There has been much hand wringing regarding the fact that, within the span of a year or so, the labor deals for pro football, basketball, baseball, hockey, and soccer would all be expiring.
One of the five situations has come to a head, and it has been resolved. Major League Soccer and its players union have reached agreement on a five-year contract.
The most encouraging aspect of this development, from the perspective of the only labor deal about which we care in these parts, is that the guy who supposedly gets hired only to orchestrate lockouts was involved in the process: Bob Batterman.
The NFL Players Association routinely points to the retention of Batterman as proof that the NFL doesn’t want to work out a new contract, but instead wants to instigate a work stoppage. In support of this view, the NFLPA reminds anyone/everyone that Batterman was involved in the NHL lockout, from five years ago. Now that Batterman has been involved in a process that resulted in labor peace, the union’s argument has a bit less pop.
So maybe there really is hope. In this regard, we can only hope.
Praying I don’t have to go without football any season. It’s hard enough making it through the off season!
Liker it or not, soccer is not a major sport here, so I don’t see how this relates to the NFL.
There’s major league soccer in America? That’s the first I’ve heard of it. Already forgotten!
There is pro soccer?
@ the nomad. WTF r u talking about? Soccer is a global sport tht almost every country participates in. Gtfo u retard
Thank God! Those of us at ProSoccerTalk.com were on edge there for a while.
/end Alternate Universe
This is all the fault of the whore Kim Kardashian.
It doesn’t…Florio just wanted to illustrate that many of the professional sports are in (or about to get into) labor negotiations. Of the sports in most need of a lockout though, that sport is probably the NBA. Many of the teams that aren’t named the Celtics & Lakers are hemorraging money and paying bench players who never see the court millions of dollars per year.
Bench player salaries in the NBA make non-starter player salaries in the NFL look like breadcrumbs.
soccer? nascar has more fans in the usa, golf too. soccer settled so fast because it couldnt afford to work-stop to fight over a small pile of change. when the nhl stopped to fight over a pile of cash, it lost its spot on espn, ended up on versus (how many people here have even heard of the channel), and fell off the radar at the number 5 spot in usa sports. nfl, nba, mlb, nascar, and ultimate fighting are all more popular in the usa than the nhl now. the nhl on a good night struggles to post numbers higher than wrestling.
soccer really couldnt afford to take time off. it wouldnt even be in the top 10 viewed sports in the usa afterwards.
soccer is a sport?
Soccer is a sport??? This isn’t Europe or South America…
“so I don’t see how this relates to the NFL.”
Did you actually read the article ? If you did and had the slightest bit of reading comprehension you would understand the connection Florio made. I suggest that a remedial English reading class might be of use to you.
Pro soccer… That mean this deal has to do with European soccer. Because the soccer beer league that we have going on in this country makes the UFL look like the NFL.
YAWN!
@eagles_5_beast
Soccer is the gayest sport anywhere. The only part of the country that thinks it’s cool is the northeast. And contrary to what you all think, the rest of america hates the northeast. New York, Philly, Boston….dreadful towns.
# eagles_5_beast says: March 21, 2010 12:11 PM
@ the nomad. WTF r u talking about? Soccer is a global sport tht almost every country participates in. Gtfo u retard
——————————————–
Nowhere in my comments did I mention global recognition. I said HERE. Please show me how soccer is a major sport here in the USA.
Soccer is a great GIRLS sport.
palewook says:
March 21, 2010 12:23 PM
soccer? nascar has more fans in the usa, golf too. soccer settled so fast because it couldnt afford to work-stop to fight over a small pile of change. when the nhl stopped to fight over a pile of cash, it lost its spot on espn, ended up on versus (how many people here have even heard of the channel), and fell off the radar at the number 5 spot in usa sports. nfl, nba, mlb, nascar, and ultimate fighting are all more popular in the usa than the nhl now. the nhl on a good night struggles to post numbers higher than wrestling.
soccer really couldnt afford to take time off. it wouldnt even be in the top 10 viewed sports in the usa afterwards.
Exactly. The NHL is still trying to get over their work stoppage, and people still point to baseball’s mid 90′s lost season as when the NFL became our “National Pastime”. The owners and players HAVE to see the slippery slope they’re on.
