Don't hate the players, this whole mess is on the owners.

(from Drew Brees):

"The NFL brought this fight to us – they want $1 billion back, we just want financial information to back up that request. They refuse to give that information to us. They think we should just trust them. Would you?"

From everything I've read and heard, this whole mess seems to be driven by the owners at the bottom(guys like Mike Brown & Jerry Richardson). They're not making as much as the top owners(Jerry Jones, Snyder & the Maras), so they want givebacks from the players.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.co...z1GKmE3HRe

[Edited 3/11/11 14:57pm]

billionaires arguing with millionaires, it's kind of hard to relate.

I do like to see people standing up for their rights though, so kudos to them for not backing down.

JerseyKRS said:

billionaires arguing with millionaires, it's kind of hard to relate.

But the players didn't start this. They wanted the status quo.

uPtoWnNY said:

JerseyKRS said:

billionaires arguing with millionaires, it's kind of hard to relate.

But the players didn't start this. They wanted the status quo.

this was a small market vs a big market thing....if Wellington was alive, this wouldn't have happened. he was instrumental in getting revenue sharing. The newer big buck owners like Snyder don't give a crap.

The players arent all innocent in this either. who really gets screwed? us fans who shell out good money to buy replica jerseys, etc. We can't afford tickets anymore...my seats at Giants stadium went from 85 a seat to 800, will 20,000 licensing fee attached to each seat.

Money will screw up an organization.

JerseyKRS said:

billionaires arguing with millionaires, it's kind of hard to relate.

I do like to see people standing up for their rights though, so kudos to them for not backing down.

I can relate and it is still silly.

The league said in a statement Saturday it was “taking the difficult but necessary step of exercising its right under federal labor low to impose a lockout of the union.”

On Friday, the union decertified, meaning it declared itself out of the business of representing players. In exchange for giving up their rights under labor law, the players became able to take their chances in court under antitrust law.

That paved the way for 10 players, including MVP quarterbacks Tom Brady(notes) and Peyton Manning(notes), to sue the owners in federal court in Minneapolis in a class-action claim. The players also sought an injunction to block a lockout— even before one had been imposed.

Despite two extensions to the collective bargaining agreement during 16 days of talks overseen by a federal mediator—following months of stop-and-start negotiating—the sides could not agree on a new deal.

The league’s statement Saturday called the NFL Players Association’s decertification a “sham” and said the players’ court action is “built on the indisputably false premise that the NFLPA has stopped being a union and will merely delay the process of reaching an agreement.”

The statement told fans: “We know that you want football. You will have football. This will be resolved.”

As was clear all along, the dispute came down to money. In the end, it appeared the sides were about $185 million apart on how much owners should get up front each season for certain operating expenses before splitting the rest of the revenues with players—a far cry from the $1 billion that separated the sides for months.

But the union refused to budge any further without getting detailed financial information for each team.

“I would dare any one of you to pull out any economic indicator that would suggest that the National Football League is falling on hard times,” NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said. “The last 14 days, the National Football League has said, ‘Trust us.’ But when it came time for verification, they told us it was none of our business.”

By dissolving and announcing it no longer represents the players in collective bargaining, the union cleared the way for class-action lawsuits against the NFL, which exercised a CBA opt-out clause in 2008. The antitrust suit—forever to be known as Brady et al vs. National Football League et al— attacked the league’s policies on the draft, salary cap and free-agent restrictions such as franchise-player tags.

Invoking the Sherman Act, a federal antitrust statute from 1890 that limits monopolies and restrictions on commerce, the players are seeking triple the amount of damages they’ve incurred. That means the stakes could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

It could take a month for there to be a ruling on the union’s injunction request, and antitrust judgments should take longer.

Depending on what happens in court—a Minnesota judge has held jurisdiction over NFL labor matters since the early 1990s—next season could be threatened. The last time NFL games were lost to a work stoppage came when the players struck 24 years ago, leading to games with replacement players.

A lockout is a right management has to shut down a business when a CBA expires. It means there can be no communication between the teams and current NFL players; no players—including those drafted in April—can be signed; teams won’t pay for health insurance for players.

Even though the NFL is early in its offseason—and the regular season is six months away—this is hardly a complete downtime. Free agency usually begins in March, and there are hundreds of free agents now in limbo. Also this month, under a regular schedule, team-organized offseason workouts would start. The lockout grinds all such activity to a halt.

