There are only 2 reasons I can think of why ANYONE would support the players on this issue-1. They are fans of big market teams like the Redskins, Cowboys or Giants and WANT to see Snyder, Jerruh, and Mara be able to buy Super Bowls year after year or 2. They are union stooges who are unwilling to stand up against a fellow union. Imo, thats it.
Anyone who loves the NFL the way it is now should join me in PRAYING that Kessler and his leeches don't get their way or the NFL as we know and love it will be gone FOREVER.
Ron Pinson - 13 years ago
I do not relate to football players who make hundreds of thousands or millions a year that always want to complain and want more. I would love for my employer to give me more money or fine me when I mess up! Come back to earth NFL players. We ALL work very hard for our money. You have lost touch of reality.
Jay Percy - 13 years ago
The players are threatening to destroy the NFL as we know it - the draft, the cap, parity, competitive balance - and the owners are, for all intents and purposes, the stewards of the game we love.
Simple, really. The fans support the owners because the love the game.
Any questions?
Alex - 13 years ago
Who are we to say this or that. We are not in their shoes, we are not out there playing pro football getting hit by monsters. We are not out there writing the checks and making it happen for the teams. Once I heard about the lockout I said 'F' it. I haven't kept up with anything about it because what's the f***** point. I enjoy watching pro football and now who knows if we will be able to this year.
PlatoonSergeant - 13 years ago
If I was one of the owners I would not renew contracts and layoff the remaining players. The owner invests their money in a business and take all the risks, the employees(players) agree to play by the rules when hired, if they don't like the rules don't except the job. In the real world most people negotiate their salaries before they start working, so if you don't like what your getting paid find a new job. I'm sure they will find a ot of other football players that didn't make it to the NFL that will play for a lot less money. I hope the lockout last over a year so these stupid players don't get paid, they aren't working why should they?
Rodney Allen - 13 years ago
The owners are in the right---> They earned there wealth by being an asset to society and useing there intelligence and not being a mence to society. I f they dont like the stupid money they are getting , then let them go get a job bagging groceries or picking up trash. Thats about all that most of them can do anyway. I bet if you ask every player in the NFL to name three types of matter it would be a joke to what they would come up with. Thats something that you learn in the 3rd grade. So I say get off your lasy ass and be glad you get what you do.
Cole - 13 years ago
I think they're both grossly overpaid - From the fan's perspective, If there are millions/billions of dollars being distributed why do I have to pay $100 of my hard earned money to get a decent ticket. I think we should start a fans union and boycott this greedy system and demand that we, the fans, get our say in this thing. Because when it is all said and done its not the players or the owners pouring their money into this thing - Its us.
dirty ernie - 13 years ago
I for one and tired tired tired tired or whinny football players who get arrested, complain they ain't respected and earn more money for playing 16 games of football then I and my wife made in our lifetimes of working 40 hour plus weeks. Screw them.
The owners took all the risks in buying the teams and trying to get funding for the stadiums and the TV deals. The NFL is what it is today because the owners were top business men who knew how to milk the TV revenue needed to pay the players.
I love NASCAR for the opposite. If a driver has an issue with another driver its almost a private thing. I have NEVER heard a driver complain about respect and diss the sport about lack of money.
NFLatrisk - 13 years ago
I'm sure every player has different reasons for doing this.
Some think they are being treated like slaves.
Some think the owners are making billions of dollars in profit, a year.
Some think the owners are like Nazis.
Some have this "never give anything back" mindset, the mantra of the now deceased Upshaw once held to.
They have two people in Kevin Mawae the NFLPA Pres and DeMaurice Smith their Exec Director/Rep that have been argumentative and full of hubris from the outset.
Lets look at some of the issues.
1) Rookie Salary Cap - this benefits the veteran players as much, if not more, than the Owners... with this change, veterans would see more of that money, because less would go to the rookies.
The Agents are likely throwing their weight around to kill this part of the deal, this is where they make their big bucks, taking advantage of inexperienced kids coming out of college and making a killing.
2) Percentage of Revenues - the NFLPA in 2006 won 60% of the revenues in the last CBA, this obviously isn't working for the Owners, and they seem unified in this... this was a recent concession of the Owners, they tried it, they don't like it, they are going to get it changed.
3) Two games added - I don't this being a major issue, I think it is a minor one, giving up two pre-season games for two regular season games is not a huge change, and it would bring in more revenues for the players to share in... and the owners already stated they were willing to drop the matter until down the road.
4) Benefits for Retired players - the Owners already came up with a good plan that would increase dramatically what benefits there are. In the past 10 years owners have contributed more than $2.7 billion for the funding of the various NFL benefit plans for current and retired players... something that comes out of revenues BEFORE the player's get their cut, one more example of how the Owners pay all the bills and the players don't share in any of them.
Back in 2009 when listening to Smith and Mawae talk with the hostility and sense of being wronged emanating from them in interviews prior to the SB... all I could think was 'the minimum wage for players is $355,000 you must think Americans are idiots.'
