The Future of the NFL

[Drakonius26]

I figured with most everybody being excited about the upcoming NFL season this would be a good time to talk about the future of the NFL, long-term. Beyond just the lockout (not exactly the most positive topic), how were the fellow residents of these boards feeling about their favorite teams and favorite players, the long-term health of the league, and basically the extra stuff like the NFL's exclusive contracts with DirecTV, EA Sports, etc. I can only imagine that most of us have been following this news to an extent, more so than the average football fan, but I figured I'd provide a link to a recap of the events til today.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ms-laborquestions090810

Happy reading, and happy posting.

[arr1023]

I really hope there isn't a lock out, altough all signs point to it, that would suck.

But on the topic of the future, i just think a rookie contract structure needs to be implemented, I think that's one of the biggest problems in the NFL.

I'm not so sure of how an 18-game season would work. I don't know if the toll of another 2 games would affect the players physically. One thing I don't like about the 18 game season is the fact that records are going to be changed, like probably alot more 2,000 yards backs and such. Some people don;t care about that much but I do.

my thoughts.

[Panhead1]

I really hope there isn't a lock out, altough all signs point to it, that would suck.

But on the topic of the future, i just think a rookie contract structure needs to be implemented, I think that's one of the biggest problems in the NFL.

I'm not so sure of how an 18-game season would work. I don't know if the toll of another 2 games would affect the players physically. One thing I don't like about the 18 game season is the fact that records are going to be changed, like probably alot more 2,000 yards backs and such. Some people don;t care about that much but I do.

my thoughts.

I agree with pretty much eerything you just said. The move to na 18-game season would fix something that isn't broken. (The 16-game schedule.) One bright to the probable lockout is that we'd probably see more UFL action. The NFL's problems are good for the UFL.

[BlueSky]

What annoys me is Goodell's spin in selling the 18-game schedule. According to him, the fans want more regular season football. Wrong. What fans want IMO is less preseason football. Those things are not the same. Having 2/16 would be fine, a reasonable compromise would be 3/17. Really don't like the idea of 2/18.

[NJTank]

Roger Goodell is quickly becoming another clueless joke like Gary Bettman, I understand the 18 game schedule idea, but the players do have health concerns, and if they wqant to reduce salaries and add two games than this will get ugly.

[JQK]

Roger Goodell is quickly becoming another clueless joke like Gary Bettman, I understand the 18 game schedule idea, but the players do have health concerns, and if they wqant to reduce salaries and add two games than this will get ugly.

"then"

Goodell is there to look out for the owners interest. Removing games from the schedule will not happen. Next best solution? Instead of forcing people to pay regular price for 4 pre-season games, have them only have to endure 2 pre-season games, and get their money's worth for two more regular season games.

I don't think the 18 game schedule is the sticking point. What sends this into a lockout is the rookie salary cap...

[IceCap]

The NFL is the most well-organized, profitable, self-aware league in North America, possibly the world. The players themselves have got to be aware of the this as well, in addition to being aware of the awesome place they hold in the American sports priority list. I have a hard time believing that either the NFL or the PA will allow a strike to occur. They can't afford risking their monolithic position atop the sports mountain. I mean they saw what 1994 did to baseball right? Neither party here can afford to let that happen to the NFL.

[NJTank]

Roger Goodell is quickly becoming another clueless joke like Gary Bettman, I understand the 18 game schedule idea, but the players do have health concerns, and if they wqant to reduce salaries and add two games than this will get ugly.

"then"

Goodell is there to look out for the owners interest. Removing games from the schedule will not happen. Next best solution? Instead of forcing people to pay regular price for 4 pre-season games, have them only have to endure 2 pre-season games, and get their money's worth for two more regular season games.

I don't think the 18 game schedule is the sticking point. What sends this into a lockout is the rookie salary cap...

Well a rookie cap is despretley needed.

[B-Rich]

Not sure how many of you caught it, but last night on NFL Network (after the premiere of the Saints' "America's Game" piece), there was a "Fan Forum" with Goodell held in the Superdome. Now, I'm sure that all these questions were pre-screened and such, but he covered a lot of topics mentioned above, with typical Goodell spin. The rookie situation (artfully described as a "rookie pool" rather than a "rooie salary cap"), the 18 vs. 16 game schedule, suspensions, etc.

Two things stood out. One question was a from a freshman football player form one of the richest schools in the area, who asked why the NFL didn't "offer" guaranteed contracts like the rest of the pro sports leagues. Goodell danced around it lightly, without saying what most sports fans would-- guaranteed contracts suck, one bad injury and you're screwed as a team-- by mentioning how so much of NFL contract amounts are tied in to signing bonuses, which are in fact guaranteed money.