March and early April are when many sponsors and corporate partners renew their deals with the NFL, part of why the league says hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue are going to be lost now.

“This obviously is a very disappointing day for all of us. I’ve been here for the better part of two weeks now, and essentially … the union’s position on the core economic issues has not changed one iota,” New York Giants owner John Mara said. “One thing that became painfully apparent to me during this period was that their objective was to go the litigation route.”

The NFLPA also decertified in 1989. Antitrust lawsuits by players led to a new CBA in 1993 that included free agency, and the union formed again that year.

The sides met from 10 a.m. until about 4 p.m. Friday, discussing a new proposal by the owners. When the possibility of a third extension to the CBA was raised, the union said it first wanted assurances it would get 10 years of audited financial information.

“I will tell you this: Any business where two partners don’t trust each other, any business where one party says, ‘You need to do X, Y and Z because I told you,’ is a business that is not only not run well, it is a business that can never be as successful as it can be,” Smith said.

At 4:45 p.m., Smith and the union’s negotiators left the mediator’s office. About 15 minutes later, the union decertified.

“No one is happy where we are now,” NFL lead negotiator Jeff Pash said. “I think we know where the (union’s) commitment was. It was a commitment to litigate all along.”

After Pash talked to the media outside the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, union lawyer Jim Quinn spoke at NFLPA headquarters about three blocks away and said: “I hate to say this, but he has not told the truth to our players or our fans. He has, in a word, lied to them about what happened today and what’s happened over the last two weeks and the last two years.”

The NFL said its offer included splitting the difference in the dispute over how much money owners should be given off the top of the league’s revenues. Under the expiring CBA, the owners immediately got about $1 billion before dividing the remainder of revenues with the players; the owners entered negotiations seeking to roughly double that.

But the owners eventually reduced that additional upfront demand to about $650 million. Then, on Friday, they offered to drop that to about $325 million. Smith said the union offered during talks to give up $550 million over the first four years of a new agreement—or an average of $137.5 million.

“We worked hard,” said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who was joined at mediation on Thursday and Friday by nine of the 10 members of the owners’ powerful labor committee. “We didn’t reach an agreement, obviously. As you know, the union walked away from the mediation process.”

Also in the NFL’s offer, according to the league:

— Maintaining the 16 regular-season games and four preseason games for at least two years, with any switch to 18 games down the road being negotiable.

— Instituting a rookie wage scale through which money saved would be paid to veterans and retired players.

— Creating new year-round health and safety rules.

— Establishing a fund for retired players, with $82 million contributed by the owners over the next two years.

— Financial disclosure of audited profitability information that is not even shared with the NFL clubs. That was proposed by the NFL this week, and rejected by the union, which began insisting in May 2009 for a complete look at the books of each of the 32 clubs.

As Pash outlined each element of the owners’ last offer, he ended with the phrase: “Evidently not good enough.”

When Goodell, Pash, Mara and owners Jerry Jones of the Cowboys and Jerry Richardson of the Panthers emerged from Cohen’s office shortly after 5 p.m., they sounded hopeful negotiations would resume soon.

“We’re discouraged, we’re frustrated, we’re disappointed, but we are not giving up. We know that this will be resolved in the negotiation process,” Pash said. “We will be prepared to come back here any time the union is ready to come back here.”

AP Pro Football Writer Barry Wilner in New York, AP Sports Writer Joseph White in Washington, and Associated Press Writer Amy Forliti in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

NFL Commissioner Goodell writes letter to fans

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell posted the following letter to NFL fans on www.nfl.com on Friday after labor talks ended:

Dear NFL Fan,

When I wrote to you last on behalf of the NFL, we promised you that we would work tirelessly to find a collectively bargained solution to our differences with the players’ union. Subsequent to that letter to you, we agreed that the fastest way to a fair agreement was for everyone to work together through a mediation process. For the last three weeks I have personally attended every session of mediation, which is a process our clubs sincerely believe in.

Unfortunately, I have to tell you that earlier today the players’ union walked away from mediation and collective bargaining and has initiated litigation against the clubs. In an effort to get a fair agreement now, our clubs offered a deal today that, among other things, was designed to have no adverse financial impact on veteran players in the early years, and would have met the players’ financial demands in the latter years of the agreement.