I don't think their will be a CBA because Smith and Mawae are too willing to lose EVERYTHING the players gained the past 50 years, maybe they think destroying the system that is the NFL will benefit the players, maybe they have a socialistic image for the NFL... truth is, the players will definitely LOSE if there is no CBA.
As for the facts...
Lets say the NFL shows it makes $9 Billion dollars for 2010.
9Billion minus the 1Billion (for retired players, security, staff, maintenance, medical, etc.)
leaves 8 Billion MINUS the players 60% = 3.2 Billion dollars
3.2 Billion dollars divided by 32 teams = 100 million bucks
Each team has additional operating expenses, many teams run over 100 million.
Profit Margin for the well run teams = about 20 million dollars. The Green Bay Packers, who have open books, and just won the SB (meaning they had a great year), made only 14 million dollars in profit for 2010.
And that folks, is why the Players are either going to concede to the Owners' demands or there will be no CBA, because a lot of these teams are NOT making a profit when they are done paying for everything from stadium maintenance to flights for the team.
Sure, everyone agrees that players are getting too much of the pie right now (players included) but the owners are screwing everything up by trying to make up for getting worked over on the last labor deal. Cut your losses, and negotiate in good faith starting from today.
FootballFan - 13 years ago
The players' only goal is to milk the NFL dry before their careers end. They don't care at all about whether the NFL will still be around in 15 or 20 years. If they could sue for every last penny and put the league out of business, they'd do it. Anyone who thinks it owners don't want football is a moron. That's how they make money. They just want to be able to keep the NFL growing instead of having to kowtow to the greedy agents and paying idiot players millions of dollars guaranteed and watch them end up in jail or high on the purple drank. The less money that goes to the players, the better it is for the league. Period.
KenK - 13 years ago
The Players were gearing up for this fight since the day they brought on D Smith, if they had wanted to work with the Owners, rather than pick a fight, they would have chosen a former player not a lawyer prone to lawsuits.
Back in 2009 Smith and Mawae were making the rounds sounding as if they had already taken it to court, the litigation and attack on the NFL system had been planned long ago and was not something they were forced into because of the lockout... if anything the players forced the lockout because they refused to negotiate and agree to any deal that would not give them more of the revenues, and more freedom from rules and obligations built into the CBA.
Darwin Seaman - 13 years ago
It's funny , when the players wanted a better deal they went on strike ,got the fans support and the owners and players prospered! The players "got a great deal" as quoted by several current players.
Now the owners say this business model is unsustainable , I tend to believe them , JUST MAYBE we as fans would see an easing of game day expenses if an overall restructuring was to happen :IE rookie salary cap /end hundred million dollar contracts / no more billion dollar boondoggles ( a la Jerry jones) just some ideas.
The NFL get's a lot of corporate money that should ease the cost of the ordinary fan! Both sides need to see that we as fans are not an unlimited source of revenue.
The agents and lawyers have there own agenda and I don't believe the players truly understand the ramifications! If the NFLPA is dissolved and the 32 teams operate independently small market teams won't stand a chance.
The days of saying oh that won't happen are gone ! Fans need to speak up NOW!
Danno - 13 years ago
Mike Vick is a dog killer
Alex - 13 years ago
I side with the Owners...
After All of these greedy players end their careers, they usually own their own business...
They make a profit and usually squeeze their employees out of as much as they can, business is about the bottom dollar, always has been.
You don't hear their "employees" crying for a cut of the pie that "said" player invested a large chunk of his nest egg in... or ask for profit sharing over a business that was founded 80 yrs ago and run to this day by the same family...
I could go on with examples.
Bottom Line, the players are employees and damn sure not entitled to 40% of anything!
Unfortunately that is not the America we live in. We live in a Capitalistic society and whoever has the money has the power.
I really hope that the players that are taking out 20% interest rate loans and the ones who are having their mini-mansions foreclosed on taker a good look at De Smith and the rest of the Rich Crybaby Superstars who are only lobbying for themselves in masquerade of the rest of the league...
They are lucky to be making millions, they are lucky we buy their jerseys and chant their names. They are living in a dream. They need to wake up and understand they do not have the power. The Owners have the power.
Get Real, come back down to earth.
gary hall - 13 years ago
AS A HUGE FAN OF THE KANSAS CITY CHIEFS,I BELIEVE IT IS TIME FOR THE FOOTBALL FANS OF AMERICA TO TAKE A STAND AND SAY THAT WE AREN`T PAYING THOSE RIDICULOUS PRICES FOR THE OWNERS AND PLAYERS TO GET RICHER FROM OUR MONEY.WE ARE THE ONES WHO PAYS BOTH THE OWNERS AND THE PLAYER.WHAT WOULD THEY BE WITHOUT THE FANS.NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!LET JOIN TOGETHER AND SAY WE`VE HAD IT AND SHOW THEM WHO IS ACTUALLY THE BOSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stone - 13 years ago
I can't believe how many of you idiots support the owners. The correct answer is 'Neither'.
Dutch - 13 years ago
Billioniares fighting with millionaires over how to split up nine billion dollars-give me a break. I have no sympathy for either side. I hope the whole season goes down the chute-serves them right. I'll watch college.
