NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is making over $10 million dollars a year, so I guess that’s why he is willing to come out and talk out of both sides of his mouth. I can understand someone arguing that the players should have taken the offer the owners made yesterday. The NFL ownership group did make some concessions.
But I can’t stomach the Commissioner talking about the players not negotiating in good faith because the truth of the matter is that Goodell and the NFL owners are the ones who had no intentions of negotiating in good faith for over a year. They had been planning to lockout the players for next two years. Goodell and his crew had secured $4 billion dollars from the television networks so they could lock out the players for two years and force them to agree to being paid less.
I’m assuming the Commissioner of the NFL knew about those plans since his office was involved in the planning.
The only reason they made any legitimate offers was because U.S. District Court Judge David Doty stripped them of the $4 billion dollar war chest because they had negotiated the contract with the television networks in bad faith. They agreed to take less money in order that the networks would be paid the $4 billion dollars even if the owners locked out the players and no games were played.
In the current CBA with the players, the NFL Commissioner and the owners had agreed to get as much as they could get from the networks. In the negotiations they were representing themselves and the players. The Judge found that they had violated the agreement and damaged the players rights.
Why wouldn’t the Commissioner ever admit that they were busted by the Judge? He talks in the following letter as if the investigation and finding by the Judge never happened.
I received a letter from the Commissioner last night, which seemed to be written without knowledge of what the Judge Doty found out about what the Commissioner and the owners were planning.
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 was, among other things, 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 – Commissioner
There is no way I can side w/ the players on this one. The fact is the employer has the decision on how much you will be paid and if you don’t like it go and play for the Soul.
I don’t demand to see the books from my employer, nor do I demand to receive health benefits for the rest of my life. There is absolutely no reason for the players to walk away from this deal.
I was hoping the players union would have used the ace they were handed (the ruling last week about tv money) along with their bluff (the threat of walking away from the table). Sadly… They blew their hand.
Now we wait for the judge to smash the players non union union and level the field.
I look for the deal they do sign to be less than this deal.
In short- the players have dropped back and are looking for a hailmary.
People like you infuriate me Zukney. Allowing the superich to screw over everyone. The owners took 4 billion in public funds over the last decade. The first 4 billion extra they get back should be to payback the city and states. Think that would ever happen. They negated the current deal while they had increasing profits because the want more. Are you expecting ticket prices and concessions to go down? I thought not. This is Not a normal business venture, this is entertainer/ promoter. I guess if given the chance you would screw people over yourself
G, after hearing the first two minutes of you last night on wip I had to turn it off. You were about as one sided as they come.
Fact is that the players turned down a great deal. De. Smith didnt even attempt to negotiate. In my opinion, the reason that this deal didnt get done is because of his overinflated ego. I was on the players side before more facts came out but now I side with the owners. Either way, I am still PO’d at both sides for this, and wont be spending a penny on the NFL for a long time….both the players and owners make plenty of money.
Dont tell me that the low level players dont make enough
Average 3 years nfl lifespan @ NFL Minimum Salary(Roughly $350,000) = $950,000.
That same player coming out of college(we assume that they graduate, many dont) can get a job paying about $40,000 per year.(If they can find a job that is) Over 3 years that $120,000.
Thats a huge difference, when saved and invested(even at a mediocre level) can be a huge help down the line.
In essence, that is not a valid argument to me.
On the flip side, the owners are running a business. All businesses look for more profit, the exact same way that players want to get paid more. Owners make plenty of money and are just being greedy for more.(Who isnt). By the way, the players shouldnt be asking to see the books. If I walk into work on Monday and demand the books, ill be shown the door quickly.
In the end this whole CBA is ridiculous, not once did we hear about either side talking about easing ticket prices on the fans. I think that the fans should execute their own lockout on the NFL(whenever they come back) for as long as they had a lockout on us.
