Before the currently plodding NFL CBA talks result in a work stoppage, it’s likely that someone from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service will have a crack at clunking together the heads of labor and management.
Liz Mullen takes a look at this federal agency, which has been available since 1947 to assist the resolution of labor disputes, in the brand-new edition of SportsBusiness Journal.
Agency director George Cohen has recently become involved in MLS contract talks, and he eventually could be involved with each of the other major pro sports, all with agreements expiring very soon.
Still, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello isn’t ready to consider what could be a last-ditch effort. “We have no plans for mediation,” he told Mullen, “and we are a long way from having to even consider it. The goal is for our negotiations to be successful before reading that point.”
We think that it would make sense to get a mediator involved sooner rather than later, primarily because we’re concerned that the NFL and the players’ union have yet to get on the same page at the top of the organizations. The ice needs to break and a truly cooperative relationship must develop between Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA Executive Director De Smith. Unless and until that happens, it will be difficult if not impossible for a win-win CBA to be finalized.
What prevents the players from starting their own league?
Just so long as they are not “Federal” mediators or anyone else connected with the government.
THEY WILL MAKE IT WORSE!!!!!
There are plenty of private mediators that they can hire.
The worst thing in the world is to ask the Federal government for “help”. Just google what some famous people like Ronald Reagan and George Wallace have said about “government help.”
If there is no way to screw something up the Feds will find a way to make everything and everyone more miserable and screw the whole situation up.
With their current leader, the NFLPA is going to have to surrender because the Union leader refuses to compromise or make a deal. The current leader of the union may just destroy the union.
The union has to give something back in order to survive. The Union leader is squealing like a stuck pig and negotiating hasn’t even begun. He is squealing way to early and no one believes him.
I nominate Florio for commissioner. At least you are on the fans’ side on this one. Can’t say that for Goodell, Smith, or the other geniuses ruining this game.
“What prevents the players from starting their own league?”
Intelligence, fiscal responsibility, their egos… I think you get the point.
BAN UNIONS!
Generally their contracts prevent them from participating in competing leagues. What’s more, where would they play, and who would pay them? Many of the current stadiums are owned by the teams that play there, and I doubt very much that Jerry Jones would allow Cowboys defectors to play in his stadium. The league would have to get a new governing body to decide when games are played, who plays in them, on what teams, at which stadiums. Basically you’d have to get all new owners with lots of capital to pay these jabronies. The players are better off playing in an established league that they don’t have to put up much money to play in.
So what prevents them? Theoretically very little. Realistically, just about everything.
[quote]What prevents the players from starting their own league?[/quote]
Players might be rich, but what you’re talking about requires wealth. There’s a big difference between buying bling and buying your senator.
@ Marv_Sleezy
financial liquadity! However, profit sharing would be a good idea for teams that perform well, you look at teams like the Dolphins who have turned it around.
But that would be a little extreme, due to teams giving bonuses for playoff wins and breaking records, or winning awards.
I just hope they get a rookie payscale in place and soon! It’s bothering me that Sam Bradford is about to make as much money as Drew Bree’s and has not even thrown a pass in the Pro’s!?
Could someone tell them to go ahead and “mediate” then ? This crap is old and out of hand and ridiculous.
I don’t know how long it is going to take the NFLPA and the players to figure this out, but they DO NOT own the league and they DO NOT make the rules. They are EMPLOYEES, not owners, and they had better figure out their place in all this. If they don’t like their work rules, they need to go work somewhere else. EMPLOYEES DO NOT tell employers how much they are going to be paid or else.
Players start their own league? They barely have enough brains to remember the snap count. Plus 95% of these guys are only interested in the biggest and fanciest car..all the gold around their necks, and how big their diamond stud earings are.
PSL owners have already paid for their season tickets for the NFL in their stadiums. Nobody is going to some half-ass league in some 30 year old stadiums to watch some throw together product. The networks wouldn’t pay didly to the players and the fans wouldn’t pay to watch some crap substitute
I would love to see the players stage a strike after they are locked out and the owners put replacement teams on the field for games costing $5 to $10 a game.
The MLS waited too long to hire a mediator, and now they face striking.
“waiting” to reach mediation is a stupid logic; kind of like police waiting for a murderer to find another victim before making an arrest.
Marv_Sleezy says:
March 15, 2010 9:18 AM
What prevents the players from starting their own league?
==================================
Initiative, intelligence, risk.
Most players, like most people, want nothing more than to sit back and collect a paycheck. They don’t want to be burdened with the risk associated to create something great, nor do they want to make the sacrifice required to create it. They only want to benefit from the check generated through someone else’s hard work.