Mike Tobacco - 13 years ago
I'm for football. I only the wish the owners and the players were for football too. The owners have always absorbed the financial risk of running and growing the sport and should get a larger slice of the pie. They should open the books to their partners however. Players aren't just employees, they are the product.
Baelz - 13 years ago
I am first and foremost a New England Patriots fan, and have been for 30+ years. Sure I enjoy the players, but they come and go as it the nature of this game. What business do these players have trying to destroy the league for future players and fans to come?
st0n3r - 13 years ago
Im for the owners. The players are greedy, they dont help
with overhead, stadium upkeep etc. what happens when
players dont play up to their contracts etc. they get more
than enough imo.
Gilby - 13 years ago
As a fan...this lockout is a joke...both sides are going to argue about money...and I can only afford to go to a couple games a year...just to go to one vikings game it costs me about $500 or more for the weekend...tickets...travel...hotel...food and drink...come on man...and you guys wanna argue about money!!!...THINK ABOUT THE FANS!!!
WreckinTexin - 13 years ago
I don't know anyone, in any profession, that gets to go to the owner of the company and ask them how much they make so that they can sit down and adjust how much of the money they are going to take.
Bob Wilson - 13 years ago
It,s the Fans who are really going to lose in the end. Really 140 for a ticket,30 dollars for parking,$9.50 for a beer,$6.50 for a burger,$6.oo for a pepsi,$35.00 for a Tshirt,$25.oo for a hat.These are just some of the prices for my game day experiences at a Chiefs game, so when it's all over we should expect to spend alot more for greedyness of both sides
rgs103 - 13 years ago
Nowhere in the real world are the employees privy to what the employers make. In every job out there, the employees make the product the owners sell. The employers put up the money for the business, not the employees. The employers suffer if the employees don't put up a good product. If the product is bad, the employees move on while the owner is stuck with the backlash.
Haden is an idiot if he thinks the fans are all on the "employees" side. I could retire on the average one-year NFL salary. Don't talk to me about you can only play for a couple years, so you have to get as much as you can. The key word is "play". As far as I'm concerned, the owners should just pull the plug altogether and let the whole bunch find real jobs. If they're lucky they might find a job that'll pay them $20 an hour starting out, even if they'd managed to get a degree while in college. I'd love to hear them whine about cleaning barns for 10 cents a ton.
Bob713 - 13 years ago
Most of the owners started our rich and bought the clubs because they love football. Art Modell tried to make a living off of the Browns, but a few bad business decision and he was forced to move the team just to stay afloat, and ended up selling. Although I'm thinking most owners draw a pay check from the team, they don't make their money on their football teams. (Unless you count the increase in its value over the years, but they only see that money IF they sell, and only IF they can show that it's a money making business.) You can't run a business by breaking even every year, (unless you're a non-profit), so no, they're not going to give away all their profit to the players.
The players union is on record as saying their only purpose is to get as good deal as possible for the players; ergo, they are greedy. The owners don't want to give up any money they don't have to because that's what good business people do. And in spite of what either side says, no one cares about the fans, or the cities they represent, or the people who earn money selling concessions, parking cars and feed the masses who come to the game; they just want more money.
While I think the players should have lifetime health care, and there should be a rookie salary structure, I'm not of the opinion that the players are somehow entitled to more and more of the cash, just because they want it.
In any case, I voted both of them are wrong, simply because they both are.
At this point, with a deal not being done, I can't side with either of the groups.
Kevin - 13 years ago
I side with the laundry....
Mile - 13 years ago
Someone said they were originally with the players cause the put their a***s on the line every week. How about the owners working their a***s off their whole lives and putting, not only their a***s on the line everyday, but putting their livelihoods and their families livelihoods on the line everyday by taking the risks and making the investments to build the sport into what it is today. Don't get me wrong, if it wasn't for you and I (THE FANS!) none of this is even possible. But these owners have worked their tails off to get to where they are today and if these snot nosed spoiled players don't like it then they should go sell insurance somewhere. I can promise there is a long line of players that would be willing to take that persons place rather than get a real job, and appreciate what he gets. This sport is a privilege, not a right.
Josh C - 13 years ago
The one good thing about the players winning? It could finally force EA to make some changes to Franchise mode on the Madden games.
Josh - 13 years ago
Just a fan, not a stooge for the owners. But it wasn't the owners who walked out of the negotiating room crying "worst deal in sports history" and it isn't the owners who are trying to blow up the things that have made football great (salary cap/floor, draft, etc). When Goodell says he wants an 18 game season, I say bring on the football. Are players risking injury? Sure. But they are paid handsomely as a result. And the concept some of those people paid handsomely were unable to manage their finances to prepare for this situation is absurd. The players are the ones who walked out of the negotiating room with the sham dissolving of the union and ruined the best chance for a normal offseason, and dare I say, regular season. I hope the owners rake them over the coals for it.
michael - 13 years ago
do not buy your poll. It is like the pools they put out before fox news came into existence. Propaganda, I know for a fact most people are on the players side and Joe is right. Do not trust your poll one minute.
