NFL is in Lock-Out Mode

[leaffan]

March Madness is next week, baseball is just around the corner.

Honestly, who gives a fuck about this shit? Neither side will give up the season and lose billions. Let it play out, and if they don't play, fuck 'em.

You should give a fuck because I'm sure the MLB is watching how this is played how closely because their CBA is up in 10 months, the NBA's CBA expires in June as well.

The only thing that could possibly be left in the fall is Baseballs playoffs, NHL and whatever MMA can throw out. Hey there's always poker on tv you can watch.

 

[Berowsk]

That money is from the TV deals they made in 2009. It's guarenteed through the 2011 season even if there is a work stoppage. I highly doubt though the owners want to rely on this money and from what I read they consider it more of a loan then payment. I'm not sure how they are supposed to pay back this "loan" but whatever.

As far as replacement players the NFL has already said no to it. This is all assuming the courts allow the NFL to go through with the player lockout.

With the union deceritfying as well there's going to be a lot of players sitting around because they can't play anywhere else. Their only option is to join the other 10 players or so and sue the NFL and let the courts play it out.

Thank you sir for clearing it all up.

I don't get the whole loan idea. They signed a contract and it goes straight to their pockets. Do you think it could just be a PR person saying that to lessen the blow?

 

[leaffan]

Thank you sir for clearing it all up.

I don't get the whole loan idea. They signed a contract and it goes straight to their pockets. Do you think it could just be a PR person saying that to lessen the blow?

Probably. A lot of the reading I've done suggests they will just take the money and use it for every day expenses such as keeping staff paid and their respected stadiums going.

People seem to forget about all the little people the NFL has that are stuck in all of this. If you want to see people like Nashte be out of a job in 10months then see what happends if the MLB goes on strike. (I kinda doubt the will though)

 

[Berowsk]

Probably. A lot of the reading I've done suggests they will just take the money and use it for every day expenses such as keeping staff paid and their respected stadiums going.

People seem to forget about all the little people the NFL has that are stuck in all of this. If you want to see people like Nashte be out of a job in 10months then see what happends if the MLB goes on strike. (I kinda doubt the will though)

My buddy's dad is a special teams coach for the Jags and he explained to me about the lockout. What I gathered is that the coaches are under NFL contract, so they still get paid by the owners. I don't know about the non-contractual (i have no idea if that's a word) jobs, though. And think of all the locals that work in stadiums that will miss out on around 50 hours of work.

 

[leaffan]

My buddy's dad is a special teams coach for the Jags and he explained to me about the lockout. What I gathered is that the coaches are under NFL contract, so they still get paid by the owners. I don't know about the non-contractual (i have no idea if that's a word) jobs, though. And think of all the locals that work in stadiums that will miss out on around 50 hours of work.

Everyone from Hot Dog vendors who are now losing 8 weeks of pure money every week, to the PR and staff people who work for the team on a daily basis. Kinda hard to sell advertising at a high price for a stadium when the main audience won't be there.

 

[NAHSTE]

You should give a fuck because I'm sure the MLB is watching how this is played how closely because their CBA is up in 10 months, the NBA's CBA expires in June as well.

The only thing that could possibly be left in the fall is Baseballs playoffs, NHL and whatever MMA can throw out. Hey there's always poker on tv you can watch.

There will not be a work stoppage in baseball. It's the last thing Bud Selig wants, because he saw how damaging the 1994 strike was.

And your post kind of overlooked a huge part of the fall sports season, aka the best part of the fall sports season.

 

[leaffan]

There will not be a work stoppage in baseball. It's the last thing Bud Selig wants, because he saw how damaging the 1994 strike was.

And your post kind of overlooked a huge part of the fall sports season, aka the best part of the fall sports season.

Thats why I said I doubt they will strike in a later post. I think I read they are getting together already and seem to be fairly civil about things. Just have to hammer out the issues.

What did I miss? College football?

I dislike watching college anything btw but I think thats more to do with being canadian and not really having any interest or hate towards any particular school.

 

[EmpireWF]

Well, the MLB CBA is up after next this year I believe (either then or after the 2012 season). The PA leader has said that neither the union or the owners are looking to introduce any dramatic issues in future negotiations. Issues such as the international draft, taking another look at revenue sharing, perhaps altering the disabled list, drug testing, etc. will be talked about.

The NBA is fucked because it's all but guaranteed there will be a work stoppage next season. The owners and the players are at such different places, it would be a major shock if they're able to get a deal done before the new season starts in the fall. The NBA has several teams who are losing money and top flight players from small markets moving to big markets (introduction of a form of a franchise tag is possible) which are among the big issues. Plus, the biggest deal may be a hard cap which would bring the salary cap down by a substantial margin. This won't be pretty.

