In today’s Wisconsin State Journal, Tom Oates places the blame strictly on the players for the current mess in the NFL:
But purely from a practical standpoint, fans of the Packers and every other franchise from a small or medium-sized market should want the NFL to maintain the status quo, or as close to the status quo as possible. That means rooting for the owners.
Here’s why: With one or two exceptions, the owners understand that the NFL’s phenomenal success is tied directly to its level playing field. NFL staples such as the draft, salary cap and limited free agency are vital to maintaining that parity. Now that the argument has spilled over into the courts, however, some or all of those rules could be in jeopardy due to antitrust considerations.
Retired Packers president Bob Harlan always said the two most important things for the team’s ability to survive were the salary cap and revenue sharing. Indeed, it is those things that give the Packers the same chance of winning the Super Bowl as the mega-market New York Giants.
The same can’t be said in other sports. Does anyone really think the Milwaukee Brewers have the same chance of winning the World Series as the Yankees?
Fan interest proves that most of them think the NFL has it right. In the past 20 years, 13 of its 32 teams have won the Super Bowl. Compare that the NBA, where seven of the 30 teams have won titles. And in no sport has there been anything like the current run in the NFC, where 10 different franchises have reached the Super Bowl in 10 years.
A couple things here:
1. The owners locked the players out. The reason the 2011-2012 season is in Limbo is strictly because the owners locked the players out. Once again to be clear, the OWNERS locked the players out.
2. No one says the status quo in terms of competitiveness is bad, that has not been an issue. The issue is the slice of the pie that the players are getting. The owners say they are not making the money that the players think that they are. The players say that’s fine, show us your books and we can make a fair offer. The owners say NO WAY. Hence the lockout and attempt by the owners to break the union.
I personally support the players, who are the product, on this issue 100%.
The players currently get 60% of the profits, what needs to be done is a real salary cap, stop paying rookies huge contracts, once again base salaries on job performance. Top players should be getting a excellent salary, their careers for the most part are short and the damage done to their body is tremendous. I do agree with the owners they do not have to show them their books, the players are employments that means they get paid what the owner feels is a fair wage how much profit an owner makes is of no concern to the worker.
I am not siding with owners or players I think they both are responsible for the lockout out, as a fan all I want is it settled and training camp to open on time.
Nota how do we know they are making 60% of the profits when they wont open the books? just scouts honor?
Currently, the NFL grosses approximately $9 billion annually. Of that, $1 billion is given to the owners off the top for expenses. After that, the remaining $8 billion is split with 60 percent ($4.8 billion) going to the players and 40 percent (another $3.2 billion for a total of $4.2 billion) going to owners.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=jc-richardsonmanning021311
If that is the case again Nota why dont they open the books?
Why do they have to open thier books to their employees? The players are getting a good salary, if they are happy they can look for other employment no one forces them play football.
Players don’t play = owners don’t make money. The owners only have a product because the players are willing to put their bodies on the line. The owners don’t “produce” anything. They take financial risk, but when is the last time you heard of a football team going under? What part of that is difficult to understand?
If you’re still not convinced, try googling “Dave Duerson.” The guy’s brain was literally swiss-cheesed from playing football, and he knew it.
And if you really think owners are taking a great big financial risk by running a team, take a look at the Oakland Raiders. They’re being run into the ground by a crazy old man, and he’s still making money on the team. NFL football is a money machine even for incompetent lunatics like Al Davis, but only because the players make it so.
Which is more likely to happen…
a) Owners offer players salaries to players who refuse and NFL folds
b) owners offer salaries to players, some refuse and quit the game, a long line of men who want to play are in line to replace those players and NFL does not miss a beat.
C) players union holds steady on the picket line and owners bring in a crop of far inferior scab players and the fans leave.
I guess you have forgotten about 1974, 1982, 1987. Players struck games were still played and the league never skipped a beat.
There are a lot of public workers and their supporters across the nation that are going to be siding with the players Nota. A lot more than in the years you cite.
Rodgers and Woodson made public statements in solidarity with Wisconsin’s public workers. You think fans won’t remember that?
i think never skipped a beat is not being exactly genuine….i would say they paid a price
Well the teams still got their tv money, teams like the Packers still had sellouts every game even if the stands were not full the tickets were all ready sold for every game, the players were the ones hurt the most not having a paycheck, just like now. The owners know as the season approaches players are going to want the $$$
Additional comment, fans cheer for the team, they cheer for the players who are on the team at the time, players come players go and the fans stay because it’s about the team.
