THE NFL ....I dont fully understand whats going on ??

[RAIDER]

Hi there i am hoping you guys can enlighten me on the NFL .
What is actually going on ?
Is there going to be a season this year ?

As i really dont fully understand the arguements on either side

Cheers from a confused Brit whose trying to explain this to other confused Brits on whats going on

[Strmchsr]

Well, to put it in the most simple terms, a bunch of spoiled millionaires are having a spitting match with a bunch of other spoiled millionaires.

To give a more detailed answer, the NFL brings in about 9 billion in revenue each year. A formula is used to split this revenue between the owners and the players. Currently, the owners take 1 billion off the top before the formula is applied. Now they are asking for 2 billion to help cover stadium building and update costs. The players are whining and complaining that they would only get a share of 7 billion.

Other issues are that the owners wanted to go to an 18 game regular season schedule and eliminate 2 meaningless pre-season games in order to generate more revenue. The players feel they get banged up enough over 16 games. I agree with the players on this one. I don't like pre-season, but 16 is enough.

A final issue is the owners want a rookie wage scale to keep draft picks from getting paid all these millions when they haven't done anything yet. Don't know why the players are whining about this one because it would mean the established players would actually get paid a little more.

Will there be a season? Who knows. Things are going into the American legal system right now and that's going to mess everything up. It could take so many paths and take so long that I seriously doubt there will be a full season. Maybe a partial one. I hope I'm wrong. I'd hate to lose the season because both sides are being so greedy. The players are now playing from a serious position of weakness, though. Not every NFL player makes millions, and even those that do still live a lifestyle where they are living paycheck to paycheck. The owners built up a "war chest" and made sure they are going to be fine through this lockout, but the players are going to start feeling a serious pinch once they start missing paychecks. They'll probably end up with a worse deal than if they negotiated fairly last month. But they wanted to do the legal route instead. I think the players are going to lose big.

The player's union "de-certified" (even though they are still acting like a union) so that they could go to court earlier, so they may get struck down in court. The owners have locked out the players, meaning they have shut down all operations and aren't paying anyone. The players have sued the owners saying the owners can't legally lock out the players. The owners have counter-sued saying the players didn't legally de-certify as a union so their lawsuit is illegal. No way to know how this will turn out.

And don't worry. Most Americans are confused, too.

[DonaldsBFF]

They'll probably end up with a worse deal than if they negotiated fairly last month. But they wanted to do the legal route instead. I think the players are going to lose big.

Couldn't agree more. I have seen it twice now with companies in my hometown. Many years ago Caterpiller workers went on strike because "they weren't getting a fair deal," well the company left town. Then a few years back the same thing happened at Harley. The company almost left but in the end the workers were worse off then if they had just taken the original proposal. Not sure when these people are going to wise up and realize that they have it pretty good. They need to stop following the unions and understand that the unions are not the ones that give them the paycheck.
I sure hope they can get this worked out though as football has something good going right now and this won't be good for popularity. Plus I don't know what I will do without football. Fall won't be the same without it.

[kakn7294]

Well, to put it in the most simple terms, a bunch of spoiled millionaires are having a spitting match with a bunch of other spoiled millionaires.

And don't worry. Most Americans are confused, too.

These two statements just about sum it up the best!

[Ian]

I think it's a bit more nuanced than what's been said so far ...

Basically, yes ... the owner's want to take another $1 billion off the top of the total revenue pie (more on that concept in a minute) before sharing the money out with the players. The players are basically saying, "Look we were fine with the CBA we had. You guys opted out. If you want us to take less money, make your case. Just prove to us that you're all making less money, because we don't see it."

One other important thing to note is that the actual definition of the $9+ billion in NFL revenue is a bit ambiguous. There are most definitely streams of revenue that individual teams take advantage of that aren't included in that pie. Things like local radio deals, local sponsorships (THE OFFICIAL CAR DEALER OF THE NEW YORK JETS, etc. etc.), stadium parking revenue, and other related items aren't included in the total revenue calculation.

Of course, by the same token the players also draw individual sponsorship revenue deals, too.

But basically everyone needs to remember that there was a CBA in place and the owners opted out of it. The players really aren't asking for anything additional. They're asking for the status quo or, alternatively, if they're going to make concessions for things like the rookie wage scale (which make no mistake ... both sides want and will easily agree on) or the extended season, then they want potentially a bigger share of the revenue pie.

But really all those other things like the longer season and the rookie wage scale ... that's just window dressing. The absolute core of this rotten apple is the owners saying to the players, "We want to take back $1 billion of your revenue pie, because we're making less money." and the players saying, "Okay great. We're open to discussing that. Just prove to us that you're actually making less money." and the NFL going, "Uh ... err ... ummm ... errr ... well ... no."

[Scar]

But really all those other things like the longer season and the rookie wage scale ... that's just window dressing.

I would call them "bargining chips." Of course the players would agree to a wage scale, but the longer they can "say" they don't, they can use it as in "you give this up, we'll give that up."


Another thing you don't here too much about is that there is also infighting amongst the owners.

[Ian]

Another thing you don't hear too much about is that there is also infighting amongst the owners.

Oh yeah ... there are some owners that operate their franchises like any typical business, with profit as the first (and pretty much only) priority.

Then you have other owners who care a lot more about the game and winning and their football legacy.

I'm pretty sure everyone can figure out on their own how that would result in some in-fighting.