The proposal we made included an offer to narrow the player compensation gap that existed in the negotiations by splitting the difference; guarantee a reallocation of savings from first-round rookies to veterans and retirees without negatively affecting compensation for rounds 2-7; no compensation reduction for veterans; implement new year-round health and safety rules; retain the current 16-4 season format for at least two years with any subsequent changes subject to the approval of the league and union; and establish a new legacy fund for retired players ($82 million contributed by the owners over the next two years).

It was a deal that offered compromise, and would have ensured the well-being of our players and guaranteed the long-term future for the fans of the great game we all love so much. It was a deal where everyone would prosper.

We remain committed to collective bargaining and the federal mediation process until an agreement is reached, and call on the union to return to negotiations immediately. NFL players, clubs, and fans want an agreement. The only place it can be reached is at the bargaining table.

While we are disappointed with the union’s actions, we remain steadfastly committed to reaching an agreement that serves the best interest of NFL players, clubs and fans, and thank you for your continued support of our league. First and foremost it is your passion for the game that drives us all, and we will not lose sight of this as we continue to work for a deal that works for everyone.

Yours,

Roger Goodell

Goodell is full of shit. Blame asshole owners like Jerry Jones that built a billion dollar stadium during an economic downturn need more money and are against revenue sharing with small market owners. They're trying to pull a fast one against the players.

uPtoWnNY said:

Goodell is full of shit. Blame asshole owners like Jerry Jones that built a billion dollar stadium during an economic downturn need more money and are against revenue sharing with small market owners. They're trying to pull a fast one against the players.

And how much was the stadium in NY? About $1.4 billion ($200 million MORE than Cowboys Stadium BUT we were smart enough to include a roof) AND ya'll needed a loan from the NFL to finish construction when you went over budget. Jerry got $300 mil from the city of Arlington but wrote a check for $1.1 billion of his own money to build the stadium. If he's fronting the costs he should reap the benefits.

Like it or not, players are employees and they are not forced to play. If you don't like your boss go get another job that will pay you as much. Good luck! The owners take the financial risks so it makes TOTAL sense they should get more money. Not saying the players shouldn't get something too. But it seems like the NFLPA are the ones who walked away from the table AFTER the league was willing to make many concessions and back off from the extra $1 billion down to a measly $325 million in added revenue. To force a lockout over that comparatively small amount of money when you got just about everything else is assinine.

The NFL said its offer included splitting the difference in the dispute over how much money owners should be given off the top of the league’s revenues. Under the expiring CBA, the owners immediately got about $1 billion before dividing the remainder of revenues with the players; the owners entered negotiations seeking to roughly double that.

But the owners eventually reduced that additional upfront demand to about $650 million. Then, on Friday, they offered to drop that to about $325 million. Smith said the union offered during talks to give up $550 million over the first four years of a new agreement—or an average of $137.5 million.

“We worked hard,” said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who was joined at mediation on Thursday and Friday by nine of the 10 members of the owners’ powerful labor committee. “We didn’t reach an agreement, obviously. As you know, the union walked away from the mediation process.”

Also in the NFL’s offer, according to the league:

— Maintaining the 16 regular-season games and four preseason games for at least two years, with any switch to 18 games down the road being negotiable.

— Instituting a rookie wage scale through which money saved would be paid to veterans and retired players.

— Creating new year-round health and safety rules.

— Establishing a fund for retired players, with $82 million contributed by the owners over the next two years.

[Edited 3/12/11 13:29pm]

Damn. And this was the year I wanted to try my hand at the Superbowl Platter. I hate the owners, that's for damn sure....

SCNDLS said:

uPtoWnNY said:

Goodell is full of shit. Blame asshole owners like Jerry Jones that built a billion dollar stadium during an economic downturn need more money and are against revenue sharing with small market owners. They're trying to pull a fast one against the players.

And how much was the stadium in NY? About $1.4 billion ($200 million MORE than Cowboys Stadium BUT we were smart enough to include a roof) AND ya'll needed a loan from the NFL to finish construction when you went over budget. Jerry got $300 mil from the city of Arlington but wrote a check for $1.1 billion of his own money to build the stadium. If he's fronting the costs he should reap the benefits.

