We’ve hinted several times at the possibility that some of the 31 NFL franchises whose financial information isn’t publicly available could be trimming expenses merely to create the impression that the league desperately needs to alter the current player compensation system, which devotes 59 cents of every dollar to the men who strap on the pads and take to the field.
In response to our latest item regarding the furlough imposed on the entire 49ers’ front office, one front-office employee with a different team tells us that there is “genuine concern” within the walls of said team regarding the question of whether front-office employees have become “pawns for the greater good” in the slowly-unfolding labor fight.
“They’ve cut back on many things to create the impression our team isn’t making money,” the source said.
The source also shared a sentiment that apparently is making the rounds among the folks who are facing the potential of a salary of “zero dollars plus benefits, babe.” (The link is the closest that we could find.)
Said the source, “When the league makes $9 billion one year and ‘only’ $8 billion the next year, that’s not losing money.”
Meanwhile, the only team with open books (the publicly-owned Packers) generated an operating profit of $20 million in the most recently completed fiscal year. (Investment losses drove that number down to $4 million.)
And that team hasn’t laid anyone off yet.