Dan - 13 years ago
This lockou tis 100% the Owners fault. The leauge is ulling in 9 billion a year in profits to share and the players ar onl asking for htings to stay the way they are. Not asking for a dime more.
wonder how many people making coments on these blogs even know what terms the players are even asking for or do they just think that because they are highly paid men playing a game for a living, they dont deserve a appropriote portion of the revenue earned.
The owners are totally greedy in asking the players to have a longer season, and risk further injury and also ask them to take less of the revenue in the process. I saw where someone said that the owners took the risk here, and that is BS.
With the lucritive TV deals these teams get, there is no way an NFL Owner can lose any money. Its all just a matter of how much more they make onhe backs of the players. They get Cities to subsitdize new stadiums for tem and the cities get none of that revenue shared in return.
Any fool with some money left to them from their rich father can be an owner, but without the talent of the players there is no leauge. These are highly skilled athletes who can perform feats that no ordinairy person who is a average athlete could dream of. I takes years and years of honing their skill nd building their bodies to get the opportunity to play at this very elite level and they deserve to be paid for that elite level. If a doctor was a specialist n heart surgery, I would find it hard to see anyone say that he shouldnt make a great living because he doesnt own the hospital he works in. The Hospital would be lucky to have the just like the individual teas are lucky to have the players they do.
I say let the players try to find some new rich owners with open wallets and form a new leauge in new Cities and stadiums. If there were 24 new teams with the current players in new Cities, and 32 Current NFL teams with replacement players, who would the TV networks want to put on TV? Kind of answers the question about who is more important in this standoff.
Also,as far as these players being Millionaires, people have to remember that the average career in the NFL is only 3 years, and only the top players make the big money. Not to much money to last a lifetime. After the NFL career is over they get a modest pension and have to start all over looking for an average job that most hae no training in, and most have injuries from playing that require medical care for a lifetime.
What I dont like about this is thatthe owners planned this lockout all along. They put conditions in the TV contracts that they would get paid no matter if there was a season or not, so there is NO pressure on them to come to the table.
With 9 bilion on the table to split up, and the players not asking for a penny more then last time,I find the players position more then reasonable and the owners to jut be Greedy Billionaire Pigs who can never have enough. How many more billions do they need in order to stop holding up he entertainment for an entire country.
I hope the players hold out for as long as possible to get a fair deal which in my mind is to just keep the deal exactly as it is.
veraky - 13 years ago
While at heart I am pro player, since they are what makes the game exciting, I do not support the direction the players representation is taking them and what they are apparently hoping to accomplish (no draft among other things). Thus ultimately I am pro owner in this legal battle as I think the NFL has worked good the way it is, atleast from a fans stand point, although a few tweaks would be great. Such as a rookie wage scale but with shorter contracts allowing players to hit free agency sooner and also I think the league minimums could be increased to better compensate players who still put their bodies on the line but make a lot less money then others, etc etc.
EyesWideShut - 13 years ago
There sure are a lot of owner stooges in this poll. Did the Goodell's goons spam it?
We're here because arrogant greedy owners like Jones and Richardson want their way and cannot conceive of a world where that doesn't happen.
If the owners keep their hard line, I hope the season is cancelled. Americans do NOT have a God-given right to football. If the owners want to drive the league into a brick wall let them. I want them to feel the pain of all their financial obligations without any revenue.
We as fans may not have much say right now, but we can do something: Write your Congressmen and tell them you want the NFL's anti-trust exemption revoked. That will light a fire under the owner's seat.
Xaks - 13 years ago
I almost voted 'neither'. Almost.
But at the end of the day, I have a bad knee, a bad ankle, and a bum shoulder...from playing football. All other things being equal, the players are out there putting themselves in harms' way for the entertainment of the fans.
Yea, some guys make killer money. Too much, some say. Noone is forcing them.
But they're the ones facing life-changing (or even ending) injuries on every play. The owners are gazillionaires, yes, and risking money is still a risk. But strapping on the pads an taking an ass-kicking several hours a day is a whole 'nother beast. That's double-tough right there.
Brian - 13 years ago
Started on the players side, but after all the asinine comments showing how out of touch they are, no more. Although, I still feel the owners are the greedier side. It really is insulting to all the fans how bad this thing is already. You really can't split 9 billion equitably?
greg - 13 years ago
damn those players for charging me for PSL's, greedy bastards.
johnny - 13 years ago
So people believe and trust guys like Daniel Snyder and Jerry Jones, who have nickeled and dimed their fans, over guys like Drew Brees and Wes Welker who earn every dime they make and are known to always be honest and speak the truth. Interesting.
Paladin - 13 years ago
I hope these dumb stupid moron athletes, who never went to class and took advantage of getting an education at some of our finest universities, will now wake up and realize that were it not for football, most of them would be back in their crappy little college towns driving delivery trucks or working as bouncers in low class strip joints.
Maybe Florio should start a petition sent by fans to both sides to end the BS and negotiate!
McBa1n - 13 years ago
I just want to watch football. I could give a rats ass who is to blame.
I think they are all over arrogant and all out of line... Not to mention out of touch.
The fact that they aren't even trying is insulting to every fan of the game.
Bob - 13 years ago
I was originally with the players, because it is their @$$e$ on the line every week.