Like it or not, players are employees and they are not forced to play. If you don't like your boss go get another job that will pay you as much. Good luck! The owners take the financial risks so it makes TOTAL sense they should get more money. Not saying the players shouldn't get something too. But it seems like the NFLPA are the ones who walked away from the table AFTER the league was willing to make many concessions and back off from the extra $1 billion down to a measly $325 million in added revenue. To force a lockout over that comparatively small amount of money when you got just about everything else is assinine.

The NFL said its offer included splitting the difference in the dispute over how much money owners should be given off the top of the league’s revenues. Under the expiring CBA, the owners immediately got about $1 billion before dividing the remainder of revenues with the players; the owners entered negotiations seeking to roughly double that.

But the owners eventually reduced that additional upfront demand to about $650 million. Then, on Friday, they offered to drop that to about $325 million. Smith said the union offered during talks to give up $550 million over the first four years of a new agreement—or an average of $137.5 million.

“We worked hard,” said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who was joined at mediation on Thursday and Friday by nine of the 10 members of the owners’ powerful labor committee. “We didn’t reach an agreement, obviously. As you know, the union walked away from the mediation process.”

Also in the NFL’s offer, according to the league:

— Maintaining the 16 regular-season games and four preseason games for at least two years, with any switch to 18 games down the road being negotiable.

— Instituting a rookie wage scale through which money saved would be paid to veterans and retired players.

— Creating new year-round health and safety rules.

— Establishing a fund for retired players, with $82 million contributed by the owners over the next two years.

[Edited 3/12/11 13:29pm]

Goodell has been full of shit for a long time. The biggest issues in this whole drama are the owners wanting the players to pay for the mistakes the owners have made themselves, and to extend the season by two games, which would guarantee the owners boatloads of more revenue yet certainly jeopardize and shorten the players' careers considerably. They also have been butting heads over the aftercare of retired NFL players, and while both players and owners should put up cash and resources to make sure the retired players aren't destitute due to medical issues, the owners are refusing to put up any cash for benefits because they fear it will put them up for liability lawsuits.

As for the rookie wage scale, the players aren't actually opposed to that, but they want guarantees that they would be able to renegotiate higher salaries by the third season while the owners want it to happen by the fourth season. However, the average NFL player's career span is only five years, so most players would not benefit by waiting four years to get a big payday because many of them will never see one due to injuries and salary caps. And it's not the players' fault that Dan Snyder gave a hundred million dollar contract to Albert Haynesworth and then signed a coach who refused to play him, whether it was warranted or not. And it's also not the players' fault that some owners gave massive huge contracts to Ryan Leaf, Tim Couch, Akili Smith, and Jamarcus Russell.

And it's not the players' fault that Jerry Jones can attract high profile players by building state-of-the-art facilities like a huge new stadium (which was paid nearly all with his own money) while other cheapskate owners go begging city and state legislatures to have the taxpayers build them a new stadium while pocketing the huge TV revenue money they get from the league as well as gate receipts and concessions.

The owners may have picked the absolute worst time in history to lock out the players. They are clamoring for more money during the middle of the worst ecomonic downturn since the Great Depression, and they are risking alienating players and fans just as working people in other industries are fighting for their rights to collective bargaining and benefits against corrupt GOP politicians who are in the pockets of their billionaire donors.

I refer to him as GODdell. Because that's who he thinks he is.

SCNDLS said:

uPtoWnNY said:

Goodell is full of shit. Blame asshole owners like Jerry Jones that built a billion dollar stadium during an economic downturn need more money and are against revenue sharing with small market owners. They're trying to pull a fast one against the players.

And how much was the stadium in NY? About $1.4 billion ($200 million MORE than Cowboys Stadium BUT we were smart enough to include a roof) AND ya'll needed a loan from the NFL to finish construction when you went over budget. Jerry got $300 mil from the city of Arlington but wrote a check for $1.1 billion of his own money to build the stadium. If he's fronting the costs he should reap the benefits.

Like it or not, players are employees and they are not forced to play. If you don't like your boss go get another job that will pay you as much. Good luck! The owners take the financial risks so it makes TOTAL sense they should get more money. Not saying the players shouldn't get something too. But it seems like the NFLPA are the ones who walked away from the table AFTER the league was willing to make many concessions and back off from the extra $1 billion down to a measly $325 million in added revenue. To force a lockout over that comparatively small amount of money when you got just about everything else is assinine.

