texasbirdfan
Footballguy
http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/dallas-cowboys/headlines/20110312-gosselin-while-owners-players-bicker-ticket-holders-ultimately-suffer.ece
By RICK GOSSELIN / The Dallas Morning News
Published 12 March 2011 12:36 AM
ff the field and into the courts the NFL goes.
The collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the NFL owners and players expired Friday, opening the door for the league’s first work stoppage in 24 years.
Don’t expect a resolution any time soon.
The owners voted in May 2008 to opt out of the CBA, which was to expire after the 2013 season. That deal, extended in 2006, gave the players 60 percent of the league’s gross revenues. After just two seasons, the owners decided it was a financial model that no longer worked for them because of soaring stadium construction costs and expenses.
When the owners agreed in 2006 to give the players 60 percent of the gross, the NFLPA consented to give the owners $1 billion off the top. The owners wanted another billion off the top in these negotiations and threatened to lock out the players if a compromise could not be reached.
The NFLPA asked the owners to examine their financial ledgers as proof that they needed that extra billion. The owners refused, but reportedly lowered their asking price to $800 million in the last week.
The two sides negotiated for the last 16 days in the presence of a federal mediator but could not get past the singular money issue. On Wednesday, the players pulled their key bargaining chip — an 18-game schedule — off the table.
With the collapse of the talks, the union filed for decertification Friday with a federal court in Minneapolis, a legal measure to short-circuit a lockout by management.
If the league proceeds to lock out a decertified union, the players could sue the NFL in federal court as a violation of antitrust laws. Marquee quarterbacks Tom Brady , Drew Brees and Peyton Manning have already agreed to be the name plaintiffs in any such suit.
And now any settlement between the two sides must pass through that federal court — as was the case in 1993 when the two sides agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement featuring free agency and a salary cap.
The last work stoppage came in 1987 when the players went on strike. The league cancelled one week of games and brought in replacement players for another three. The players decertified as a union and returned to the field. It took six years and several visits to the courtroom of U.S. District Judge David Doty in Minneapolis to reach a new CBA.
The NFLPA has already scored one major victory in Doty’s courtroom this month when he ruled the owners would not have access to a $4 billion war chest they negotiated with the television networks in the event of a lockout.
Brees, a member of the NFLPA executive committee, sent out a tweet to NFL fans early in the day Friday saying, “I give you my word that we as players are doing everything we can to negotiate with the NFL towards a fair deal.”
In addition, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has repeatedly talked about the fans during the negotiation process and how “they want football.”
I wish the owners and players would leave the fans out of this alley fight. The nation is in a recession and unemployment is high — yet these two sides can’t figure out how to divide $9 billion among themselves?
These football negotiations have nothing to do with the fan — except to say that it will cost him in the end in the form of higher ticket prices.
The average price of an NFL ticket in 2000 was $51. The salary cap for each team was $62 million then. Now the average ticket price has topped $100 — and the last salary cap figure in 2009 was $128 million. In 2000, a Super Bowl ticket cost $325. In 2011, it cost $1,200.
The buzz words in NFL circles the last few years have been “grow the pie” — increase the revenue. That’s where the fan comes in. The owners and players want his money more than his affection.
The NFL owners showed they were serious about the money when they opted out of the CBA. The players showed they were serious about the money when the voted to decertify as a union. These steps were not taken with the fan in mind.
Both sides have dug themselves in for a long fight that could threaten the start of training camps in August and possibly even the start of the season in September.
So leave the fan out of this. Try to make your peace with him when there’s a settlement. As the backbone of the NFL, the fan deserves better treatment than the owners and players are giving him right now.
By RICK GOSSELIN / The Dallas Morning News
Published 12 March 2011 12:36 AM
ff the field and into the courts the NFL goes.
The collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the NFL owners and players expired Friday, opening the door for the league’s first work stoppage in 24 years.
Don’t expect a resolution any time soon.
The owners voted in May 2008 to opt out of the CBA, which was to expire after the 2013 season. That deal, extended in 2006, gave the players 60 percent of the league’s gross revenues. After just two seasons, the owners decided it was a financial model that no longer worked for them because of soaring stadium construction costs and expenses.
When the owners agreed in 2006 to give the players 60 percent of the gross, the NFLPA consented to give the owners $1 billion off the top. The owners wanted another billion off the top in these negotiations and threatened to lock out the players if a compromise could not be reached.
The NFLPA asked the owners to examine their financial ledgers as proof that they needed that extra billion. The owners refused, but reportedly lowered their asking price to $800 million in the last week.
The two sides negotiated for the last 16 days in the presence of a federal mediator but could not get past the singular money issue. On Wednesday, the players pulled their key bargaining chip — an 18-game schedule — off the table.
With the collapse of the talks, the union filed for decertification Friday with a federal court in Minneapolis, a legal measure to short-circuit a lockout by management.
If the league proceeds to lock out a decertified union, the players could sue the NFL in federal court as a violation of antitrust laws. Marquee quarterbacks Tom Brady , Drew Brees and Peyton Manning have already agreed to be the name plaintiffs in any such suit.
And now any settlement between the two sides must pass through that federal court — as was the case in 1993 when the two sides agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement featuring free agency and a salary cap.
The last work stoppage came in 1987 when the players went on strike. The league cancelled one week of games and brought in replacement players for another three. The players decertified as a union and returned to the field. It took six years and several visits to the courtroom of U.S. District Judge David Doty in Minneapolis to reach a new CBA.
The NFLPA has already scored one major victory in Doty’s courtroom this month when he ruled the owners would not have access to a $4 billion war chest they negotiated with the television networks in the event of a lockout.
Brees, a member of the NFLPA executive committee, sent out a tweet to NFL fans early in the day Friday saying, “I give you my word that we as players are doing everything we can to negotiate with the NFL towards a fair deal.”
In addition, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has repeatedly talked about the fans during the negotiation process and how “they want football.”
I wish the owners and players would leave the fans out of this alley fight. The nation is in a recession and unemployment is high — yet these two sides can’t figure out how to divide $9 billion among themselves?
These football negotiations have nothing to do with the fan — except to say that it will cost him in the end in the form of higher ticket prices.
The average price of an NFL ticket in 2000 was $51. The salary cap for each team was $62 million then. Now the average ticket price has topped $100 — and the last salary cap figure in 2009 was $128 million. In 2000, a Super Bowl ticket cost $325. In 2011, it cost $1,200.
The buzz words in NFL circles the last few years have been “grow the pie” — increase the revenue. That’s where the fan comes in. The owners and players want his money more than his affection.
The NFL owners showed they were serious about the money when they opted out of the CBA. The players showed they were serious about the money when the voted to decertify as a union. These steps were not taken with the fan in mind.
Both sides have dug themselves in for a long fight that could threaten the start of training camps in August and possibly even the start of the season in September.
So leave the fan out of this. Try to make your peace with him when there’s a settlement. As the backbone of the NFL, the fan deserves better treatment than the owners and players are giving him right now.
