I had the opportunity to meet with an NFL agent this week and discuss the potential NFL lockout. Originally, I had sided with the players. After all, the players get paid less than NBA players and much less than MLB players. In fact, the average player makes $300 k a year and only plays for 3 years. That seems pretty skimpy considering that the NFL is an $8 billion dollar business. Finally, the owners refuse to show their books. But the agent enlightened me to something I didn’t know. Under the current collective bargaining agreement the owners are required to spend 63% of the revenue on the players. That’s pretty steep. In this economy owners of business are firing people right and left so they are not held personally liable. The 63% requirement makes it so the owners don’t have that option. They simply have to suck up the losses; they can’t fire the players to save money. That’s a pretty raw deal.
Nonetheless, something has got to give. This is what I think will ultimately happen, the NFLPA will go down to 61% or so. But the veteran players won’t be giving up anything. They will put in a strict rookie pay scales and make the young guys take the hit. I love this idea. Matt Stafford got $72 million dollars for 6 years. Tom Brady signed a $60 million contract for 6 years. Not quite right. Most frustrating is the fact that the rookie salaries are so high that teams can’t draft the guys they really want. For instance, the Suh is the best player in this year’s draft but $70 million is way too much to pay for a non QB or an OL. That’s why the Rams will have to draft Bradford, the 7th best player in this year’s draft #1 overall.
Brittney Greiner
Baylor’s Brittney Greiner punched a girl in the face when the girl wasn’t even looking. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQPnshT6KI. It’s a pretty nasty hit. The girl is 6 foot 8, and wears a size 17 mens shoe; you can’t check weight of girls players but she surely weighs over 200 pounds. So what does the NCAA do? Suspends her for 1 game. She got one other more game of suspension from the Big 12. That’s it. Blount from Oregon got almost a full season (and I thought that was too little.) I am getting sick of the NCAA. Let’s look at Florida. Florida players have been charged with crimes in 24 cases during Meyer's four years as coach. There have been 21 arrests, with three more players issued citations and later booked on charges. Of the 24 cases in which players have been charged, nine of those charges were for felonies. http://www.gatorsports.com/article/20090614/ARTICLES/906141012?p=2&tc=pg. Can’t we do better than this? It just makes me sad.
Interesting take on the whole NFL strike issue. What I can't believe is that we can't see the owners books. After doing some accounting for over a year it would be very telling if that was public information. I do believe that the Green Bay Packers books can be looked at, but not sure because of how that team is structured.
ReplyDeleteI agree totally of the lower the pay scale of young unproven players. That Stafford deal is a joke, of course how much is that guaranteed money might change the perception. Just look at Jamarcus Russel, I don't see him hitting all his performance incentives. I do love the way NFL contracts are made because they give teams the opportunity to dump a player who had one good year and now is a financial black hole that just sucks money from the team. I wish the NBA did this, just look at Kirilinko the past couple of years.
Please just resolve this NFL. I do not want to miss any games or even worse an entire season. I think the players will have to compromise as well as the owners just like in any negotiation.
I cannot believe that is a one game suspension. That is totally hipocritical. The Oregon player really paid his dues and almost missed and entire season over a hit. I think it is because this girl is one of the stars of the womens college basketball. This kind of favoritism is not new, this goes for just about every sport in every league. The stars if they get into trouble are generally given a break compared to those role players because they drive in big money for these leagues. There is even rumors, and remember this is just a rumor, that Michael Jordan retired the first time because he was in some gambling trouble the commissioner told him to retire instead of hurting the sport with scandal and suspensions. I can almost see this as happening, it probably didn't, but I wouldn't be surprised. This girl should be gone for the rest of the season and the playoffs. One game is a joke, and actually insulting to the girl who was punched.
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