# Chapnasty2 says:
Intelligence, fiscal responsibility, their egos… I think you get the point.
BAN UNIONS!
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Wow, you just described most of the owners….
BAN OWNERS…..
# BoltsFan says:
EMPLOYEES DO NOT tell employers how much they are going to be paid or else.
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Tell that to George Clooney, Sandra Bullock, the cast of Friends, the cast of Cheers…….
I’m a private mediator (seriously) – this would be a great gig to land!
SpartaChris says:
They don’t want to be burdened with the risk associated to create something great, nor do they want to make the sacrifice required to create it.
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Again, WHAT risk? The NFL owners take NO risk BUT Arena League owners DO. Do you think that it’s a coincidence that the NFL is no longer involved with the Arena League? They proved that they couldn’t generate the revenue that they needed to operate the league with the level of skill that is in the Arena League. Let them try to start a league like the UFL and see if they’re as successful as the ones that are there NOW. If the so-called geniuses of the league are such geniuses then why aren’t they going into San Diego and Minnesota and getting them the deals that they have? Jerry Jones is only able to make big deals because he is the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, who got their value as a drawing card from NFL Films, who declared them “America’s Team” and if they had done it to the Dolphins or Steelers, his job would have been a lot harder (Again, I point this out: the Dallas Desperadoes weren’t even close to being the top valued Arena League team and he didn’t have any more deals in place there than the other owners, including the ones who weren’t involved with the NFL. Hell, they couldn’t even keep their own development league going).
Now, if the NFL were stupid enough to allow guys like Peyton Manning out on the open market instead of Brooks Bollinger, you can bet that the UFL would find enough investors to bankroll the teams and they wouldn’t be groveling to get TV money from the broadcast networks. Let’s not forget that there WAS a time when there was real risk in the NFL, which is why Pete Rozelle got them to share revenue and even the CFL took players away but once they started getting the big TELEVISION money, no league could compete with them. The NFL is getting the BIG TV money that they’re getting now because of the players NOT the owners.
@Edgy-
Ahh, the socialist returns. I know, I know- Owning business = Bad, owners shouldn’t be paid, all compensation should go to the workers, yadda yadda yadda..
The actors you listed can’t just go demand a studio pay a particular salary. They negotiate. From previous discussions, I know you think negotiating between parties is somehow screwing the employee, but it isn’t. The actors can choose whether they want to play the role for the money being offered, or they can try and *negotiate* for more money, or they can simply walk away. That’s true for everyone else, football players included.
As to your question about risk, I can’t believe you’re still asking this. Owners are risking significant amounts of capital when they purchase a team. Contrary to popular belief, the NFL isn’t too big to fail. Yes, it’s popular, but that doesn’t mean owners stand to lose absolutely nothing in the process. If you believe that, I have some ocean front property in Arizona to sell you.
SpartaChris says:
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You mean the $100 that Halas DIDN’T pay or the pittance that Green Bay paid or the $25,000 that the guys who still own the original AFL franchises (Wilson, Hunt and Adams). How about the New York Giants – $500 or the Steelers – $2500? Tisch bought into the Giants for $150 mil but that was in 1991 and the team was worth far more than that. Ford paid all of $4.5 mil to join the club and the Bidwells only paid $50,000.
Instead of flapping your lips like you do, you should probably look up how much these guys really paid and how much more the clubs were worth when they did. Jerry Jones paid $150 mil, which was a drop in the bucket because Bum Bright just wanted to get rid of the team and it was worth more than that when he took over. Snyder paid $750 mil for the Redskins but sold off a 20% stake for $200 mil. Also, genius, they don’t pay all the money up front.
Bud Adams makes out like a bandit but he got rid of the Nashville Kats because he couldn’t get the kind of sweetheart deal for the arena because he didn’t own it. Tom Benson’s Voodoo had one of the most fanatic followers in the league and yet, it was his folding of the team that took the Arena League down. Without a TV teat worth billions to suckle off, the NFL owners couldn’t operate without the threat of REAL risk. Even though the losses were nothing for the NFL owners who had stakes in the Arena League, it was something that they weren’t used to in the NFL since they got rid of NFL Europe(a).
From your remarks it appears that you don’t pay much attention to the entertainment business as well. You might want to study up on that before you bring that “weak ass sh**” again……
SpartaChris,
BTW, here are what owners have paid for their teams. You will note that only 8 (all since 1998), have paid more than $500 mil. It will come to 9 when the Steelers transactions are made public but still, nearly 75% aren’t as “risky” as you make them out to be.
http://www.boards.edgy-sports.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2456&p=5601#p5601