Rockchild
Footballguy
It seems to me that this whole thing is an exercise in futility by the NFLPA. I'll never be considered an apologist for the owners but in this case I think the players have it all wrong. They can posture all they want about decertifyng the union but it plays into the owners hand in a sense. I'm not sure the owners would relish a challenge of their league as a monopoly but with the Arena Football League as an alternative it might make their defense a little more sound.(I'm not an expert on U.S. monopoly laws so forgive if I'm out to lunch here)
There is ample precident that any lockout would result in the union being broken anyway by replacement players. And there are more than enough fringe players, established veterans and players from other leagues that would cross the picket line. There is more than enough money to go around and asking for more isn't out of line but my opinion is that their efforts would be better spent on other issues such as better free agency rules, some sort of guarenteed contracts or better pension benefits for marginal/practice squad players.
I think the owners are just as much at fault for not having their ducks in a row before this CBA was started. Yes they have the upper hand but the in fighting makes them look petty and vindictive against small market teams. The big market teams do have some valid points but I think they should have worked this out long before. A small market team can argue that because there are 32 teams that can compete it helps the big market teams who have access to more revenue by being able to sell the idea of a competitive league. I hope this gets my point across.
There is ample precident that any lockout would result in the union being broken anyway by replacement players. And there are more than enough fringe players, established veterans and players from other leagues that would cross the picket line. There is more than enough money to go around and asking for more isn't out of line but my opinion is that their efforts would be better spent on other issues such as better free agency rules, some sort of guarenteed contracts or better pension benefits for marginal/practice squad players.
I think the owners are just as much at fault for not having their ducks in a row before this CBA was started. Yes they have the upper hand but the in fighting makes them look petty and vindictive against small market teams. The big market teams do have some valid points but I think they should have worked this out long before. A small market team can argue that because there are 32 teams that can compete it helps the big market teams who have access to more revenue by being able to sell the idea of a competitive league. I hope this gets my point across.
Good point, Bri. I don't think I'd want his job. J