 

[NAHSTE]

I actually think the NBA needs to have a work stoppage. It will suck, but if the league emerges healthier because of it then so be it.

 

[inthecards21]

sounds like the NHL might get some attention from all of the work stoppages, which would be a good thing

 

[steeljake]

whats with the personal attacks internet stranger ?
You can break it down all you want but its pointless. I'm not hating on the players, I am stating a fact. The players are secondary, need to shut up and wont win no matter how they try. If you cant deal with that reality, to bad for you. And for the record, I've scored high on many an IQ or entrance or what ever type test.

wow.. you really 'splained to me how much smarts you got...

 

[ram29jackson]

wow.. you really 'splained to me how much smarts you got...

focus steeljake, try to focus

 

[Rayman]

Every owner feels the need to do one of these of late. So lame.

An open letter from Wayne Weaver to Jaguars fans

We all share the disappointment that the players union turned down an excellent deal on Friday and has instead decided to litigate. I am in full agreement with the NFL and the other Clubs that the NFL had no practical choice after these actions except to lock out the players.

It is my belief that an agreement on a new CBA will be reached and that we will play football this fall. However, it seems clear that a new agreement will not be found in court, but rather at the negotiating table. I know that our fans, the players and the Clubs all want to get on with football.

We can expect some confusion and frustration over the next few weeks. However, as the courts deal with these issues, I am encouraged that Mr. Cohen and his colleagues at the Mediation Service are willing to facilitate further negotiations, and hope that those negotiations will start again sooner rather than later.

As to our football business, we continue to prepare for this important college draft and the 2011 season. Gene Smith and his staff are working night and day to improve our football team. Jack Del Rio and our coaches are assisting in these evaluations at the same time that they are doing intense study of our strategies and developing plans and improvements that they will incorporate when preparations for the season begin in earnest.

As I said, I firmly expect that we will play football this fall. Therefore, our ticket and sponsorship efforts will continue with business as usual. We will also continue hosting offseason events for our fans, as we have done before.

We made great progress last year by eliminating "blackouts" and our Team Teal goal this year is to "sell out" all games at EverBank Field in 2011. Our promise continues to be that fans will not pay for games that are not played, so there is no risk in buying your season tickets.

We need your support more than ever in continuing to build a great NFL tradition in Jacksonville. Thank you for your support and I look forward to seeing you at EverBank Field this season.


Sincerely,

Wayne Weaver

/cueDizzlerage

 

[Houston]

This sucks more for the teams that have alot of rebuilding to do.

 

[Rayman]

One of multiple reasons not to trust the union

George Martin, director of NFL Alumni Association: DeMaurice Smith treats alums as

George Martin, director of NFL Alumni Association: DeMaurice Smith treats alums as 'afterthought'
BY Ralph Vacchiano
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Tuesday, March 15th 2011, 4:00 AM


Director of the NFL Alumni Association George Martin doesn't appreciate DeMaurice Smith's refusal to respond to Martin's requests for a meeting.

The NFL's now-decertified players union has promised not to overlook the needs of retired players in its current labor war against the league. George Martin, the director of the NFL Alumni Association, would like believe it's serious.

He just can't be sure because NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith won't return his calls.

"It's disconcerting because, yet again NFL alumni, although we appear to be in the discussion, we're still treated as if we're second-class citizens or an afterthought," Martin told the Daily News Monday. "We definitely feel there's a moral imperative for those of us who have paid such an extraordinarily high price to help build this industry to be in the discussion."

Martin, the former Giants defensive end, said he's been trying to arrange a meeting with Smith since he was elected to his current position with the NFL Alumni Association nearly a year and a half ago. Last week, he even got three congressmen - including former NFL quarterback Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) - to send a letter to Smith imploring him to sit down with the NFLAA.

Smith's response wasn't exactly what Martin had envisioned. He was invited to the union's meeting in Marco Island, Fla., this week, but wasn't promised a meeting with Smith. He also first had to fill out a lengthy and "insulting" questionnaire detailing his relationship and dealings with the NFL.

It made the 14-year veteran player wonder if the union believes he's some sort of owners' spy.

"To me it was a bit insulting," he said. "Here's a guy who played 14 years in the NFL, a 10-year veteran as a player representative, and was the president of the NFLPA for two years. Now my loyalty and allegiance is being called into question before I can come and address the very organization I spent 14 years officially supporting?"

Martin says he believes the NFLPA thinks his association is "a pawn of the league" - an assertion he said is "asinine" (the NFLPA did not respond to a request for comment). He has, however, developed a much better relationship with the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell, who Martin said had promised in writing that benefits for retired players won't be disrupted during the current NFL lockout.

His hope is that those "woefully inadequate" benefits will improve with an agreement. He was encouraged to see that the NFL and NFLPA were discussing a rookie wage scale that would send "significant revenues" towards retired players' benefits.

