KILLED IN COURT….they already have a judge that has promised that the cash stream THEY THOUGHT THEY WOULD HAVE during the lock out….i think it’s some kind of television money….WILL NOT BE THERES…..i think the judge ruled that they bargained that deal in BAD FAITH….knowing they were gonna lock out the players….and i think the judge also ruled..OR rather signaled…..THAT MANY OF THE UPCOMING ISSUES COMING FORWARD….he will be ruling against the OWNERS….so good luck with that strike owners….they get a look at the loss of a revenue stream…and the OWNERS WILL CRUMBLE FAST….OR AT LEAST GET BACK TO THE BARGAINING TABLE….
Gasp. Does that mean that third-world futball can finally gain a toehold in the US?
Zzzz.
Sorry they are over paid. By the looks and manners of most players they are lucky they do play football. Most NFL players look like they belong in prison!
I knew the lockout was on since the DirecTV re-up. The back channel for negotiation (what an unfortunately malleable phrase we’ll see more of in the future) has been up and down (or in and out, again, might as well go there now) for an entire year. Are the players paranoid? A little, sure. Paranoid about showing up at a face to face and ending up beaten with baseball bats in the parking lot. Metaphorically speaking, of course.
Negotiations can be a complex process. They start off huffy and puffy, with lots of invective, then move into a more realistic phase. It’s important and necessary to see and hear a lot of different points of views, from the owners and the players, but as the process moves on, it’s better to filter the spokesmen/women into a more coherent construct. One good cop, one bad cop, so — to speak.
It would be wrong to think that both sides lack the ability to have legitimate concerns or predicates to their issues. To sit there and deny that nothing happened to bring this lock out to a head would be crazy indeed. The whole process could be a big joke, and lead to nothing, and that’s where I think the players are now.
Regardless of the outcome, we are all blessed in different ways, and seeing the good in others is helpful in seeing the good in yourself. This is a lesson for more than just the sports world.
“…lead to nothing?”
What a cynic! Of course it’s going to lead to SOMETHING.
It’s all about the long game with these types of situations. Always has been, always will be.
RESPECT the long game, or it will sit back and hit you over the head, again and again, and again…