Summary of NFL proposal...Players response to that proposal.

[LatrobePA]

Okay, I'm an idiot when it comes to understanding this crap, is there going to be football or does it look like a negative??

HELP the polish man understand WTF is going on!!

[coach]

after watching the vids from both the owners and the players the only thing i came away with is that the players want access to and an audit of all financial records for the last 10 years which, lets face it, is uprecedented. i mean, when youre at work you dont demand that your boss show you how much money he made from your labors before you agree to start working again. you either agree to your rate of pay or you dont and you find another job. combine that with the fact that the lowest paid player in the game, say, a 3rd string punter(lol) will make like 200k a year and you have what i refer to as anal fistedness. greedy bitches squabbling with greedy bitches about who is greedier.

the 18 game thing imo was nothing but another bargaining chip.it just seems as though it was a kind of "phantom offer". they say they want 18 game seasons right before the CBA expires, knowing that the players would flip out about it and then when the time comes to start dealing they take it off the table and pretend like theyre making some kind of concession that can be pointed to like "just look at all the stuff we're willing to concede, we're being SO reasonable".

honestly its a circle jerk of the highest order.

The owners walked away from this deal saying they needed more. The owners were just told they should have included the dollars they got from the TV deal into the revenue pie they need to split with the players. The owners have a way of creatively writing things off that keep the size of the pie that needs to be divided smaller than would otherwise be the case.

When you say the players agreed to a rate, you mean that they agreed to a percentage. That percentage is ambiguous because the owners can shrink or expand it based on a myriad of considerations that depends on how creative your accountant is.

If you agreed to work based on comission and then your boss changed the definition of what constitutes closed sales because he thought you were making too much money, I am sure you would have more than a few questions for your employer.

When Jerry Jones et al start taking head shots for their income, they can ask for more money as far as I am concerned. Until then, we pay the prices we do to watch the players play. We don't pay top dollar to watch washed out scab QBs like Jemarcus Russell and 10 other guys named "who" play football. The current NFL players are the game.

I don't think the prices I pay for an NFL ticket should have anyhting to do with the art that Jerry Jones' wife decided to hang in that oversized $hit h@le in Texas, that couldn't even accomodate the people who bought superbowl tickets, with a bazillion dollar HD TV that hangs too low over his field, and I am sure the players feel the same way. Why do stadiums have to have all the things they do and does that impact the operating costs that determine pay for the players? Why should I let a self-centered moron make decisions that impact my pay without being able to see and question the financial decisions that impact me? Why can't I see the books since my income depends, in part, on revenue?

The players will win this battle because the owners argument is silly. It equals we want more than enough because we do, and we realize we signed off on a deal that we shouldn't have but now we want to fix it so we get more.

IMHO, the players will call their bluff and tell them to carry their mortgage payments on their stadiums when they sit empty oe they sell discounted tickets because you signed the deal you did. The owners will cave because their cost benefit analysis tells them that an ok deal is better than no deal.

As a fan, I back the players on this one. Owners get enough concessions from cities and municipalities all over North America. That's one of the issue with sports and capitalism. You are supposed to be rewared for taking risks. There is little riisk when you get the city, county and state to pay most of your freight and then you cook the books so you pay out as little as possible, all the while paying your wife as a consultant to hang art in your building. This is simply ridiculous.

If the owners had a real argument, they would open all their books so the players could scrutinize them. This will never happen. IMHO, watch the owners capitulate in the end. The players won't even have to worry about allowing the owners to "save face." The owners will fall all over themselves to sign a deal that probably won't be much better than what they have now and then they will all stand up and try to tell us they did so because they had the best interests of the fans at heart.

How disingenuous is that?

[BlacknGold Bleeder]

you at work are not a pratner with your boss, so you can't compare what you do to professional football players as you can get an equal or better job in your field players can't its this or another field that they haven't spent their whole lives training for. The players are held hostage if they are to play the game they love, and the players did not opt out of the last CBA the owners did.

they are not partners with the owners... they are employees,they can get better jobs by signing with another team simple as that. They maybe committed to a team after they are drafted but after that first contract,they can go to any team they want,assuming said team will pay what they want.
It is a job to them that they are lucky enough to be able to play. they work hard to get into the field and they must posses a skill set to qualify ,but it is a job that they are paid handsomely to perform.

It is 2 greedy organizations fighting over billions of dollars.I just hope they don't kill their cash cow...

[coach]

Okay, I'm an idiot when it comes to understanding this crap, is there going to be football or does it look like a negative??

HELP the polish man understand WTF is going on!!

Latrobe, you have seen my posts and I don't come out there and put a lot of hot air in them, even when they involve my favourite team. I am willing to go out on this limb and say that the ownners will cave long before the players on this one and I will say they won't miss a single game.

This is a pissing contest and the owners are kind of stuck between the dog and the fire hydrant IMHO.