However, this has got to stop. Lock the player reps and owner reps in a room and don't let them out until the deal is done.
if there is no deal by draft day, I will boycott the draft and all coverage (and I am a die-hard Giants fan since the 70's).
I call NFL fans to do the same. If Radio City is empty, and no one watches, maybe the NFL will get the message.
daniel roberts - 13 years ago
This sport is what it is because of the fans. It's what gets alot of americans through a tough work week. Americans fight and die for their country everyday for very little money, to see a bunch of well- off people fighting over money makes me sick. All of americans should completely boycott football for one year then let both sides negotiate.
There are only 2 reasons I can think of why ANYONE would support the players on this issue-1. They are fans of big market teams like the Redskins, Cowboys or Giants and WANT to see Snyder, Jerruh, and Mara be able to buy Super Bowls year after year or 2. They are union stooges who are unwilling to stand up against a fellow union. Imo, thats it.
Anyone who loves the NFL the way it is now should join me in PRAYING that Kessler and his leeches don't get their way or the NFL as we know and love it will be gone FOREVER.
I do not relate to football players who make hundreds of thousands or millions a year that always want to complain and want more. I would love for my employer to give me more money or fine me when I mess up! Come back to earth NFL players. We ALL work very hard for our money. You have lost touch of reality.
The players are threatening to destroy the NFL as we know it - the draft, the cap, parity, competitive balance - and the owners are, for all intents and purposes, the stewards of the game we love.
Simple, really. The fans support the owners because the love the game.
Any questions?
Who are we to say this or that. We are not in their shoes, we are not out there playing pro football getting hit by monsters. We are not out there writing the checks and making it happen for the teams. Once I heard about the lockout I said 'F' it. I haven't kept up with anything about it because what's the f***** point. I enjoy watching pro football and now who knows if we will be able to this year.
If I was one of the owners I would not renew contracts and layoff the remaining players. The owner invests their money in a business and take all the risks, the employees(players) agree to play by the rules when hired, if they don't like the rules don't except the job. In the real world most people negotiate their salaries before they start working, so if you don't like what your getting paid find a new job. I'm sure they will find a ot of other football players that didn't make it to the NFL that will play for a lot less money. I hope the lockout last over a year so these stupid players don't get paid, they aren't working why should they?
The owners are in the right---> They earned there wealth by being an asset to society and useing there intelligence and not being a mence to society. I f they dont like the stupid money they are getting , then let them go get a job bagging groceries or picking up trash. Thats about all that most of them can do anyway. I bet if you ask every player in the NFL to name three types of matter it would be a joke to what they would come up with. Thats something that you learn in the 3rd grade. So I say get off your lasy ass and be glad you get what you do.
I think they're both grossly overpaid - From the fan's perspective, If there are millions/billions of dollars being distributed why do I have to pay $100 of my hard earned money to get a decent ticket. I think we should start a fans union and boycott this greedy system and demand that we, the fans, get our say in this thing. Because when it is all said and done its not the players or the owners pouring their money into this thing - Its us.
I for one and tired tired tired tired or whinny football players who get arrested, complain they ain't respected and earn more money for playing 16 games of football then I and my wife made in our lifetimes of working 40 hour plus weeks. Screw them.
The owners took all the risks in buying the teams and trying to get funding for the stadiums and the TV deals. The NFL is what it is today because the owners were top business men who knew how to milk the TV revenue needed to pay the players.
I love NASCAR for the opposite. If a driver has an issue with another driver its almost a private thing. I have NEVER heard a driver complain about respect and diss the sport about lack of money.
I'm sure every player has different reasons for doing this.
Some think they are being treated like slaves.
Some think the owners are making billions of dollars in profit, a year.
Some think the owners are like Nazis.
Some have this "never give anything back" mindset, the mantra of the now deceased Upshaw once held to.
They have two people in Kevin Mawae the NFLPA Pres and DeMaurice Smith their Exec Director/Rep that have been argumentative and full of hubris from the outset.
Lets look at some of the issues.
1) Rookie Salary Cap - this benefits the veteran players as much, if not more, than the Owners... with this change, veterans would see more of that money, because less would go to the rookies.
The Agents are likely throwing their weight around to kill this part of the deal, this is where they make their big bucks, taking advantage of inexperienced kids coming out of college and making a killing.
2) Percentage of Revenues - the NFLPA in 2006 won 60% of the revenues in the last CBA, this obviously isn't working for the Owners, and they seem unified in this... this was a recent concession of the Owners, they tried it, they don't like it, they are going to get it changed.
3) Two games added - I don't this being a major issue, I think it is a minor one, giving up two pre-season games for two regular season games is not a huge change, and it would bring in more revenues for the players to share in... and the owners already stated they were willing to drop the matter until down the road.
4) Benefits for Retired players - the Owners already came up with a good plan that would increase dramatically what benefits there are. In the past 10 years owners have contributed more than $2.7 billion for the funding of the various NFL benefit plans for current and retired players... something that comes out of revenues BEFORE the player's get their cut, one more example of how the Owners pay all the bills and the players don't share in any of them.
