The NFL (Not For Long)

So, I’m trying to understand this all. The players union is no longer a union, and the team owners have locked the players out of facilities. This is all going to be settled by a Federal Court. Neither side has made concrete statements, and supposedly there is a gag order in effect. So, in trying to understand what the issues are, I’ve done some researching and I’m going to rely on a column written in the Philadelphia Inquirer by football columnist Ashley Fox. I am paraphrasing and quoting a large part of her column in the next few paragraphs.

WHERE WE ARE, IT SEEMS:

As usual, the main issue is money - the big pot of money the teams bring in from TV contracts, advertising, and tickets. It seems, from what I’ve read, there is an extra pool of revenue, of at least $1B, over and above the figures from the last players/owners agreement.  

So, we have the owners. The owners initially wanted the additional $1B of revenue for stadium construction and upkeep (which last time I checked, many new stadiums were at least partially funded by taxpayer dollars!)   

Naturally, the players balked. They want the majority of the additional $1B for increased salaries, and more importantly, more/better medical benefits both while they’re playing, and after they retire. (Especially since 75% of all NFL players are functionally broke within two years of retirement!) With everything being revealed about concussions, and seeing older former player’s health issues at relatively young ages, medical issues and medical benefits have become a big issue in pro sports. As part of determining how much of this $1B they should fight for, they players asked to see profit statements from the NFL for the last ten years, possibly thinking that owners would agree to keep less of the revenue (read, pay more in player salaries) to avoid revealing their profit statements. There appeared to be a lack of trust of the owner’s viewpoint that revenue would not grow as fast as the increased costs of the players:  players’ salaries, and more important, the added medical benefits during and after playing years.

The owners felt that releasing that information was not necessary and harmful to them. She writes, “Quite simply, the owners did not want their business made public or shared with other owners, with whom they compete.”  Then supposedly the owners reduced the amount they want to keep to $750M, then finally to $350M. Also at stake:  the owners had been taking about moving to an 18-game schedule in order to increase revenue. The players did not want that, supposedly, the owners agreed to stick with a 16-game schedule for now. The caveat? In the future, if they wanted to move to an 18-game schedule, they could propose it at that time, but the owners stated they would get players’ approval before doing so.

It seems as if that wasn’t enough for the players. The decided to disband the union was to allow the players to file a class-action anti-trust lawsuit, claiming that the league is a monopoly. My guess is that by proving that the NFL is a monopoly, professional players have nowhere else to work in order to better themselves. If I don’t like how my employer is treating me, I can go do the same thing at any other company because other companies exist. There is no other professional football league…the USFL, the Arena Football League, and the XFL didn’t last very long at all.

So, we’re stuck with this situation:  each side said it made concessions and then blamed the other for walking away from the negotiation. Each side questioned the other's commitment to the negotiation in the first place. The owners say that the union always intended to decertify. They players feel the league always intended to lock out the players. And now we’re off to the court system, for the judges and lawyers to negotiate and spin and figure out.

MY OPINION IN ONE PHRASE:

…boo-friekin’-hoo! And I mean that for both sides. I have a very hard time being sympathetic to millionaire and billionaire owners and multi-million profit companies that own teams.  When does enough stay enough? I also have a very hard time being sympathetic to players, who if they only make the minimum salary and play the average 4 years, make more in those four years than the average person makes in 18 years. And you really want me to be sorry for you for squandering your money away on houses, cars, and bling? Didn’t we all learn from MC Hammer?  

As always, you know who gets screwed here? The employees of these teams:  the concession attendants, stadium employees, etc., who are now indefinitely unemployed without pay. You know who else gets screwed? The average fan who has to plan years in advance to attend a game, or saves hard earned money to get a season ticket. The average fan who, right or wrong, uses pro sports as an emotional escape from everyday life. 

I read a different article, where the players are not happy about being portrayed as whining millionaires. In the same article, the owners are not happy about being portrayed as whining billionaires.  PLEASE, BOTH OF YOU, stop whining about being portrayed as whining rich people, count the money you have, stop taking us for dumb, give the average employees their income back and the average fan their escape back.

Or else, you never know, maybe we’ll stop being so dumb and realize pro sports isn't really worth our attention (this coming from some who loves pro football), and get back to doing real things with our free time…