Imagine, the NFL stops playing. TV stations start pushing the Chase for the Cup in NASCAR until October, then the NBA and/or NHL season starts, and UFC swoops in with a Sunday night fighting show. The NFL audiences could splinter off onto these other sports, and combine that with the “Stupid rich players/owners taking away my Sunday’s” and you have the downfall of football in America.
Nobody cares one way or the other what happens in the “Soccer League”. What would a lockout accomplish for them? How bout a whole bunch of no one gives a crap and Batterman is nothing more than a handful of Hand Batter.
This discussion is akin to a neighborhood Little League Team having any effect on MLB.
@GoBrowns19
Funny, everyone hates the northeast until they move here. Kind of like how Europeans hate America until they can move here.
Oh, and as for the midwest and Cleveland, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysmLA5TqbIY
Have fun milking a cow. Maybe your society will advance soon to where the northeast was in the early 1900′s.
“# GoBrowns19 says:
the rest of america hates the northeast. New York, Philly, Boston….dreadful towns.”
I’d take any one of them over Cleveland any day of the week…
some of you soccer sissies are getting your panties in a bunch, not a big suprise when you think about it.
Bowling, Golf, and Curling are all FAR more entertaining than soccer.
Soccer is what people who lack any skill in any other sport play to feel good about themselves.
To those of you who have kids that play soccer, let it be a lesson that you’ve failed as a parent, its probably best that you give the kids up for adoption and sterilize yourself to prevent future degredation of the species. c’mon, do us this one little favor.
eagles_5_beast says:
March 21, 2010 12:11 PM
@ the nomad. WTF r u talking about? Soccer is a global sport tht almost every country participates in. Gtfo u retard
You missed what he was saying. He correctly said it’s not a major sport HERE, in America. Yes, we participate, but the volume of Americans who care about professional soccer in the United States is probably less than those who watch WWF.
Just because the rest of the world likes it doesn’t mean we do.
You all are morons. I’m not a big soccer fan or anything but to say it’s “gay” and not a sport is just retarded and it take away any credibility. We get it Football is the greatest sport in the world still no reason to put down another sport because your to stupid to understand it. If you don’t like continue not to watch it. But some of you sound threatened or something. Oh I get it your just trying to hang on to your high school glory. Give it a rest.
Like it or not the sport is growing and while I can’t say I’m on board. I have took notice and it is impressive what has been accomplished in only 10 or so years.
soccer…now there’s a sport lil’ flo may be able to handle…for the rest of us, soccer sucks
The propper analogy is…
MLS is to World Soccer what the World League of American Football was to the NFL.
I can actually watch Man-U or Chelsea games and find it somewhat entertaining. What they are trying to pass of in the US as soccer is awful.
@DonCrny – I’ll give you that. Thats why I don’t watch. But it’s getting better as they import the euro players.
@Casey – That is the funniest damn video I’ve seen in a long time.
Cleveland
unfortunately MLS players union folded on their demands faster than the French during WWII. They didn’t really get anythin they wanted…other than for the MLS season to actually take place… Kinda sad, gonna have to wait another 4-5 years to see the MLS be able to halfway compete financially with other leagues
Soooo the players have their Agents/Reps fight all of their other battles in the league.
Buuut the players are representing themselves in fighting the owners, and their big muscle legal teams in the CBA.
hhmmmm wonder who will win this battle…..
The MLS, seriously, Florio, the MLS? What’s next, the Arena Football League? The MLS is professional like the Arena League is professional — they get paid to play but they’re NOT the kind of leagues that gets respect from the general public. They have fewer REAL stars playing than the NHL, which is the absolute bottom of the PROFESSIONAL pecking order. If you offered them a pack of gum and a roll of condoms, they’d sign on the dotted line so I don’t see where this even relates to the labor issues for the REAL professional leagues in the country.
your to stupid
??
And nobody cares…..at all
It is a England, Italian, and Spanish sport
soccer? i hardly knew her.
Florio is at his best banging out painfully detailed accounts of lawyers lying to each other. You all should stop encouraging him from doing so. He doesn’t care what you say about his soccer article. He just counts the page hits.
Florio is at his best banging out painfully detailed accounts of lawyers lying to each other. You all should stop encouraging him from doing so. He doesn’t care what you say about his soccer article. He just counts the page hits.