The NFL's CBA was set to expire tonight at midnight, but they extended it by a day. I'm not exactly sure why. It's not as if the lockout isn't inevitable. Various columns and blogs by various NFL experts have opined on this subject in recent days, and everyone seems to agree on one thing: the NFL's first work stoppage in 24 years is going to happen. It's just a matter of when.
Now keep in mind, this is a lockout, not a strike. The players would be more than happy to continue coming to work everyday, but the owners aren't going to let them. I was already pretty sure of my stance on the looming lockout, then Rick Reilly (among others) made me absolutely certain of who's side I'm on. I'm backing the players in this dispute.
The players have a good thing going. They don't want to change it. Why should they? Right now, players receive 60 percent of all league revenues after $1 billion is given to the owners to cover operating costs. Frankly, they deserve it. The average NFL career lasts 3-5 years. That greatly limits the earning potential for the average NFL player. Add in the toll playing football takes on the body and the years of chronic medical problems that many players suffer through after they retire, you could argue that the players deserve more. The current CBA is heavily weighted in the union's favor (which is one of the reasons why the owners opted out). The players are even willing to make slight concessions to get a deal done. But the owners are asking for too much.
For the most part, the owners are being selfish and greedy. Player salaries rose so high partly because the owners were willing to pay them that much. Since the owners opted out of the soon-to-expire CBA, there was no salary cap last season. Do you really think they'll ever be able to convince the players to agree to a salary cap again? The owners want a rookie wage scale. The players have no problem with that. In fact, they agree that Sam Bradford shouldn't make more money than a majority of the other quarterbacks in the league simply because he was drafted first. Establish yourself as a star, then get paid like one. Not the other way around. But they want the ability to become free agents earlier. The owners don't want that, and don't really seem willing to budge.
One of the reasons the owners opted out is because they said their expenses were getting too high to continue doing business under the current model. One of the reasons they're "losing money" is because they're building new stadiums. Yet, a lot of the money that's spent to build those stadiums comes from the taxpayers (aka, the fans). Then once the stadium is finished, those same fans have to pay personal seat liceneses just for the right to buy tickets. Plus parking. Plus concessions. Plus all those luxury suites. Who gets all that money again? I'll give you a hint: it's not the players.
As a means of adding revenue, the owners want to increase the season from 16 to 18 games and reduce the preseason from four games to two. I've already gone on record as saying I hate the idea of an 18-game schedule. The NFL doesn't need it and fans don't want it. Mr. Brilliant Commissioner and his owner cronies don't get that. They claim that fans don't want four preseason games. That's not the case. What the fans don't want is being forced to pay full-price for tickets to those preseason games. A lot of players (Ray Lewis is the most prominent) have spoken out against the proposed 18-game season, but it's not something the union is completely opposed to. The problem is the owners essentially want the players to play 18 regular season games, but pay them the same as they currently get for 16. Here the players are crying, "Foul!", and rightfully so.
In anticipation of a lockout, the owners had $4 billion put aside in the last round of TV contracts just in case there was no season in 2011. In other words, the owners still get paid even if there's no football come September. Thus, they don't really have that much of an incentive to get a deal done, since they'll get money anyway...and they don't have to share it with the players! Sign me up for a deal like that! Yet the owners continue to claim they're losing money. Sorry, not buying it. Neither is the federal mediator who's been asked to oversee the proceedings. He agrees that it's completely unfair that the owners were able to work "lockout insurance" into the TV contract, while the players will get nothing out of it.
Perhaps the only remaining option the players have is to decertify the union. If they do that, the NFL loses its antitrust exemption. Without a union representing them, the players are independent contractors and thus able to sue the NFL under federal antitrust laws. It worked in 1989. That might be the only thing that could possibly save the season. The players want to play. Don't forget that.
Mr. Brilliant Commissioner and his cronies decided to mess with a great thing. And it's going to be the fans who suffer. And it's 100 percent the owners' fault.
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