Back in 2009 when listening to Smith and Mawae talk with the hostility and sense of being wronged emanating from them in interviews prior to the SB... all I could think was 'the minimum wage for players is $355,000 you must think Americans are idiots.'
I don't think their will be a CBA because Smith and Mawae are too willing to lose EVERYTHING the players gained the past 50 years, maybe they think destroying the system that is the NFL will benefit the players, maybe they have a socialistic image for the NFL... truth is, the players will definitely LOSE if there is no CBA.
As for the facts...
Lets say the NFL shows it makes $9 Billion dollars for 2010.
9Billion minus the 1Billion (for retired players, security, staff, maintenance, medical, etc.)
leaves 8 Billion MINUS the players 60% = 3.2 Billion dollars
3.2 Billion dollars divided by 32 teams = 100 million bucks
Each team has additional operating expenses, many teams run over 100 million.
Profit Margin for the well run teams = about 20 million dollars. The Green Bay Packers, who have open books, and just won the SB (meaning they had a great year), made only 14 million dollars in profit for 2010.
And that folks, is why the Players are either going to concede to the Owners' demands or there will be no CBA, because a lot of these teams are NOT making a profit when they are done paying for everything from stadium maintenance to flights for the team.
who in there right mine sides with the owners?
Sure, everyone agrees that players are getting too much of the pie right now (players included) but the owners are screwing everything up by trying to make up for getting worked over on the last labor deal. Cut your losses, and negotiate in good faith starting from today.
The players' only goal is to milk the NFL dry before their careers end. They don't care at all about whether the NFL will still be around in 15 or 20 years. If they could sue for every last penny and put the league out of business, they'd do it. Anyone who thinks it owners don't want football is a moron. That's how they make money. They just want to be able to keep the NFL growing instead of having to kowtow to the greedy agents and paying idiot players millions of dollars guaranteed and watch them end up in jail or high on the purple drank. The less money that goes to the players, the better it is for the league. Period.
The Players were gearing up for this fight since the day they brought on D Smith, if they had wanted to work with the Owners, rather than pick a fight, they would have chosen a former player not a lawyer prone to lawsuits.
Back in 2009 Smith and Mawae were making the rounds sounding as if they had already taken it to court, the litigation and attack on the NFL system had been planned long ago and was not something they were forced into because of the lockout... if anything the players forced the lockout because they refused to negotiate and agree to any deal that would not give them more of the revenues, and more freedom from rules and obligations built into the CBA.
It's funny , when the players wanted a better deal they went on strike ,got the fans support and the owners and players prospered! The players "got a great deal" as quoted by several current players.
Now the owners say this business model is unsustainable , I tend to believe them , JUST MAYBE we as fans would see an easing of game day expenses if an overall restructuring was to happen :IE rookie salary cap /end hundred million dollar contracts / no more billion dollar boondoggles ( a la Jerry jones) just some ideas.
The NFL get's a lot of corporate money that should ease the cost of the ordinary fan! Both sides need to see that we as fans are not an unlimited source of revenue.
The agents and lawyers have there own agenda and I don't believe the players truly understand the ramifications! If the NFLPA is dissolved and the 32 teams operate independently small market teams won't stand a chance.
The days of saying oh that won't happen are gone ! Fans need to speak up NOW!
Mike Vick is a dog killer
I side with the Owners...
After All of these greedy players end their careers, they usually own their own business...
They make a profit and usually squeeze their employees out of as much as they can, business is about the bottom dollar, always has been.
You don't hear their "employees" crying for a cut of the pie that "said" player invested a large chunk of his nest egg in... or ask for profit sharing over a business that was founded 80 yrs ago and run to this day by the same family...
I could go on with examples.
Bottom Line, the players are employees and damn sure not entitled to 40% of anything!
Unfortunately that is not the America we live in. We live in a Capitalistic society and whoever has the money has the power.
I really hope that the players that are taking out 20% interest rate loans and the ones who are having their mini-mansions foreclosed on taker a good look at De Smith and the rest of the Rich Crybaby Superstars who are only lobbying for themselves in masquerade of the rest of the league...
They are lucky to be making millions, they are lucky we buy their jerseys and chant their names. They are living in a dream. They need to wake up and understand they do not have the power. The Owners have the power.
Get Real, come back down to earth.
AS A HUGE FAN OF THE KANSAS CITY CHIEFS,I BELIEVE IT IS TIME FOR THE FOOTBALL FANS OF AMERICA TO TAKE A STAND AND SAY THAT WE AREN`T PAYING THOSE RIDICULOUS PRICES FOR THE OWNERS AND PLAYERS TO GET RICHER FROM OUR MONEY.WE ARE THE ONES WHO PAYS BOTH THE OWNERS AND THE PLAYER.WHAT WOULD THEY BE WITHOUT THE FANS.NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!LET JOIN TOGETHER AND SAY WE`VE HAD IT AND SHOW THEM WHO IS ACTUALLY THE BOSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can't believe how many of you idiots support the owners. The correct answer is 'Neither'.
Billioniares fighting with millionaires over how to split up nine billion dollars-give me a break. I have no sympathy for either side. I hope the whole season goes down the chute-serves them right. I'll watch college.