The NFL said its offer included splitting the difference in the dispute over how much money owners should be given off the top of the league’s revenues. Under the expiring CBA, the owners immediately got about $1 billion before dividing the remainder of revenues with the players; the owners entered negotiations seeking to roughly double that.

But the owners eventually reduced that additional upfront demand to about $650 million. Then, on Friday, they offered to drop that to about $325 million. Smith said the union offered during talks to give up $550 million over the first four years of a new agreement—or an average of $137.5 million.

“We worked hard,” said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who was joined at mediation on Thursday and Friday by nine of the 10 members of the owners’ powerful labor committee. “We didn’t reach an agreement, obviously. As you know, the union walked away from the mediation process.”

Also in the NFL’s offer, according to the league:

— Maintaining the 16 regular-season games and four preseason games for at least two years, with any switch to 18 games down the road being negotiable.

— Instituting a rookie wage scale through which money saved would be paid to veterans and retired players.

— Creating new year-round health and safety rules.

— Establishing a fund for retired players, with $82 million contributed by the owners over the next two years.

[Edited 3/12/11 13:29pm]

in a nutshell.

There are times though when the owners throw away money to marginal players.

728huey said:

SCNDLS said:

And how much was the stadium in NY? About $1.4 billion ($200 million MORE than Cowboys Stadium BUT we were smart enough to include a roof) AND ya'll needed a loan from the NFL to finish construction when you went over budget. Jerry got $300 mil from the city of Arlington but wrote a check for $1.1 billion of his own money to build the stadium. If he's fronting the costs he should reap the benefits.

Like it or not, players are employees and they are not forced to play. If you don't like your boss go get another job that will pay you as much. Good luck! The owners take the financial risks so it makes TOTAL sense they should get more money. Not saying the players shouldn't get something too. But it seems like the NFLPA are the ones who walked away from the table AFTER the league was willing to make many concessions and back off from the extra $1 billion down to a measly $325 million in added revenue. To force a lockout over that comparatively small amount of money when you got just about everything else is assinine.

The NFL said its offer included splitting the difference in the dispute over how much money owners should be given off the top of the league’s revenues. Under the expiring CBA, the owners immediately got about $1 billion before dividing the remainder of revenues with the players; the owners entered negotiations seeking to roughly double that.

But the owners eventually reduced that additional upfront demand to about $650 million. Then, on Friday, they offered to drop that to about $325 million. Smith said the union offered during talks to give up $550 million over the first four years of a new agreement—or an average of $137.5 million.

“We worked hard,” said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who was joined at mediation on Thursday and Friday by nine of the 10 members of the owners’ powerful labor committee. “We didn’t reach an agreement, obviously. As you know, the union walked away from the mediation process.”

Also in the NFL’s offer, according to the league:

— Maintaining the 16 regular-season games and four preseason games for at least two years, with any switch to 18 games down the road being negotiable.

— Instituting a rookie wage scale through which money saved would be paid to veterans and retired players.

— Creating new year-round health and safety rules.

— Establishing a fund for retired players, with $82 million contributed by the owners over the next two years.

[Edited 3/12/11 13:29pm]

Goodell has been full of shit for a long time. The biggest issues in this whole drama are the owners wanting the players to pay for the mistakes the owners have made themselves, and to extend the season by two games, which would guarantee the owners boatloads of more revenue yet certainly jeopardize and shorten the players' careers considerably. They also have been butting heads over the aftercare of retired NFL players, and while both players and owners should put up cash and resources to make sure the retired players aren't destitute due to medical issues, the owners are refusing to put up any cash for benefits because they fear it will put them up for liability lawsuits.

As for the rookie wage scale, the players aren't actually opposed to that, but they want guarantees that they would be able to renegotiate higher salaries by the third season while the owners want it to happen by the fourth season. However, the average NFL player's career span is only five years, so most players would not benefit by waiting four years to get a big payday because many of them will never see one due to injuries and salary caps. And it's not the players' fault that Dan Snyder gave a hundred million dollar contract to Albert Haynesworth and then signed a coach who refused to play him, whether it was warranted or not. And it's also not the players' fault that some owners gave massive huge contracts to Ryan Leaf, Tim Couch, Akili Smith, and Jamarcus Russell.

