"To Kill the Golden Goose" ... the envitable NFL Lockout and lost season of 2011-2012

You know it is going to happen.

I don't see this working out at all.

NFL's got money coming in from TV hand over fist and they want the players to take an 18% paycut, add two games so they can say the players got a 12% raise and then fine defensive players 10k on hits that don't even draw flags.

It's going down and you know it.

Weird thing is that there is a generation of sports fans that unless they were die hards really young that don't even remember this kind of labor crap coming up, which did a bunch back in the 80s and early 90s.

I guess this all will be good news for...

- English Premier League
- late season baseball
- CFL fooball
- NCAA football (which is even more sickly greedy)

nightmare scenario of nightmare scenarios: no nfl or nba seasons next year.

NBA needs restructured pretty bad though, that league is pretty much unwatchable since Stern started fixing the games after the Jordan retired from the Bulls the second time.

I think a strike would be fascinating to watch in the current economic climate.

Not sure, but what happens to the draft is there's no CBA by the deadline?

is=if

oh man i think the nba is nearing a new golden age tbh. I'd hate to see a strike interrupt it.

I think a strike would be fascinating to watch in the current economic climate.

― polyphonic, Friday, January 28, 2011 12:48 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yea this. ppl would be piiissed & i feel like politicians would get involved

also, i heard rodg goddell say he'll take a salary of $1 if theres a lockout...how cuet!

people will be pissed at whom? the players, I'd suppose.

it depends how they came off, I think people are more likely to support 'labor' when its their favorite sports star vs. some 80 year old evil looking dude

I also feel like the timing is right for all the macro-level injury/concussion/health talk going on

I am not a big basketball fan but the sport is better than its been since the 90s.

Also I don't believe Stern fixed anything given how many times the Spurs won titles

The way this is looking, the owners are going to barbecue the players in this negotiation. I hope it doesnt happen.

why do you say that? from what i've heard, they aren't talking at all now, so it's hard to tell which way things will go. i'd say that players -- who need the money more in the short-term, i suppose -- would be more likely to break first, but the union has been hounding players all this year to store up money in anticipation of a prolonged lockout.

Because the players have no unity, from the Cutler stupidity to the Cromartie shit, Ive been involved in enough labor negotiations to know that if you arent together when it comes time for bargaining, you are fucked if you are labor.

And if you dont think those incidents are indicative of where the players stand on labor issues (ie, if they care, dont care or are too stupid (like Cromartie) to know they should care) then I think you're mistaken.

"but the union has been hounding players all this year to store up money in anticipation of a prolonged lockout"

I'd like to see how this is working out.

http://rgcred.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/cinderrella-dont.jpg

And if you dont think those incidents are indicative of where the players stand on labor issues (ie, if they care, dont care or are too stupid (like Cromartie) to know they should care) then I think you're mistaken.

well, you're definitely right about the cromartie incident. i assume there's a lot of turmoil in the players' union ATM. i've been involved in labor issues, but not negotiating CBAs. i wonder whether and to what extent the players' prosperity impacts their cohesion.

it depends how they came off, I think people are more likely to support 'labor' when its their favorite sports star vs. some 80 year old evil looking dude

― iatee, Friday, January 28, 2011 9:05 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

haha its never worked out like this. fans always side with the billionaire owners over the athletes from working class backgrounds. i couldnt tell you why.

owners are comfortingly paternalistic

my guess is that people expect billionaire owners to be greedy and ruthless. But they think players make too much money as it is, and have no reason to complain.

fans side with the owners because the players are rich and famous and desired for playing children's games and most fans would kill to be able to do that. and every time a player holds out for more money or says stupid shit like "i gotta feed my kids" it gets a little worse. and most owners are not as egregiously awful and blatantly money-grubbing as dan snyder.

i think nfl players are in a slightly better position from a pr standpoint because the nfl (unlike the nba or nhl) is clearly awash in money. and the players really are putting their bodies on the line (unlike, say, baseball players) such that for an extra pair of games they totally should get more money and retirees totally should be better cared for.

i think the points they should keep making are (a) focus on the minimum-salary type players, who make up the majority of rosters and (b) careers are, on average, very short, so people laying their bodies on the line (i.e., unable to do other types of work after their careers are over) have to make what they can, while they can.

NFLPA just needs to wheel out a few former players who can't remember their names or pick up a sheet of paper, and the PR war will be won.

like terry bradshaw?

He wouldn't be the worst example!

like terry bradshaw?

― Daniel, Esq., Friday, January 28, 2011 2:50 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Very true. The poster child for helmet safety!

Jim Otto

Bill Magill's observation about player cohesion possibly being problematic wrt the Cutler situation seems pretty right on to me. Don't know exactly how telling it will be come negotiation time, but it does put an interesting slant on what might happen.

Yeah, the NFL players (and not the NFLPA exactly) don't really have a union mentality. I mean, when baseball's players union cracks the whip, players get in line. Football players, especially considering the median age throughout the league, are more familiar with negotiating through agents and managers than they are as a labor union. Teammates might have your back, but if you're a defensive lineman from Denver, an offensive lineman in San Diego doesn't give a shit about you and probably hates your guts.

the nhl players association just hired donald fehr. the nflpa seems to be run by ex-players? first gene upshaw, who was notoriously non-confrontational, now kevin mawae. maybe they need a firebrand outsider.

Assumed it would be kinda hard for players to unite behind an outsider, if they are going to unite at all. Lol then again if they're as fractured as they seem, who knows.

nah i think they need someone from outside to tell them "this is how you are being fucked and this is how we go about changing that." god bless ex-players being involved, but do they really know best how to negotiate with goodell and the enormous monied interests aligned against them? they need a pro.

fwiw despite being a big sports fan, i pretty much always root for the strike/lockout to happen (especially the nba, because it sux). i think it's good for everyone to be reminded from time to time that it's really a business and not life-and-death shit.

whatever happens, pls to set a cap for rookie contracts so that old veterans don't either get cut or be forced to take a paycut to sign young unproven guy who probably won't pan out.

otm

I mean I'm not out for screwing rookies but geezus even understanding how little of contracts are guaranteed, these #1 draft picks still make a killing.

Jamarcus Russell to thread

my condolences :(

thanks, lol

kinda telling that the defense of taking him #1 was B-B-BUT HE COMPLETED A PASS FROM HIS KNEES

Never forget the first time they brought him out..."I...AM...IRON...MAN", just bending down for the snap he was taller than everyone on the line. But yup, that was about it. Occasional ridiculous bomb down the field but never seemed anything other than confused as hell out there

he did seem to be making progress in his second year, he almost beat us in that one game, then he regressed so badly the next season.

There wasn't much help for him, granted, but for someone as unenthused about improving was never going to be the guy to lead us to victory. Gruden said of him in college he wouldn't have touched him with a ten ft pole

"Also I don't believe Stern fixed anything given how many times the Spurs won titles"

Considering some of the phantom calls that would happen when the Lakers played in that first run with Jackson, especially against the Kings, Blazers and the Pacers in the finals, I'm not so sure. I haven't watched it since.