I'm for football. I only the wish the owners and the players were for football too. The owners have always absorbed the financial risk of running and growing the sport and should get a larger slice of the pie. They should open the books to their partners however. Players aren't just employees, they are the product.
I am first and foremost a New England Patriots fan, and have been for 30+ years. Sure I enjoy the players, but they come and go as it the nature of this game. What business do these players have trying to destroy the league for future players and fans to come?
Im for the owners. The players are greedy, they dont help
with overhead, stadium upkeep etc. what happens when
players dont play up to their contracts etc. they get more
than enough imo.
As a fan...this lockout is a joke...both sides are going to argue about money...and I can only afford to go to a couple games a year...just to go to one vikings game it costs me about $500 or more for the weekend...tickets...travel...hotel...food and drink...come on man...and you guys wanna argue about money!!!...THINK ABOUT THE FANS!!!
I don't know anyone, in any profession, that gets to go to the owner of the company and ask them how much they make so that they can sit down and adjust how much of the money they are going to take.
It,s the Fans who are really going to lose in the end. Really 140 for a ticket,30 dollars for parking,$9.50 for a beer,$6.50 for a burger,$6.oo for a pepsi,$35.00 for a Tshirt,$25.oo for a hat.These are just some of the prices for my game day experiences at a Chiefs game, so when it's all over we should expect to spend alot more for greedyness of both sides
Nowhere in the real world are the employees privy to what the employers make. In every job out there, the employees make the product the owners sell. The employers put up the money for the business, not the employees. The employers suffer if the employees don't put up a good product. If the product is bad, the employees move on while the owner is stuck with the backlash.
Haden is an idiot if he thinks the fans are all on the "employees" side. I could retire on the average one-year NFL salary. Don't talk to me about you can only play for a couple years, so you have to get as much as you can. The key word is "play". As far as I'm concerned, the owners should just pull the plug altogether and let the whole bunch find real jobs. If they're lucky they might find a job that'll pay them $20 an hour starting out, even if they'd managed to get a degree while in college. I'd love to hear them whine about cleaning barns for 10 cents a ton.
Most of the owners started our rich and bought the clubs because they love football. Art Modell tried to make a living off of the Browns, but a few bad business decision and he was forced to move the team just to stay afloat, and ended up selling. Although I'm thinking most owners draw a pay check from the team, they don't make their money on their football teams. (Unless you count the increase in its value over the years, but they only see that money IF they sell, and only IF they can show that it's a money making business.) You can't run a business by breaking even every year, (unless you're a non-profit), so no, they're not going to give away all their profit to the players.
The players union is on record as saying their only purpose is to get as good deal as possible for the players; ergo, they are greedy. The owners don't want to give up any money they don't have to because that's what good business people do. And in spite of what either side says, no one cares about the fans, or the cities they represent, or the people who earn money selling concessions, parking cars and feed the masses who come to the game; they just want more money.
While I think the players should have lifetime health care, and there should be a rookie salary structure, I'm not of the opinion that the players are somehow entitled to more and more of the cash, just because they want it.
In any case, I voted both of them are wrong, simply because they both are.
At this point, with a deal not being done, I can't side with either of the groups.
I side with the laundry....
Someone said they were originally with the players cause the put their a***s on the line every week. How about the owners working their a***s off their whole lives and putting, not only their a***s on the line everyday, but putting their livelihoods and their families livelihoods on the line everyday by taking the risks and making the investments to build the sport into what it is today. Don't get me wrong, if it wasn't for you and I (THE FANS!) none of this is even possible. But these owners have worked their tails off to get to where they are today and if these snot nosed spoiled players don't like it then they should go sell insurance somewhere. I can promise there is a long line of players that would be willing to take that persons place rather than get a real job, and appreciate what he gets. This sport is a privilege, not a right.
The one good thing about the players winning? It could finally force EA to make some changes to Franchise mode on the Madden games.
Just a fan, not a stooge for the owners. But it wasn't the owners who walked out of the negotiating room crying "worst deal in sports history" and it isn't the owners who are trying to blow up the things that have made football great (salary cap/floor, draft, etc). When Goodell says he wants an 18 game season, I say bring on the football. Are players risking injury? Sure. But they are paid handsomely as a result. And the concept some of those people paid handsomely were unable to manage their finances to prepare for this situation is absurd. The players are the ones who walked out of the negotiating room with the sham dissolving of the union and ruined the best chance for a normal offseason, and dare I say, regular season. I hope the owners rake them over the coals for it.
do not buy your poll. It is like the pools they put out before fox news came into existence. Propaganda, I know for a fact most people are on the players side and Joe is right. Do not trust your poll one minute.
This lockou tis 100% the Owners fault. The leauge is ulling in 9 billion a year in profits to share and the players ar onl asking for htings to stay the way they are. Not asking for a dime more.
wonder how many people making coments on these blogs even know what terms the players are even asking for or do they just think that because they are highly paid men playing a game for a living, they dont deserve a appropriote portion of the revenue earned.
