It was a major request of the owners for that reason, and it’s absolutely a concession by the players when prematurely negotiating a new CBA because the owners won’t honor the previous one.

This throws water on your arguement Skeletal.

2. An entry level compensation system based on the Union’s “rookie cap” proposal, rather than the wage scale proposed by the clubs. Under the NFL proposal, players drafted in rounds 2-7 would be paid the same or more than they are paid today. Savings from the first round would be reallocated to veteran players and benefits.

If what you say is correct, this would have actually driven up veteran wages (not down as you stated)- note the “stay the same or more” and “savings from the first round would be reallocated to veteran players.

You have a point. But I was discounting that on purpose because it is so unequal amongst the owners.

The main Steelers guy only owns like 15% of the team or something, as an example. Jim Irsay didn’t pay anything for the Colts they were bequeathed to him by his father, the infamous Robert Irsay. Stan Kroenke paid roughly $450m for the remaining 60% of the Rams.

the differences are massive in terms of profit and the value of my home may increase by 50% and that is fantastic! But it doesn’t do jack for me today.

It was a major request of the owners for that reason, and it’s absolutely a concession by the players when prematurely negotiating a new CBA because the owners won’t honor the previous one.

Someone mentioned earlier that owners claim they are losing money. Totally false. Most owners are making LESS money while the cap goes up every year. There are a handful of owners with new stadiums (Snyder, Jones to name two) that are making money hand over fist. But most are making less and the appetite for new stadiums is way down (rightfully so). Has the cap decreased? No.

I’m not begrudging the owners for their desire to make money, but they’re not the ones putting guns in their mouths 20 years after playing due to too many concussions. And 70% of the players will never be the millionaires the public thinks they are. The players are anything but greedy and to settle for something less than they’ve achieved in the CBA to this point would be a mistake. More power to them.

The rookie wage scale is definitely a concession of the NFLPA. ”

No, it’s not. That money saved is simply going back to the veteran players instead, PLUS the owners lose a year or two of relatively low contractual rookie wages. Think 5 years of $ 1mil per year versus 3 years of 1mil per year AND the additional extra 2 years on the players next contract of say 5 mil per year. Which is better for the owners? 5 mil over 5 years or 3 mil plus 10 mil= 13 million over 5 years?
Owners gave a big concession here, time to give back playa! But NO 18 games!

To be sure, if the owners books show that profits are falling, I think the players should make concessions. It’s in everyone’s interests, including the players, for football organizations to be profitable. But the owners need to own up and demonstrate this, period.

I wonder if some of you pay an ounce of attention, especially @buffalohogan Did you miss the concession where the NFLPA offered a significant reduction of it’s percentage of the “pie”? Guess so. That was almost right out of the box.
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you are the low i.q that the nflpa aims it’s PR at. there never was a significant concession. they currently get 60 % of the total revenue, after the 1 billion is subtracted from the 10 billion,They offered to “drop” their take to 50% of the total package of 10 billion. all they did was play with numbers.

you bought it

@buffalohogan

The rookie wage scale is definitely a concession of the NFLPA. ”

Actually quite the opposite. Established players wanted a rookie wage scale because they are tired of draftees making more money then guys who have been the league a few years. They was a rookie salary cap in place. Here again the owners gave ground (giving up a year before free agency) without the union giving anything.

By reading PFT we are to assume that the players will benefit from this going to litigation.

We are to assume that the supreme commander of fairness, David Doty, will come to the players rescue and continue to slap those big, bad, greedy owners around and show them what “fairness” really is. Clearly we are led to believe that you don’t mess with the Doty!

Are we to assume that the owners won’t appeal his rulings? If they do appeal, which they have to, then real problems for football begins. I am sure they have already prepared and laid out their plans for this scenario.

I am afraid that the owners may be prepared to go through this process. In the end their best chance of a complete and total restructure of the system exists.

Some of you may trust the courts. You may have confidence that the leftist agenda will always be served by them. But, don’t be surprised if it blows up in the players faces.

Funny things happen when very powerful men conspire.

D Smith is a political operative looking to further his career – its not good

“Bottom line is player revenues are outpacing revenue growth. That’s a fact. If the union doesn’t acknowledge that then everything else is a waste of time.”

That is mathematically impossible. Players get a percentage of the revenue. How can player revenues outpace revenue growth when the players get a percentage of the revenue???

Let me explain it for you. If an owner spends (invests) $1 and gets an additional $2 in revenue, sounds good, right? Wrong. The PLAYERS get 60% of revenue, so they get $1.20 of the additional $2, and the owner gets $0.80. Spending $1.00 to get $0.80 is a losing proposition.

That’s not a “fact” as far as you know. If the NFL owners can prove that to be “fact” by opening their books, the players will make concessions. You cant expect the Players to take the owners at their word, can you?

Cap profits. (I know small business owners won’t like this idea )

Total Revenue less 8.5% off the top for “profits” everything else is divided in two. Players get one half… teams get the other half to go toward taxes and operating expenses.

As for the health insurance stuff… for vested veterans make healthcare available until age 65 with cost divided up between league, current players, and individual receiving insurance. This done in exchange for 18 game regular season and 2 game preseason with guarantee of never increasing season size.

Everything else is small potatos.

just one guys idea.

As a business owner, im not in it to break even, im trying to make money and a 3.2% profit is not worth the investment/risk they take.

“I was bangin’ 7-gram rocks and finishing them because that’s how I roll. I have one speed, one gear … go!”

Owners insist they’re losing money. Players are asking them to prove it. The TV revenues information was the smoking gun – in other words, owners have shown they’re not above negotiating a deal that will screw the players, so players want to be sure they have as much information as possible.

The owners have nobody but themselves to blame for the current situation.

“If I am the owners, i make this final offer, if they decline it, declare an impasse, let the players strike, use scabs (UFL, AFL, etc), and about October players will start coming back ala 1987″

This is an impending lockout by the owners, not a strike by the players like in 1987. The owners can not use ‘scab’ players. It’s they agree to a new CBA or say hello to UFL football…

HA HA HA HA so true. I read that and was like what? #Comprehensionfail made me literally laugh out loud at my office too.

@Toe4,
Man I have to respect that post. The numbers weren’y 100% accurate, but I respect it and agree with the big picture of your post.

Do you miss the fact that they are being asked to negotiate when they don’t even know about what they are negotiating? i.e. real league income and profit.

Did you miss the fact it was the owners who opted out of the last 3 years of this agreement?

It is astounding to me that a few here are content to pile on players who, mostly, play for 3 years and have little left as opposed to whiny billionaires.

Idiots all.

Thanks, you and I have disagreed frequently over this negotiating deals but I fully appreciate how you have always been respectful to me.

Topher