What is going on with the current CBA and who honestly holds the trump cards here? Let's look at things from both sides.
From the players' side of things, players are looking at forfeiting an entire year's paycheck if they are not able to come to some type of agreement with the owners before the start of the season. For most NFL players who live in beautiful houses and overspend on everything from a night out to a new sports car, a year without pay could hurt. The stars who are making the big bucks can often still rely on endorsement deals to pay any of their bills and you have to think at least some of the "little" guys were smart enough to stash away a rainy day fund. For those players that are actually hurting so bad for money that they have to play SOMEWHERE, there is always the CFL or other smaller leagues. They could pay a player anywhere from $100,000 to over a million dollars depending on the player. So the players have some outs.
On the owners' side of things, times couldn't get much worse. The owners will still make money through the sale of merchandise, but other than that, they are in some deep trouble. Some teams are not even able to sell out all of their home games (Jags, Bengals). How would these teams even stay afloat in a year where the revenue is extremely negative? Owners still have to pay alot of bills unrelated to players' contract. This is one of the reasons owners want $2 billion off the top of the aprox. $9 billion that the league brings in each year before they split anything with the players.
If the 2011 season starts late, or worse yet doesn't happen, don't be surprised to see alot of NFL studs sitting back in front of their huge TV waiting for their interest statements to come in while NFL owners are looking to sell off a piece or two of their franchise to some foreign billionaire who buys low and sells high. Things might get messy in this process, but at some point the owners are going to have to fold to the players. The players ALWAYS hold the ace of spades.
I think the owners have more leverage than you're giving them credit for here. Unlike the players, owning a football isn't their livelihood, it's their hobby. Not sure if you've read this either, but the TV networks (ESPN, CBS, Fox and NBC) are obligated to pay the league billions per their contracts whether games are played or not. How's that for a rainy day fund?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/2011/02/05/2011-02-05_expect_nfls_huge_tv_deals_to_be_off_limits_when_talking_heads_start_yapping_abou.html
Based on a recent court ruling, it looks like the TV contracts may not end up in the pockets of the owners alone. You can read more here: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6173938
ReplyDeleteI would say that the owners wouldnt not end up with the billions of dollars previously mentioned.
I agree, the owner's overall have more leverage. Players have time clocks on their bodies. Jerry Jones, by comparison, is probably already a robot. Besides, the owners could much more easily "support" hurting teams if it came down to it or even make deals to respond more easily.
ReplyDeleteDid you read that the players have considered legally disbanding the union and then suing the owners in an antitrust lawsuit to keep the season continuing? This is why the owners have more leverage: the players are too focused on making lots of money NOW before their bodies give out on them or they get injured. The owners are more interested in agreements that work in their favor over the next decade.