The minute the union rejected the all white owners last offer the nastiness started spewing forth. It looks to me that most folks that post here think that the slaves should be grateful to the “massa” for his generous offer.

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I’m sorry. I was under the impression that there were white men, Hispanics, and other ethnic groups playing in the NFL too – I didn’t realize they were all black men.

Anyways, no one is forcing the black man to play in the NFL, and make hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars in the process. I think that pretty much disqualifies them as “slaves”. They can walk away any time they like.

As for DSmith, he owes it to the Alumni to at least make them part of the process. At least to me, it shows he’s got his own personal agenda.

WOW.. way to bring the racial card in.. i don’t think anyone here said anything about black, blue, white.. Slaves did not get paid 10Mil a year and were dummies that shot themselves on the foot… literally and then asked for more $ would not WORK.. and yes, work, as the players are EMPLOYEE’s.. not partner or slaves..

@Ditka – By saying that the owners didn’t take the deal because De Smith is a strong black man, you’re basically saying that the NFL owners should have accepted a bad deal BECAUSE he’s a strong black man. Doesn’t that make YOU the racist? I, for one, would rather look at the merits of the deal and ignore the race of the parties involved.

Firefighters, cops, military.. they put more in the line than just their bodies…

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I guess you don’t follow the news much. The ruling class wants to bust the police and firrmen’s unions too.

why is the *nflpa pressured? They don’t owe anything officially to the retired players. It’s funny how much entitlement the players have, the ones who retired long before to contracts that didn’t include money after retirement feel like they are owed. The current players feel like getting 60 cents of all revenues isn’t enough. Geez I can’t wait for robot football, until they become selfaware terminators that is…

Why don’t they owe anything officially to the retired players? Because they are now not a Union? In that case yes. But the NFLPA was formed as a Union, with similar mandates as other Unions to look after the interests of past, present and future employees. Somewhere along the line they’ve forgotten that mandate. Maybe it was getting lawyers to run the damn thing rather than ex-players, Maybe it was when the greed of players increased that they forgot that they’re intentions. They’ve made massive increases for current stars but not the massive majority of players for a whom a Union is meant to protect. And now we have the ridiculous situation of three of the wealthiest saying they were disrespected by owners. Manning, Brady and Brees should be black-balled. They don’t have the true belief in seeing all players doing better. Why am I so adamant in that belief? Because if they truly did, they would not have allowed an “arms race” to develop were each wanted to the highest paid player in the NFL. Under a salary cap situation, every extra $1m they take in contract is another $1m less that the other players are paid in total.

When Manning, Brady and Brees are gone the NFL will still exist. Their teams will get new fans, new players and those fans will find new heroes. These guys are in it for themselves. They want as much money as possible FOR THEMSELVES. There is no altruistic nature in them signing this law-suit. Only fools that hero worship these flawed individuals will be taken in by their actions.

sounds like the players want the same deal Congress gives themselves. Maybe you should run for office!

Could not agree more! i rather go without football a year then to see these greedy a-holes get what they want.. they don’t care about the fans and apperantly neither about the sport or history of the game.. just themselves.
Firefighters, cops, military.. they put more in the line than just their bodies.. they put their life in the line and i don’t see this type of bs coming from them..

Im gonna go ask my employer to give us 60% of his shares and pay for my full benefits for life .. we’ll see what they says.. wish me luck!

Year Maximum Team Salary
2009 $123 million
2008 $116 million
2007 $109 million
2006 $102 million
2005 $85.5 million
2004 $80.582 million
2003 $75.007 million
2002 $71.101 million
2001 $67.405 million
2000 $62.172 million
1999 $57.288 million
1998 $52.388 million
1997 $41.454 million
1996 $40.753 million
1995 $37.1 million
1994 $34.608 million

Note, that over a period of 16 years it increased by
$88.4m, that is an increase of 255%. If the NFLPA really had the rights of all players at it’s heart, wouldn’t we expect to see huge similar increases in the minimum wages of players?

How about over a shorter period, say 2000 to 2009? Well the salary cap rose by 97.8% over that period. Minimum wages over that period? Rookies rose by 117K or 60.6%. How about 3rd year players? Rise of 150K or 39%. And those with 7 to 9 seasons? Rise of 305K or 69%. Quickly we can see that not all rises have been equal. And that whilst top salaries rose substantially, not all salaries rose equally.

As you can see, they’ve really had the best interests of a select few in mind, not the majority of the players. The numbers do not lie.

Something sounds shady with this owners deal.

Nothing like a strong willed black man standing up for other black men that gets white folks all riled up!

The minute the union rejected the all white owners last offer the nastiness started spewing forth. It looks to me that most folks that post here think that the slaves should be grateful to the “massa” for his generous offer.