/rant
Rastad- give me a break… They are all money hungry pigs who feed on you and me. Do you really care what either of the sides think? It has nothing to do with us. We r going to be paying out our butts either way. Think of it as robbin hood stealing from the rich and giving it to the rich.
wild_bk,
I didn’t say that lower level players don’t make enough. I don’t see why the players should be making concessions to the owners without the owners proving that they’re in financial distress. The owners aren’t to trusted. This isn’t situation like the auto companies or the states that have multi-billion dollar deficits.
If the owners want to be bullies then let them deal with anti-trust legislation and the courts.
Man Cobb, I love your site and I understand that you are pro player but common. You are a fan now and you know this is BS on the players part. Yes the owners may have had the upper hand for the past year but there is no way they would have even locked out for one year let alone two. The players won and they had the owners backs against the wall, they could have gained so much respect from us fans but instead the players and most of all D.Smith got even more greedy. Smith is trying to make a name for himself and never had any intention of agreeing with the owners on a new CBA and there was 100% proof of that when you look at the deal that was on the table, with that offer at the very least there should have been another extention….just like when the owners were being greedy, I was glad they got put in there place. Now I hope this backfires on the players ten fold. They are wrong and if you are smart either you wont back them or not write about it at all cause there are alot of smart fans who understand this whole thing. Buttom line is we want football but we understood that there needed to be a fair deal, what the NFL offered was a fair deal and we should be talking about a Kolb trade and Free agency not this garbage anymore.
Are you idiots serious?? The players NEVER asked for more money. They just didn’t want to concede the money they were making and wanted more benefits for retired players! If your company is making more money BECAUSE of you and your boss comes up to you and says, “I need to lower your pay because I’m not making enough” — you would call BS and want him to prove himself because you know hes making alot more money then he would have been WITHOUT you.
I don’t trust the owners. They are greedy rich bastards. All of them. Including Lurie.
I can’t believe how some of you can complain about how we don’t spend our money in the salary cap yet side with the owners on this issue. Stop being media whores! Point is, the Media is going to point their fingers at the NFLPA because its the league that helps the MEDIA get paid. Idiots.
Fans don’t ever get what we want. G- us fans want you to stop with the video adds that are now attached to the site but we know that won’t happen because you are the owner and are doing what you have to to make the money.
It’s gotten so bad so quickly,that G-man had to lay “Paulman” off..
No more Trade Alerts, Position Analysis, Mock Drafts, Free-Agents to Target
Roster Management, NFL News..
Now I will have to go out and get a real job… Thanks NFL…
Notice that none of you guys talk about morals when it comes to how the owners violated the CBA that they had agreed to. If an 18-year old college player was caught telling a lie, you guys would say throw the book at him and say he needs to develop some character.
The owners were dealing in a corrupt fashion despite making millions and millions of dollars. Somebody tell me why nobody has mentioned the moral faults of the owners.
Was it in the best interest of the NFL to be scheming with the network to lockout the players and breaking an oath they had agreed to. Whatever happened to being role models? Does everything have to be corrupt?
Or is it okay for the owners to be corrupt but the players should play for the love of the game?
G, both sides are corrupt. I don’t think anyone one here is saying that one side was or was not. This all about biz man… You know that!!
The owners felt that the old cba was bad and they have a right to opt out.
Leveradge was attempted by both sides!!
Bottom line for all of us is… There was a deal on the table last night… We feel it was a good one…. And the players want more. Right or wrong… Football is over now beacuse they wanted more.
Furthermore….
The deal included NO 18 game season
More cash for the retired guys.
A cap on firstrounders
All things the fans want.
G, this is about money… Don’t get morals twisted in.
Did you say it was just business when Reggie Bush was getting money under the table and got caught lying about it? Why is it just business when it involves the owners? They had their plan to lock the players out and Roger Goodell has been lying about it for over a year.
Everybody talks about morals when it comes to the players. I believe we’re being judged by the same rules. An owner lying is no different than an individual player doing something that is immoral.
The owners violated the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Everybody talks about morals when a player has a contract yet refuses to honor it.