Because the Packers are publicly owned, they have released their financials. While they got a nice boost in revenues following the renovation, their profitability has been dropping since. $34.2 million (2007) to $21.4 million (2008) to $20.1 million (2009) to $9.8 million (2010).
Presumably the SuperBowl will give them a boost – but they were on course to cross into the red this year or next year at the latest if the trend held up. And actually, the Packers payroll was among the highest of the playoff teams (I think 2nd). So it wouldn’t be a shock that even in a year where they win it all, when all is said & done, they may not turn a profit.
If a team with the sort of fan support of the Packers – we’re always in the top 3-4 teams in merchandise sales, sell out season tickets to two sets of ticket holders and a huge wait list – can’t turn a profit, what hope do some of the other teams have?
football? who cares!
http://deadspin.com/5800887/the-bizarre-cult-of-pro+owner-nfl-fanboys
Great article here on this debate:
the idea that there are people out there who would like to see the owners succeed in PREVENTING THE PLAYING OF ACTUAL NFL GAMES to spite NFL players strikes me as … what’s the word? Oh, right. F**KING INSANE. Please God, let these people be planted there by Jerry Richardson. Don’t tell me there are people out there this breathtakingly hardheaded.
Do you know how many NFL teams are owned by people who inherited their respective franchises? Eleven. ELEVEN. Over one third of all NFL teams belong to people who did nothing to deserve them except shoot out of the right uterus or f**k the right spouse. Two more NFL teams are owned by scions of American industrial giants (the Lions and Jets). And somehow this makes them business geniuses who deserve to lock out their employees and rob the country of its favorite sport? Really? The same shrewd people who apparently screwed themselves into such an allegedly shitty labor deal not but a few years ago? Is there ANY situation in which a billionaire can be f**king wrong, then? Or is their wealth simply an overriding character trait that trumps all flaws?
Jeff whined, “Do you know how many NFL teams are owned by people who inherited their respective franchises? Eleven. ELEVEN.”
So what is there something wrong with that? Are they breaking any laws? I will never have what any of them have but am I bitter about that hell no, thats life.
You guys piss and moan about the rich but when it comes to one of your own kind you don’t make a peep. For example Will Smith, are you not as bitter about how he flaunts his success in your face? Did you see he is working on Men in Black 3 in NYC and besides have an apt that cost $25,000 a month to rent he also has parked just a few blocks from that apt a
trailer, which cost $2 million, measures approximately 53 feet long, requires 22 wheels and weighs 30 tons. On the inside, it boasts a lounge, a movie room with a 100-inch screen, marble floors, offices for assistants and writing staff, a bedroom and an all-granite bathroom. The structure can also double its height at the touch of a button.
Now why are you not all hot and bothered about this little millionaires greed.
Hey…that sounds like job creation to me!!! LOL!
“I personally support the players, who are the product”
I disagree. I think most people cheer for laundry instead of the players. After all, players come and go. If one truly supported the players, they would have supported Farve when the Viking played the Packers. But instead, they root for the Packers regardless of who is on the field.
Just my .02
I agree…while I have specific players that I’m a fan of, I’m more a fan of teams than players.
Im a bear fan because of Walter Payton. I also think Farve had more followers than you think. Plus its the great players that move the merchandise and get your team on the National Games. O and win the games.
Wow a fellow Bear fan. I feel like we’re having unity night Jeff. Watching the Walter Payton years made me a bear fan. But it was the whole team you cheered for. I’ve rooted for a lot of shitty bears teams over the years, even when they had no great players. I had no allegiance to the players when they left the Bears.
It my experience that we root for teams because they are part of our identity of where we are from. We reminisce about the good and bad teams. Individual players are certainly part of it, but like I said the players come and go. As far as selling merchandise, I don’t know. Tim Tebow had the best selling jersey, I don’t think he’s considered a great player.
Solidarity! Im not totally disagreeing with you, I just think there is a little bit of both. really Tim Tebow? he isnt a great player of a great personality – cant explain that one.
However I follow players I like when they leave the Bears. One thing I took Solace in the Packers winning their first Super Bowl was that Jim Mcmahon had one more ring than bret farve!