The owners are totally greedy in asking the players to have a longer season, and risk further injury and also ask them to take less of the revenue in the process. I saw where someone said that the owners took the risk here, and that is BS.
With the lucritive TV deals these teams get, there is no way an NFL Owner can lose any money. Its all just a matter of how much more they make onhe backs of the players. They get Cities to subsitdize new stadiums for tem and the cities get none of that revenue shared in return.
Any fool with some money left to them from their rich father can be an owner, but without the talent of the players there is no leauge. These are highly skilled athletes who can perform feats that no ordinairy person who is a average athlete could dream of. I takes years and years of honing their skill nd building their bodies to get the opportunity to play at this very elite level and they deserve to be paid for that elite level. If a doctor was a specialist n heart surgery, I would find it hard to see anyone say that he shouldnt make a great living because he doesnt own the hospital he works in. The Hospital would be lucky to have the just like the individual teas are lucky to have the players they do.
I say let the players try to find some new rich owners with open wallets and form a new leauge in new Cities and stadiums. If there were 24 new teams with the current players in new Cities, and 32 Current NFL teams with replacement players, who would the TV networks want to put on TV? Kind of answers the question about who is more important in this standoff.
Also,as far as these players being Millionaires, people have to remember that the average career in the NFL is only 3 years, and only the top players make the big money. Not to much money to last a lifetime. After the NFL career is over they get a modest pension and have to start all over looking for an average job that most hae no training in, and most have injuries from playing that require medical care for a lifetime.
What I dont like about this is thatthe owners planned this lockout all along. They put conditions in the TV contracts that they would get paid no matter if there was a season or not, so there is NO pressure on them to come to the table.
With 9 bilion on the table to split up, and the players not asking for a penny more then last time,I find the players position more then reasonable and the owners to jut be Greedy Billionaire Pigs who can never have enough. How many more billions do they need in order to stop holding up he entertainment for an entire country.
I hope the players hold out for as long as possible to get a fair deal which in my mind is to just keep the deal exactly as it is.
While at heart I am pro player, since they are what makes the game exciting, I do not support the direction the players representation is taking them and what they are apparently hoping to accomplish (no draft among other things). Thus ultimately I am pro owner in this legal battle as I think the NFL has worked good the way it is, atleast from a fans stand point, although a few tweaks would be great. Such as a rookie wage scale but with shorter contracts allowing players to hit free agency sooner and also I think the league minimums could be increased to better compensate players who still put their bodies on the line but make a lot less money then others, etc etc.
There sure are a lot of owner stooges in this poll. Did the Goodell's goons spam it?
We're here because arrogant greedy owners like Jones and Richardson want their way and cannot conceive of a world where that doesn't happen.
If the owners keep their hard line, I hope the season is cancelled. Americans do NOT have a God-given right to football. If the owners want to drive the league into a brick wall let them. I want them to feel the pain of all their financial obligations without any revenue.
We as fans may not have much say right now, but we can do something: Write your Congressmen and tell them you want the NFL's anti-trust exemption revoked. That will light a fire under the owner's seat.
I almost voted 'neither'. Almost.
But at the end of the day, I have a bad knee, a bad ankle, and a bum shoulder...from playing football. All other things being equal, the players are out there putting themselves in harms' way for the entertainment of the fans.
Yea, some guys make killer money. Too much, some say. Noone is forcing them.
But they're the ones facing life-changing (or even ending) injuries on every play. The owners are gazillionaires, yes, and risking money is still a risk. But strapping on the pads an taking an ass-kicking several hours a day is a whole 'nother beast. That's double-tough right there.
Started on the players side, but after all the asinine comments showing how out of touch they are, no more. Although, I still feel the owners are the greedier side. It really is insulting to all the fans how bad this thing is already. You really can't split 9 billion equitably?
damn those players for charging me for PSL's, greedy bastards.
So people believe and trust guys like Daniel Snyder and Jerry Jones, who have nickeled and dimed their fans, over guys like Drew Brees and Wes Welker who earn every dime they make and are known to always be honest and speak the truth. Interesting.
I hope these dumb stupid moron athletes, who never went to class and took advantage of getting an education at some of our finest universities, will now wake up and realize that were it not for football, most of them would be back in their crappy little college towns driving delivery trucks or working as bouncers in low class strip joints.
You should have had the option to pick Both
Maybe Florio should start a petition sent by fans to both sides to end the BS and negotiate!
I just want to watch football. I could give a rats ass who is to blame.
I think they are all over arrogant and all out of line... Not to mention out of touch.
The fact that they aren't even trying is insulting to every fan of the game.
I was originally with the players, because it is their @$$e$ on the line every week.
However, this has got to stop. Lock the player reps and owner reps in a room and don't let them out until the deal is done.
if there is no deal by draft day, I will boycott the draft and all coverage (and I am a die-hard Giants fan since the 70's).
I call NFL fans to do the same. If Radio City is empty, and no one watches, maybe the NFL will get the message.
This sport is what it is because of the fans. It's what gets alot of americans through a tough work week. Americans fight and die for their country everyday for very little money, to see a bunch of well- off people fighting over money makes me sick. All of americans should completely boycott football for one year then let both sides negotiate.