And it's not the players' fault that Jerry Jones can attract high profile players by building state-of-the-art facilities like a huge new stadium (which was paid nearly all with his own money) while other cheapskate owners go begging city and state legislatures to have the taxpayers build them a new stadium while pocketing the huge TV revenue money they get from the league as well as gate receipts and concessions.

The owners may have picked the absolute worst time in history to lock out the players. They are clamoring for more money during the middle of the worst ecomonic downturn since the Great Depression, and they are risking alienating players and fans just as working people in other industries are fighting for their rights to collective bargaining and benefits against corrupt GOP politicians who are in the pockets of their billionaire donors.

And it also NOT the players fault that the NFL headquarters & NFL team owners will continue to make money off of their good names after the players themselves are dead and gone.

See there, no one is think about THAT^, except for Tom Brady & Peyton Manning.

If American Football HOF Joe Montana was to die tomorrow, the NFL can still make money off of Montana's good name by selling NFL throwback jeseries, while Montana's children & grandchildren would NOT get a damn thing out of it.

All the members of the NFLPA needs to make sure that they can get some of that throwback revenue money for their children and grandchildren's sakes.

Here's hoping for a "replacements" seaon....my Bills might actually win a game then!

SHANE FALCO, SHANE FALCO, SHANE FALCO!

Obviously the owners are the real assholes in this but the players are millionaire shitheads as well. Best that they lower all their pay and lower ticket costs, so regular joes like me can afford to see a fucking game.

2freaky4church1 said:

Obviously the owners are the real assholes in this but the players are millionaire shitheads as well. Best that they lower all their pay and lower ticket costs, so regular joes like me can afford to see a fucking game.

I've attended one NFL game in my entire life, and that was 20 years ago. And that was because someone gave me a ticket to go to a game because they had to attend a family function. If I had to pay for that ticket at that time, it would have set me back about $55, which I'm sure now would cost me $100.

Going to a MLB game (depending on what team you like) can be a bargain comparable to going to the movies up to being totally ridiculous in price. Going to see the Cubs, Yankees, or Red Sox will set you back a whole lot of cash, yet you can get some good deals on White Sox tickets. And going to an NBA game is sort of the same deal. When Michael Jordan played for the Bulls, it was nearly impossible to go to the game unless you bought tickets at the beginning of the season because they always sold out. Granted, it became a lot easier to get tickets after the championship team was broken up, but now that the Bulls look like a championship contender again, it's going to be harder to get tickets.

But as for the NFL, the oweners already get an equal share of revenue, but they instituted all of these personal seat licenses and box suites to extract more money from the fans. While some of that does go to pay for some of the biggest stars' exhorbitant salaries, a lot of that money is being pocketed by the owners themselves.

728huey said:

SCNDLS said:

And how much was the stadium in NY? About $1.4 billion ($200 million MORE than Cowboys Stadium BUT we were smart enough to include a roof) AND ya'll needed a loan from the NFL to finish construction when you went over budget. Jerry got $300 mil from the city of Arlington but wrote a check for $1.1 billion of his own money to build the stadium. If he's fronting the costs he should reap the benefits.

Like it or not, players are employees and they are not forced to play. If you don't like your boss go get another job that will pay you as much. Good luck! The owners take the financial risks so it makes TOTAL sense they should get more money. Not saying the players shouldn't get something too. But it seems like the NFLPA are the ones who walked away from the table AFTER the league was willing to make many concessions and back off from the extra $1 billion down to a measly $325 million in added revenue. To force a lockout over that comparatively small amount of money when you got just about everything else is assinine.

The NFL said its offer included splitting the difference in the dispute over how much money owners should be given off the top of the league’s revenues. Under the expiring CBA, the owners immediately got about $1 billion before dividing the remainder of revenues with the players; the owners entered negotiations seeking to roughly double that.

But the owners eventually reduced that additional upfront demand to about $650 million. Then, on Friday, they offered to drop that to about $325 million. Smith said the union offered during talks to give up $550 million over the first four years of a new agreement—or an average of $137.5 million.

“We worked hard,” said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who was joined at mediation on Thursday and Friday by nine of the 10 members of the owners’ powerful labor committee. “We didn’t reach an agreement, obviously. As you know, the union walked away from the mediation process.”

Also in the NFL’s offer, according to the league:

— Maintaining the 16 regular-season games and four preseason games for at least two years, with any switch to 18 games down the road being negotiable.