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you have just proven there is no monopoly on stupidity as you claimed browns fan has.

Next I didn’t realize Drew Brees, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning were black. Wake up!!!! This is not a racial issue . If Gene Upshaw (RIP) could have been in there this most likely would have been resolved . But Demaurice does not have the best interest of the players he has the best interest of himself .Not because he’s black its because he is an idiot.

You know one side is losing an argument when they bring out the race card!

Nothing like a strong willed black man standing up for other black men that gets white folks all riled up!

The minute the union rejected the all white owners last offer the nastiness started spewing forth. It looks to me that most folks that post here think that the slaves should be grateful to the “massa” for his generous offer.

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Wow, this is the second time this morning I’ve seen the race card played…I guess the pro-player folks are running out of ammunition.

And FYI Ditka…it wouldn’t matter if Smith was white, black, yellow, brown or Barney purple…an idiot is an idiot.

At the same time, whilst teams like the Cowboys, Redskins and Patriots have higher revenue, they will STILL not pay more players higher wages. Why should they pay a back-up similar wages to that paid to start on other teams? Instead, they can maximize profits. Again, the only losers are the players.

If you take antitrust legislation to it’s logical conclusion, a few players (Brady, Manning, Brees, etc.) will be paid more. At the same time, the vast majority will be paid less. And college graduates could easily become subject to lower wages than those offered under an rookie wage scale. Why? Because all teams would be able to create an incoming graduate pay-scale. They could “interview” players as they graduate college and potential employees that want to be paid above those amounts would not be employed. Think logically, whilst there is competition for the most highly skilled grduates as they leave college in other professions, none earn the amounts NFL players do. If a player like Cam Newton demanded he wanted to be paid $10m a year, most clubs could just ignore him in the interview process. And at the same time, why would a team like the Redskins pay Newton that amount of money when they could outbid lesser revenue clubs for the services of a highly skilled veteran?

All of the above is why I cannot support the NFLPA* in any way shape or form. Their bargaining position is aimed at making the best paid players richer, not the “rank and file”.

They have no clear policies to redistribute the wealth of the NFL more evenly. As the salary cap has increased a select few have seen their wages massively increase, not all players.

If the NFLPA* and especially the litigants named (Manning, Brady and Brees in particular) wanted to see the NFL players better paid, they would have looked at methods to place a MAXIMUM salary on wages. Brady would not produce on Sundays if there were not 5 OL to block for him and another 5 guys catching the ball or protecting him. Does he deserve to be paid well? Yes. Does he deserve to be paid up to 50 times as much as guys that keep him safe?

Manning, Brady and Brees are a joke.
DeMaurice Smith is a joke.
The NFLPA* is a joke.

I’m also of the opinion that the Brady v NFL lawsuit also does not have the “rank and file” members best interests at heart. If the players were explained to what would happen under full antitrust legislation it would become clear that the wages of the vast majority of players would not increase, but instead would decrease in real terms, as there would be no minimum wage level other than that which teams decided to set themselves.

The current players should let the former players have a voice of some type in this saga as a courtesy thank you at minimum – but mostly to shut out the NFL and owners from gaining favor with them.

WOW just WOW…Am I the only one who thinks Demaurice should be fired right this minute???gridassassin says: Mar 15, 2011 10:52 AM

DeMaurice Smith = Modern Day Napoleon

eagles83 says: Mar 15, 2011 10:17 AM

Smith is in this for himself. He’s alienating the very players he says he represents. This guy has had his own political agenda from day one and this is all part of his plan.

Screw you Smith.

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Nothing like a strong willed black man standing up for other black men that gets white folks all riled up!

The minute the union rejected the all white owners last offer the nastiness started spewing forth. It looks to me that most folks that post here think that the slaves should be grateful to the “massa” for his generous offer.

If the nflpa really cared about former players as much as they say they do perhaps they would’ve “split the difference” and gave up something like $320 mil to gain $82 mil this year for former players…after all if you really are looking out for the future of the game and the average career length is 3 years then the current players are going to be former players who need benefits very quickly…so why not give up something now to gain something that will help you and your family in the future when you most likely will need it more?

If i’m off base with my facts let me know…

Tell me how come we keep referring to the NFLPA if they no longer exist? Please make them go away, tear up all the contracts and say tryouts start in march for anyone intersted in playing in the NFL. Pay is based on performance and your ability to show up for work.

They apparently don’t know how to negotiate. They are mad and want more, but they have no way of communicating it.

They must realize they will be retiring soon and the better the deal the work out for the retired players ultimately helps them in the end.

I think the NFLPA is a train wreck.