I do hope that their greed will carry them through the coming lean years, the result of telling the fans to f off.

I don’t understand how people can post comments talking about how the present model is unsustainable when the owners won’t open their books.

And before anyone jumps up and says other companies don’t show the books to employees, I would agree, except the players and owners have previously negotated the player pool of money as a percentage of revenue.

Without being able to see and audit the books for accuracy, I’ll have do admit the owners are hiding something? Why? Becasue if the business model is so bad, how come more owners don’t have their franchise up for sale? How come we don’t hear about loans to meet payroll like the Dodgers?

The owners want to declare themselves winners of the poker game without ever showing their hole cards.
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I don’t think the owners are hiding anything from the players per se. However, I DO believe that the league AS A WHOLE will not disclose the particular financials that the players are asking for because the league knows that that data will be viewed by OTHER OWNERS as well.

This could be very damaging for ball clubs because teams will be able to see how the OTHER TEAMS spend on marketing, how they market, where they market, how other teams shuffle money or more importantly…their strategies/tools for moving money around or “mortgaging” their money. Other teams will essentially see the other guy’s methods and accounting tricks.

Also, there’s the potential “egg in the face” moments when teams find out what other teams DON’T sell out games, but somehow avoid blackouts. It is one of the biggest badges of honor for teams and is one of the biggest tightly kept secrets of teams. One example would be the 49ers. For YEARS, they have had poor seasons since 2003, but have always been televised locally. Having been to their stadium a few times during this span, the stadium is always 3/4 full, but on television, it “looks” full. The 49ers have never said that they bought the remaining 1/3 of the tickets that no one is sitting in, but it’s obviously someone did.

Disclosing this financial data (to determine where money is going/how it is being spent) would give disclosure to other teams on just how the 49ers are doing it.

I guess you watch liberal MSNBC too.

The only people on the players side with any authority are all Lawyers so the process is screwed.
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De Smith isn’t the only lawyers in this mess. SEVERAL of the NFL owners are lawyers too. So, there are lawyers on BOTH sides who are mucking up the waters with all this nonsense.

And before anyone jumps up and says other companies don’t show the books to employees, I would agree, except the players and owners have previously negotated the player pool of money as a percentage of revenue.

Without being able to see and audit the books for accuracy, I’ll have do admit the owners are hiding something? Why? Becasue if the business model is so bad, how come more owners don’t have their franchise up for sale? How come we don’t hear about loans to meet payroll like the Dodgers?

The owners want to declare themselves winners of the poker game without ever showing their hole cards.

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There needs to be a permanent thread for this because every week or so someone keeps bringing it up without bothering to read the pages and pages and pages that have been written about it.

1) The owners offer of financial information went way beyond anything they were required to show in the CBA agreement.

2) The owners offered to let an independent 3rd party accounting firm to audit the books and give the players the players the condensed results.

3) DeMaurice, by his own admission, declined point #2 for PR reasons.

4) Google the NBA CBA negotiations which are going on now and see what opening the books has done for them. The players are more contentious than ever. They don’t want accounting principles such as “depreciation” to count as an expense. They also want a cut of the owners other businesses revenue. If anything opening the books has opened a whole new can of worms.

5) This one is just because i’m tired of the whole “open the books” blind parrotting. Why the heck don’t the players need to show auditted W2s for every single player every time they want to negotiate for more money or benefits? Because it’s stupid that why yet some people get a sound bite in their head an it rattles around in there for months.

EAT IT NFLPA!!!

And before anyone jumps up and says other companies don’t show the books to employees, I would agree, except the players and owners have previously negotated the player pool of money as a percentage of revenue.

Without being able to see and audit the books for accuracy, I’ll have do admit the owners are hiding something? Why? Becasue if the business model is so bad, how come more owners don’t have their franchise up for sale? How come we don’t hear about loans to meet payroll like the Dodgers?

The owners want to declare themselves winners of the poker game without ever showing their hole cards.

The lockout is just the equal and opposite action to the player’s ability to strike. The players are simply trying to get the full benefit of the union (ability to collectively bargain, strike, and get absurd rulings from judges), fail to live up to the rules they agreed to in the previous CBA (regarding the timeline they had to adhere to to disband the union and not be considered a sham), and get the benefits of being union free (ability to block the lockout).

If the owners were 1/4 as evil as they are painted they’d be salivating at disbanding the union. All those rules about no contact in the offseason? Gone. Limits on recouping bonus monies paid for future services? Gone. Limits on fines for player misconduct? Gone. Minimum salaries? Gone. Benefits and pensions? Gone.

Establish new contracts at 10-30% of the current values, and the players wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. They have no other real value in the open market…

Just because the NFL owners are able to market their product for a great price doesn’t mean the players are entitled to it. Let the players find another outlet to sell themselves where they can make 10% of what they are making as a group.

Without a union they’re all individuals, and as individuals they’re all worthless.

The league can’t do it, though, because they’ll just re-form the union (that isn’t really gone) as soon as the league does something the players don’t like… the league has to be negotiating as if there is no union (can’t get the benefit of establishing across the board rules) but can’t do a deal as if there’s no union (because there will be one).

It’s a no-win for the league.