— Instituting a rookie wage scale through which money saved would be paid to veterans and retired players.

— Creating new year-round health and safety rules.

— Establishing a fund for retired players, with $82 million contributed by the owners over the next two years.

[Edited 3/12/11 13:29pm]

Goodell has been full of shit for a long time. The biggest issues in this whole drama are the owners wanting the players to pay for the mistakes the owners have made themselves, and to extend the season by two games, which would guarantee the owners boatloads of more revenue yet certainly jeopardize and shorten the players' careers considerably. They also have been butting heads over the aftercare of retired NFL players, and while both players and owners should put up cash and resources to make sure the retired players aren't destitute due to medical issues, the owners are refusing to put up any cash for benefits because they fear it will put them up for liability lawsuits.

As for the rookie wage scale, the players aren't actually opposed to that, but they want guarantees that they would be able to renegotiate higher salaries by the third season while the owners want it to happen by the fourth season. However, the average NFL player's career span is only five years, so most players would not benefit by waiting four years to get a big payday because many of them will never see one due to injuries and salary caps. And it's not the players' fault that Dan Snyder gave a hundred million dollar contract to Albert Haynesworth and then signed a coach who refused to play him, whether it was warranted or not. And it's also not the players' fault that some owners gave massive huge contracts to Ryan Leaf, Tim Couch, Akili Smith, and Jamarcus Russell.

And it's not the players' fault that Jerry Jones can attract high profile players by building state-of-the-art facilities like a huge new stadium (which was paid nearly all with his own money) while other cheapskate owners go begging city and state legislatures to have the taxpayers build them a new stadium while pocketing the huge TV revenue money they get from the league as well as gate receipts and concessions.

The owners may have picked the absolute worst time in history to lock out the players. They are clamoring for more money during the middle of the worst ecomonic downturn since the Great Depression, and they are risking alienating players and fans just as working people in other industries are fighting for their rights to collective bargaining and benefits against corrupt GOP politicians who are in the pockets of their billionaire donors.

Agreed. But if you read the excerpt I posted, the sticking issue was not any of that stuff. It looks as tho the owners caved on most of their demands and had DRASTICALLY reduced the amount of extra money the owners wanted from an extra $1 billion to only $325 million and the NFLPA walked away from the table.

And the same reason you cited above for why it's the worst time to have a lockout reflects just as poorly on the players IMO. These mofos are balking at paying for their own healthcare when so many Americans don't have any. Shit like that doesn't go over well on Main St.

[Edited 3/13/11 19:10pm]

MINNEAPOLIS (AP)—An April 6 hearing date has been set in the federal antitrust lawsuit filed by players against the NFL.

The players filed a request last week for an injunction that would keep the NFL and the teams from engaging in a lockout, which took effect at midnight Friday. The hearing is scheduled to be in front of U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson in Minnesota.

The case first went to Judge Richard Kyle, who recused himself for unspecified reasons. It was reassigned to Judge Patrick Schiltz. On Monday, Schiltz cited a conflict of interest because he represented the NFL in several cases as a private practice attorney. The case then went to Nelson.

The case may still be reassigned. The players want the case before Judge David Doty, who has overseen NFL labor matters since the early 1990s.

A lot of women who lost their husbands to football are gonna be really happy....

StillGotIt said:

A lot of women who lost their husbands to football are gonna be really happy....

It's too early to worry about not having my football. If this shit isn't resolved by June, then I'll worry.

This post from another site says it all;

"The blame for the lockout rests squarely on the ownership and Goodell.

The rich : Jerry Jones and Daniel Snyder dont like revenue sharing and believe their billions should be more billions.

The poor: Mike Brown and Ralph Wilson are idiots because they havent figured out how to make money with full revenue sharing out of an extremely large financial pool.

Goodell: nothing more than a puppet for the owners when he should be leading them. He needs to temper the rich for their greed and blast the poor for being cheap and not keeping their franchises up to standard. Instead he is a glorified puppeteer.

I dont blame the players one bit. This plan was set in place three years ago, the players knew this and dug in, and the owners said screw you lets see how well you saved. The owners believe the players will break when the money runs out and they will ultimately get everything they want."

Bottom line - the smaller owners are saying to the big owners, we have to do something, because our profits aren't as big as yours. The big owners respond, take it from the players, not us. And the players aren't having that shit, and they're right.