[bensshoes]

Latrobe, you have seen my posts and I don't come out there and put a lot of hot air in them, even when they involve my favourite team. I am willing to go out on this limb and say that the ownners will cave long before the players on this one and I will say they won't miss a single game.

This is a pissing contest and the owners are kind of stuck between the dog and the fire hydrant IMHO.

with the exception of the courts. With 10 players filing anti-trust lawsuites no movement will be made untill the first judges ruling comes down and that wont happen until after the case is on the docket and then heard in court. The process just got longer!

[LatrobePA]

Latrobe, you have seen my posts and I don't come out there and put a lot of hot air in them, even when they involve my favourite team. I am willing to go out on this limb and say that the ownners will cave long before the players on this one and I will say they won't miss a single game.

This is a pissing contest and the owners are kind of stuck between the dog and the fire hydrant IMHO.

Thanks...I haven't put too much time into understanding this mess.

[Deviouz1]

you at work are not a pratner with your boss, so you can't compare what you do to professional football players as you can get an equal or better job in your field players can't its this or another field that they haven't spent their whole lives training for. The players are held hostage if they are to play the game they love, and the players did not opt out of the last CBA the owners did.

while someone else already covered this let me point out that the players dont agree to a commission. they agree to a contract for a set amount of $ per year with certain incentives and other AGREED UPON IN ADVANCE nuances depending on certain situations that effect the players salary which, in all cases are so overblown that its ridiculous. if they dont agree to the terms, they can, as has been pointed out previously, look to other teams for what they want.

The owners walked away from this deal saying they needed more.

no, they didnt. the players walked if you want to get technical. as a matter of fact they had applied for decertification while the negotiations were still underway and were decertified by 4pm last friday hours before the the deadline. the owners didnt walk, the players walked.

If the owners had a real argument, they would open all their books so the players could scrutinize them. This will never happen.

no, youre right it wont. because its unreasonable to demand that as ive already posted lol. IMHO, of course. when you set your rate as a professional, you set it according to what your time and expertise are WORTH. not according to how much your employer, or prospective employer in this case, can afford. ive done work for multi millionaires and they get charged the same as the old fat guy in an apartment gets charged for the same work. to act in any other way is not only unethical, its also just plain shady.

the thing about all of this is that the players have a choice, and a pretty damn good choice if you ask me considering the numbers that are being thrown around, they can either sign the contract for retarded amounts of money or NOT sign the contract. regardless of negotiations those are really the only two options in the end. when i do contract work, i either agree to the terms or i dont. it really is that simple. now if the owners were breaching a contract or something then i would back the players 100% but they arent.

regardless, you seem to think that im on the owners side here. im SO not. the owners are, as i said, a bunch of greedy bitches. it just so happens that the players are greedy bitches too so i have absolutely no sympathy for either side and at this point i really couldnt care less if there is football this year or not. let the greedy bitches squabble for as long as they want. im not paying either organization a single penny for at LEAST 5 years either way and to be honest i hope the courts do something insane like cap salaries and ticket/merchandise/concessions to a ridiculously low price as a proverbial paddling for being egotistical twats.

but thats just my opinion and i realize that will never happen. twould be cool as hell if it did though.

[Phenomenal TJ]

I refuse to take either side, because they're both wrong in a variety of ways. It's quite literally a case of billionaires arguing with millionaires with the average Joe getting screwed in the end (read: economics at it's core).

As far as this... * The NFL kept on the table its hypocritical demand for an 18-game season, despite its public claims to be working toward improving the heath and safety of players. *

The plan is going to be brought up again in two years, and all the NFLPA has to do is say 'no' and that ends that discussion. At least, according to Art Rooney II.

[hit 'n run]

you at work are not a pratner with your boss, so you can't compare what you do to professional football players...

... The players are held hostage if they are to play the game they love, and the players did not opt out of the last CBA the owners did.

This statement of yours is right on.

At the heart of this entire dispute is 9 billion dollars. Plus who knows how much more? All the other issues are ancillary.

How to equitably distribute the revenues from the most profitable professional sport in U.S. history?
This is the question.

[SteelDad]

I refuse to take either side, because they're both wrong in a variety of ways. It's quite literally a case of billionaires arguing with millionaires with the average Joe getting screwed in the end (read: economics at it's core).

As far as this... * The NFL kept on the table its hypocritical demand for an 18-game season, despite its public claims to be working toward improving the heath and safety of players. *

The plan is going to be brought up again in two years, and all the NFLPA has to do is say 'no' and that ends that discussion. At least, according to Art Rooney II.

Excellent point TJ. When this thing finally ends, the fans will no doubt have football back, but we'll be paying or it in higher ticket prices and higher concession prices as well. Like sheep to slaughter, we know it will suck but we'll keep coming back for it.