I like what owner Robert Kraft said about all of this nonsense:

“In my opinion, we could get a deal done in the next week…If business people sat down on both sides, and we tried to get the lawyers in the background…Get lawyers away from table. Lawyers are deal breakers, not deal makers.” -Robert Kraft
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The only people on the players side with any authority are all Lawyers so the process is screwed.

Finally found a judge(s) with their head out of their butts. Teach these greedy players what for. Amazing what happens when reasonable minds come to a decision. The players just may not get 90% of the owners money after all.
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I’m not going to take sides (owners/players). However, you make one of the most uninformed comments imaginable. Firstly, Judge Nelson (who ruled in favor of lifting the lockout) was as prepared as ANY judge. Also, she sided with precedent and the law in regards to what was asked of her and that was presented to her by both sides. Secondly, an appeals court has a different set of guidelines in terms of what can be presented by either side. Also, the burden of proof is much different. In a court of appeals, either side can site something as minor as a clerical error on a single form or a major omission by the other side as a basis for an argument.

Thirdly, where did you come up with the “greedy players” wanting 90%? of the $9billion pie? Fox News? The numbers in question of dividing up the profits has always floated between 49%-54%.

This is worst possible outcome for the NFL. All the goodwill from last night is flushed sown the toilet with a meaningless order from the appeals court that amounts to nothing more than a “time out.” While reinstating the lockout in the midst of the draft may not galvanize support for the players, it most certainly put Goodell in an unpleasant position when he opens the festivities tonight. I wonder if the retired players will decide not to participate in the 2nd round announcements under the circumstances. It might get loud tonight.
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Speaking of the retired players, maybe you should educate yourself on which side has been supporting the retired players. I’ll give you a hint, it wasn’t the side that refused to meet with the retired players representative and continues to refuse to give up a dime to aid them.

I almost forgot, Five retired players are suing the NFL Players Association in federal court, claiming the organization denied them and other former athletes lucrative royalties from licensing deals that used their images.

Why would the retired players support the NFLPA again? It would be for the support the NFLPA has given them.

Well, there goes any shot Cam Newton had of learning how to run an NFL offense by the beginning of the season.

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He had no chance to begin with. He really needs to sit on the bench for a season and not be rushed unless he’s going to be used as a gimmic (ala Pat White or Tim Tebow).

“In my opinion, we could get a deal done in the next week…If business people sat down on both sides, and we tried to get the lawyers in the background…Get lawyers away from table. Lawyers are deal breakers, not deal makers.” -Robert Kraft

you greedy bastards. these players put their lives on the line while you sit in a luxury box! the game costs people’s lives, while you sip a martini and get rich!

SHAME ON YOU, YOU GREEDY BASTARDS

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I guess it’s happy hour somewhere. I’m sure Pat Tillman would have something to say about football players and putting his life on the line or at least he would if he hadn’t put football on hold to actually his life on the line.

these owner are f**king pathetic what did goodell say at the draft he wants football too no you don’t you are the worst person this just shows how stupid our legal system is where the judge can say no stay but the opposition can go right along around the judges back PATHETIC!!!!

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It’s also pathetic that the interpretation of the law depends on the venue. There’s a good chance that if the players had filed somewhere other than Minnesota it would be the players appealing right now and don’t fool yourself, the players would appeal just like the owners are.

The players were the ones not participating and negotiating… the owners made significant moves off of what they wanted… the players didn’t make a single move.

The players want their cake, they want to eat it, they want someone else to buy it, and they want those people who bought it to keep investing in more cake.

Top draft picks and quarterbacks are pocketing more cash per season than entire teams are making as business entities in profits.

That’s not sustainable. For a long time people were able to see the players for what they are… now with a few court rulings people seem to be shifting to the players side.

Nobody should feel sorry for the players… if the deal the owners are offering is so bad, they should find a better offer elsewhere.

Pathetic that our government (which had Obama and congressmen saying that the league should figure out how to split up 9Bil without government intervention) is the entity dictating the terms and getting involved… the same government that can’t figure out how to split up a few trillion dollars to avoid a government shutdown.

A lot has been made of the fact that the NFL loses, loses, then loses some more when it comes to legal action, but unless they’re doing something illegal (making it an easy call), the political mindset of the judges favors the owners from this point on…

The owners are doing everything possible to not have a 2011 season,..like the NHL did,..the NHL owners got what they wanted by losing a year,..the NFL will not play in 2011.

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The owners are doing everything possible to get the players away from the litigation table and back to the negotiation table.

I have no doubt the players would rather be working than not but until the players want to negotiate both sides will continue to litigate and the lawyers will continue to prosper.

The rhetoric from the players was very high during the NHL lockout as well with many player reps claiming that the players would never play under a salary cap and mocking the commissioner unmercifully.

“The bottom line is, if they want a hard (salary) cap, we’ll sit out for the rest of our lives,” Toronto Maple Leafs union rep Bryan McCabe tells the Toronto Star.

Dallas Stars’ Mike Modano said playing in the Central Hockey League for $400 a month “wouldn’t pay (for) my dog’s food.”

And some other oldies but goodies from the NBA ..

Minnesota Timberwolves’ Latrell Sprewell turned down a three-year, $27-million contract extension this summer. “I’ve got my family to feed,” he said.

Vince Carter admitted to TNT host John Thompson that despite a $90- million contract extension he signed in 2001, he didn’t give everything he had to the Raptors and their fans.