[Edited 3/15/11 10:57am]

I hate to sound like a broken record, but most of these players aren't as good as their paychecks and the bullshit media would have you to believe. So fuck 'em. If I had my way not one single damned player would make more than half a mil in salary, but I would offer incentives based on performance/ game stats.

Adisa said:

I hate to sound like a broken record, but most of these players aren't as good as their paychecks and the bullshit media would have you to believe. So fuck 'em. If I had my way not one single damned player would make more than half a mil in salary, but I would offer incentives based on performance/ game stats.

That's totally ridiculous. Pro athletes have a unique skill 99% of us don't have, they generate MILLIONS in revenue/merchandising, and they put their bodies on the line - just look at old football players, they're physical wrecks. Damn straight they should get paid big money. I'd like to see some of y'all strap on a helmet and throw a football with 250+ pound mfers blitzing you, hit a baseball coming at you 90+mph, or shoot a basketball with the precision of a Ray Allen. But it's okay for the owners to rake in millions off their skill, and use their likeness to sell their teams. Market value, folks.

No one begrudges the actor or the rock star from raking in the cash, but pro athletes, who are on that same level, get nothing but hate. Makes no sense.

uPtoWnNY said:

Adisa said:

I hate to sound like a broken record, but most of these players aren't as good as their paychecks and the bullshit media would have you to believe. So fuck 'em. If I had my way not one single damned player would make more than half a mil in salary, but I would offer incentives based on performance/ game stats.

That's totally ridiculous. Pro athletes have a unique skill 99% of us don't have, they generate MILLIONS in revenue/merchandising, and they put their bodies on the line - just look at old football players, they're physical wrecks. Damn straight they should get paid big money. I'd like to see some of y'all strap on a helmet and throw a football with 250+ pound mfers blitzing you, hit a baseball coming at you 90+mph, or shoot a basketball with the precision of a Ray Allen. But it's okay for the owners to rake in millions off their skill, and use their likeness to sell their teams. Market value, folks.

No one begrudges the actor or the rock star from raking in the cash, but pro athletes, who are on that same level, get nothing but hate. Makes no sense.

And that's totally bullshit. My wife also has a skill that 99% of you don't have, and that's being a teacher to 3 graders, and dealing with the many disfunctional families that those kids belong to. And I help generate millions for my company, as do most people who have a job. So what is your point? The risk associated with being a pro athlete is just that: the risk associated with being a pro athlete. You act like these cats are doing us a favor or something, because thay chose the profession they did. LOL. And retired athletes aren't the only ones that get screwed out of their retirement, pensions, or healthcare plans. You will too, someday. Watch and wait.

This is no different than any other job. Owners of any and every business are in it to make money off the hired help. I'm not saying it right or wrong. But that it is what it is.

"Playing in the NFL is like modern-day slavery" - Remind me to pimp slap the shit out of Adrian Peterson the next time I see him.

SonOfSoul said:

"Playing in the NFL is like modern-day slavery" - Remind me to pimp slap the shit out of Adrian Peterson the next time I see him.

Playing in the NFL is just like any other job. They're employees. They're employees whose bosses have decided to reevaluate some things, so they can stay in business while they reap the lion's share--not the employees-- and not piss off the customers/ fans by overcharging them.

Adisa said:

SonOfSoul said:

"Playing in the NFL is like modern-day slavery" - Remind me to pimp slap the shit out of Adrian Peterson the next time I see him.

Playing in the NFL is just like any other job. They're employees. They're employees whose bosses have decided to reevaluate some things, so they can stay in business while they reap the lion's share--not the employees-- and not piss off the customers/ fans by overcharging them.

Really? You get paid millions at your job? Cool, hook me up.

SonOfSoul said:

Adisa said:

Playing in the NFL is just like any other job. They're employees. They're employees whose bosses have decided to reevaluate some things, so they can stay in business while they reap the lion's share--not the employees-- and not piss off the customers/ fans by overcharging them.

Really? You get paid millions at your job? Cool, hook me up.

No I don't and neither do a lot of the players in the league (just like not all the owner are rolling dough due to the franchises they own). Like any other job the average employee (player) earns market value. And like any other job bosses are gonna do what they are the ones that reap the lion's share while juggling to stay in business.