NFL and Union Talking Trash, Not Deal
Written by B-Dub, Saturday January 29 2011
As we get closer to the end of the NFL's current Collective Bargaining Agreement(CBA) on March 3, the league and the players union don't seem to be getting any closer to a deal. On the contrary, they seem to be getting further apart by trading barbs trough the media instead of meeting face-to-face to hammer out a new deal.
The latest verbal posturing came in the form of laughable pronouncements from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFL Players Association executive director DeMaruice Smith. Goodell proclaimed that if there was not a new CBA in place by March 3, he would reduce his salary to $1. He also said that he would not receive his annual bonus. Smith then countered with his own equally ridiculous comment that he would work for 68 cents.
While that may seem like grand gesture on Goodell's part, you need to realize that his annual salary is $10 million, including that bonus. It's not like the commissioner is going to be living on the streets any time soon and his wording was intentionally vague. He will get his normal salary and bonus the minute there is a new deal in place and the money will be paid retroactively.
Meanwhile, Smith is trying too hard to be the anti-Gene Upshaw. Upshaw was Smith's predecessor with the NFLPA and was seen as being too close to then commissioner Pete Rozell. Since none of the current players in the NFL went through the last strike in 1987, they have no idea what they're in for.
While the players are not threatening to strike yet, they have filed a collusion claim against the NFL along with an earlier complaint about the NFL's TV deal. The NFL negotiated a network TV deal that pays them in full, even in the event of a lockout. The players claim that violates an agreement between the sides that says the NFL must make good-faith efforts to maximize revenue for players.
Goodell responded by saying, "This is not going to get resolved through litigation. It will get resolved though negotiation. It's time to get to the table and negotiate." The problem is that the two sides are not getting together to negotiate and no deal seems imminent. The last time there were serious talks was back in November.
The owners opted out of the current CBA in 2008, because they thought they were giving the players too large a percentage of the league's revenues. The current terms of the CBA give 60 percent of the league's total football revenue to the players. The sticking point now is exactly what should be considered "total football revenue".
The owners are complaining that while revenue generate from new stadiums is included in the salary cap figures, they don't get a salary cap credit for the debt they incur building those stadiums. Leaving aside the obvious hypocrisy that taxpayers cover the majority of the costs associated with building every new stadium, there is some validity to the NFL's overhead cost concerns. The owners also claim that player salaries have doubled over the last decade. The union counters by asking the NFL to open their books, but the NFL refuses. Obviously the owners don't want the public to see how much money they're actually making while begging for hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars to build them stadiums.
We know for a fact that the NFL is a $9 billion business annually. There should be more than enough money to go around, yet here we sit on the edge of a cliff wondering if there will be a 2011 season.
What this all comes down to is money. While that is not a shock, it is hard for fans to take sides with either the mega-rich players or the mega-rich owners.
This labor dispute is much different from the last time these two sides had a work stoppage. When the players went on strike back in 1987, they wanted better health benefits but the main objective was to get free agency. While the union didn't win their free agency with their failed strike attempt, they got their way eventually. The NFLPA disbanded then reformed in 1989 in order to file a lawsuit that ultimately prevailed at trial. That led to a labor agreement that allowed less restrictive free agency in return for a salary cap tied to revenue.
This time around it's all about how much money each side can grab. Oh sure, they talk about wanting a rookie-wage scale and an 18-game schedule, but it's really about that percentage of revenue that goes to the players. The players want more, while the owners want to pay less.
The rookie-wage scale is a done deal. Guaranteeing over $50 million to players before they ever take a snap in the NFL is madness. Both sides can agree on that. The 18-game schedule will happen because Goodell wants it to happen. Plus, going to an 18-game schedule would produce an additional $500 million in revenue to be shared by both sides. Everybody wins, even the fans. The union is making comments about shorter careers for players due to longer seasons, but will eventually relent in exchange for a larger percentage of the revenue. It's called posturing and both sides are doing more than their share of it recently.
The biggest roadblock to a new deal right now is that the owners hold all the cards and both sides know it. The union has no leverage because of their own history.
The 1987 strike failed because so many players crossed the picket lines and played in the Replacement player games. Stars such as Ed "Too Tall" Jones, Tony Dorsett, Howie Long and Joe Montana all crossed and crushed the union's hopes. Since today's athletes are even more short-sighted and greedy than their 1987 predecessors, the union is sure to cave into all of the league's demands after the players start missing a few paychecks.
The problem with that is that the players won't stop getting paid until March 4, when the current CBA expires. There will be no bonuses paid either. Yes, the owners will lose all of their football-related revenue as well, but most owners originally generated their wealth outside the NFL, so the majority won't lose all of their revenue streams. Plus the current national TV contract pays the owners $4 billion in 2011, regardless of whether there is a season of not. The players will get nothing without a new deal.
It looks like a foregone conclusion that the league will lock out the players and the players will eventually cave under the pressure of their own greed. The only question now is how that will impact the 2011 season.
The NFL draft will go on as scheduled in April even if there is no new CBA in place, but that's it. No players can be traded. No free agents can be signed and teams can't sign current players to extensions after March 3. There will be no offseason training activities, training camp, preseason games or real games until there is a new CBA in place.
"You need a serious negotiating partner in order to have a negotiation," Bob Batterman, the NFL's labor counsel said. "What we have been getting back in terms of responses is not conducive to making a deal." The union counters by pointing out that it was the owners who opted out of the current CBA early, creating the need for a new deal.
"There is no question that a deal could be done, which is a different question than if a deal will be done. I just don't see the union being willing to make the compromises at this point," Batterman said. That point will most likely come for the players when they stop getting paid.
In a battle where millionaires are bickering over how to spend our hard-earned money, it's difficult to take sides. The fans just want a quick resolution so that there can be a 2011 NFL season. Unfortunately all we're getting now is a lot of trash talking, instead of substantive talks that will lead to a new deal.
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Now that the courts have ruled in the owners' favor it won't be long before the players cave in to their own greed and beg the owners to give them even a bad deal. Without a union, the players will start to splinter off into a bunch of individuals looking out only for themselves. DeMaurice Smith is done.