That would be a start, Martin said, but there are more needs for retired players that need to be addressed. All he wants is to meet with Smith to let him know what they are.

"I think it's almost a travesty to say that you can spend the days of your youth incurring traumatic brain injuries, and yet we can't sit down and have those dialogues specifically with the individuals who represent us in those discussions," Martin said. "It will be disappointing if we do not have a voice in how those benefits can be constructed."

 

[bucky]

Some of my thoughts:

Owners opted out of the current agreement, not the players. However, the CBA allowed for the owners to opt out after year 20XX, so it's legit.

The Owners and Players are partners/have a Partnership. Really? I didn't realize the players owned there own company. Are they a corporation? Who's there CEO. Are they a Privately owned company? Where's there paperwork? Do they disband and recreate there privately owned company EVERY time a player retires, at every draft, or after every street free agent is signed? Cause every time a privately owned company loses an owner or gains an owner, the company has to be recreated.

And I always thought the players were employees.

From what I understand, Private Owned company's are not required to provide financial information. I think it's OK for the NFLPA (Players Union) to ask for it, but the Owners aren't and should not be required to disclose this information. It seems the NFL and Owners have already disclosed much more information than they are required to disclose.

Since a CBA does not exist anymore, both players and owners have honored the current CBA contract (owners were allowed to opt out, it was written in the contract) so players are allowed to ask for what ever they want to ask for. Same with the owners.

As far as replacement players go, my view is the same as it was when Baseball went on strike in 94. Young fans will always find new sports heroes to follow. The NFL will survive.

If players want full financial disclosure to be part of a league, they should start there own league and own there own teams. Just think of a legit XFL, without all the WWE madness where bylaws can be written that requires full financial disclosure.

And stop with all the "Need to Feed Family" bullshit.

If you (Either Billionaire Owners or Multi-Millionaire players) think you will ever get my sympathy, you're off your rocker.

This is the worst time for a season NOT to happen for GB fans, but if players think they aren't making enough, and that the most recent NFL proposal wasn't close to good enough, then I say, the NFL should go with the best football players available. I never bought into replacement players. MLB made a mistake in calling anyone replacement players. There is no such things as replacement players. What you have is best available. It's the NFL players choice whether they make themselves available or not.

 

[jeffx]

Honestly, who gives a fuck about this shit?

It's too early to worry about this shit in late March. Wake me in late May/early June.

 

[bucky]

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

Disagree. Blame can be spread all the way around, but I put much more on the players. How much does an employee really need to live on. Though, better health benefits for retired players is something worth fighting for. Other than that, the NFPLA and most unions have lost sight of there true purpose. Now Unions have become rich, powerful, unreasonable and greedy.

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

Maybe. They are the EMPLOYERS. They own the company's. I don't see anything wrong with them wanting more of the profits. I don't really see anything wrong with the NFLPA wanting more as well. The current CBA is done and both sides have a right to ask/demand what they want. The NFL should have a right to continue an NFL season w/o the support/approval of the current players and NFLPA.

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.

They may be idiots, but GB is a very well run organization and there profits dropped 40% from last year. Again, I have to disagree with you that teams are just poorly run and that's the cause of all the financial problems. A significant % of individual players made more than GB this past year. Some individual players made more than DOUBLE what GB made last year in profits. Sorry, I don't think your point here is really valid.

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.

Not sure this has anything to do with who is at fault for the breakdown of negotiations for a current CBA. And again, gotta disagree with "blasting the poor, cheap". Look at point above regarding GB.

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.

I blame the players a lot. I blame the NFLPA. I also blame the owners. Most people can't even afford to go to a sporting event because players salaries are so high driving up ticket prices. I use to go to brewers games for $1.50. Just how much should an EMPLOYEE demand to make?

Sorry, can't feel bad for the multi-millionaire players one tiny bit.

 

[ralaw]

It's too early to worry about this shit in late March. Wake me in late May/early June.

That's where I'm at. Someone let me know when this is over. I don't care about how much the owners or the player want, I don't care how about how much rookie's make and I don't care about whether the league is taking care of its former players. The reason I don't care is because none of that has anything to do with me and certainly doesn't affect my life either way.

I don't attend games and don't buy merchandise. The only thing I do is watch football on Sundays and enjoy it and I'm 100% sure that as the seasons gets closer they'll figure it out, as neither the players nor the owners want to miss out on making more millions, because as they say, "We gotta take care of our family." So, when they figure it out someone let me know. This is why I don't understand why fans are taking sides......none of this has anything to do with you and neither side really cares about the fans, because this isn't about the fans, but instead your money.

 

[bucky]

I don't attend games

I would if it wasn't so expensive.