It’s a just a microcosm of our Society G…
Everyone wants everything right now and doesn’t want look at the best interests
with a long-term view at anything anymore, which is part of the reason this US Society if going down the drain.. From our Government leaders, Business Leaders, religious leaders,Entertainment & Sports…
In the US the mighty Dollar rules and a long term forecast is what your numbers are for the next 2 quarters… This fixation of instant gratificationin th US has hurt Moral, Worth Ethic, Responsibility and Accountability in every facet of American life from Education to Business, to Public Service, to raising kids and staying married and faithful, Why should the NFL Owners and or Players be any different than what’s been going on in US Society for 30 plus years now… I am goign to take my doggie for a walk and get some fresh air..
Khui
I agree with you wholeheartedly Paulman
Why the hell did I get this in my e-mail inbox too??? I do NOT want to hear Goodell’s side of the story. This makes him look small and insecure, like there’s something to hide. I didn’t ask for that e-mail and shouldn’t have had it sent to me.
I also agree pman. The prob is…. Both sides suck. You want me to feel for the players when they also talk out both sides of their mouth. Players who complain during the season about the nfl going soft also complain in march about player safety. Give me a break.
G, your a player and so you think like a player.
What the fans want is a break from this money crap for 3 hours on sunday.
I honestly don’t care for either side. They make way more than I could dream of as a youth minister. To think of one side as a good side is silly.
About reggie bush- no g. I don’t watch college football for the vert reason you bring up. All those guys make money. In one sence I think they should and yet… I think giving college kids money is wrong. The system is crap and so I don’t spend a single penny or minute on college ball of any kind.
Boyer, you got that in your inbox so that you’d react like Zuckny did. I don’t know nor do I give a crap about the financials between the over profitable owners or the over-paid players. Both parties can do all of this BS fighting because the fans enable them to. We keep over-paying for tickets and merchandise and tuning in, period.We shouls stop giving them our very hard earned buck but we won’t so, the fans get what they deserve. To be abused.
What I as fan want is for the Eagles to win a super bowl, multiple if possible. How they work out this deal has no real bearing on my life. However if the owners are so broke and the deal is so bad show the books its really that simple. You can compare yourself to the players if you want and you’d be wrong because your not comparable.The reality is the owners are being their typical greedy selves imagine Lurie and Banner giving the players a fair deal? LoL!!! Its laughable that the same people who B and Moan about Lurie and Banner all year now side with them.
@rastadoc – I might infuriate you, but your an idiot! “The first 4 billion extra they get back should be to payback the city and states.” I wish the owners would put more money into the city and to the states to, but to pretend like they don’t is absurd. We can all hate cowgirls owner Jerry Jones but the fact is, he needs to sell out every single game for the next X amount of years just so he doesn’t go bankrupt. (That was under the current conditions and his projected amount of money being spent)
So don’t sit there and pretend that 4 billion is just sitting around. Those owners have expenses. They offered the union a great deal, giving players another 14 weeks OFF a year, added to their healthcare benefits and still found away to keep the cap at a sickly high price of 160 some odd million. Did you even read the negotiations?
The fact is, the owner is the owner for a reason.
@Gcobb – you bring up a good point w/ morals but lets be honest, Most owners have no morals. I was persuaded and begged to leave a firm for another Architecture company. 8 months later he laid me off and has told me will be hiring people for the same pay w/ much more experience now that the economy has gone sour. He then begged me to come back in as a temp position just until he could find the lucky sap to replace me.
I’m not trying to give a sob story, but the fact is most owners have no morals and thats probably part of the reason why they are owners. Lie, cheat n kill their way into business.
That being said, I really don’t think the players or the owners have any morals. Both sides think they are gods gift to humanity.
Who can really say who does or does not have morals? The word moral based on the greek word mores is really dependent upon society as a whole. If you let society decide whats moral and whats not you’ll have a society much like we do now where anything is ok as long as the majority agrees with it. Thats why we all need Jesus!