But the other was a really good question essentially asking "if the Green Bay Packers can have public ownership so that they cannot be moved, would the NFL allow other franchises to have such ownership so that they cannot be moved?" Rather than address the point honestly and directly (No way; Green Bay is an exception which dates back before TV, the merger, the Super Bowl and publicly funded stadiums, and if we/the owners allowed public ownership, our whole 'playing one city against another to get the best stadium/ancillaries deal' wouldn't work), he never answered the question and instead stated that the reason Green Bay has survived was because of shared revenues, not public ownership.

[rams80]

Roger Goodell is quickly becoming another clueless joke like Gary Bettman, I understand the 18 game schedule idea, but the players do have health concerns, and if they wqant to reduce salaries and add two games than this will get ugly.

"then"

Goodell is there to look out for the owners interest. Removing games from the schedule will not happen. Next best solution? Instead of forcing people to pay regular price for 4 pre-season games, have them only have to endure 2 pre-season games, and get their money's worth for two more regular season games.

I don't think the 18 game schedule is the sticking point. What sends this into a lockout is the rookie salary cap...

Well a rookie cap is despretley needed.

Better yet, can we tear up existing rookie contracts ex post facto?

[RedRenesis]

I don't think the 18 game schedule is the sticking point. What sends this into a lockout is the rookie salary cap...

It was my understanding that there are a lot of veterans that resent the fact the rookies who have yet to prove a thing make a killing on their first contracts while the veterans have to constantly prove what their worth. If that is in fact true then it shouldnt be much of a hangup.

[tBBP]

In my own personal opinion, a lockout might actually be beneficial for the league as a whole. Though neither side may want a work stoppage, it may well give both sides time to really sit back an re-evaluate the way this business operates, as well as the state of the game today.

As Ice_Cap said, the NFL is the nation's biggest sport now--the most self-aware, and the most revenue-generating. In my eyes, it's also quickly cannibalizing itself. Some of this started under the regime of Tagliabue, but man have things accelerated under the Jolly Roger. (In some ways, I almost think the image of the league has taken on Goodell's personality as I perceive it.) My major points of contention with the league today are as follows: a/ this whole 18-game thing; b/ rules changes, as well as the state of how the game is played; and c/ the rookie pay scale.

A./ First of all, I don't like this 18-game thing. Having said that, like John Quincy King said, (part of) Goodell's job is to look out for the owners. They want it. Not hard to connect the dots here...more regular season games = more revenue. Sure they wanna turn two pre-season games into two regular-season games, since fans don't really like the pre-season games. Here's the thing: 18 games means two more games on top of the existing 16 + 4 (if you count all possible games in the postseason) that players will be full-out banging up on each other. And from all that I've seen, most players HATE the idea of playing 18 games, chiefly because of physical wear and tear. (Now I can already see someone saying the overall number of games--it'd still be 20--won't change, but we all know the starters, at least, ain't really going 100% in the current four games of the preseason.) In my opinion, if anything, the NFL should chop off a game or two. My ideal setup would be three preseason games and fifteen regular season games. That'd allow for two games for the scrubs to "prove themselves", and a final pre-season game as a "tune-up" for the regulars. Then play the regular season in thirds, over the course of sixteen weeks. Half the teams can get a bye in week 6; the other half in week 11, selected on a completely random basis so as not to give any one team a "rest" advantage over another. I would think two less games (one from preseason, one from regular season) might keep players just a tad bit fresher (one less game in which to suffer an injury, anyway). That's my take on that.

B./ The rules changes and state of gameplay. Over the years, I've watched more and more rule changes go in effect to favor the offense. To a point, I can understand some of them--to open the game up, generate some more touchdowns, points, "arena-league" excitement--but then some of them got utterly ridiculous. I first thought that about the "no contact outside of five yards" thing. I'm a former DB myself, so naturally I was opposed to that one. (The conspiracy theorist in me believes Bill Polian championed some if not most of these changes, most likely to help out HIS own QB, Peyton Manning.) But then came the Brady Rule, and that's when I saw the writing on the wall. Like Ray Lewis said, they can get hit just like everyone else on the field. But that's just one side.

The other side deals with defensive players. It seems every off-season, we hear more and more about head trauma, concussions, and the like--and it's good that they're raising awareness about it. However, I think the league's approach to combating this is all backwards. While better more protective equipment is a good thing, it don't mean jack if the players wearing the PPE don't learn how to shore up their techniques while playing in it--specifically talking about tackling. That's where the emphasis needs to go...back to the basics of proper techniques. I see far too many shoulder leads, head-first leads...too many players looking for that knockout hit. Don't see nearly enough defenders staying on their feet and wrapping up (probably for fear of being trucked, but that's part of life as a defender--and plus, one of the first things you're taught in Tackling 101 is DON'T LEAVE YOUR FEET).

C./ Others have already commented on the rookie pay scale thing, so I'll pretty much leave that one alone. I'll just say this: there really should be some type of rookie limit. I'd say a three-year "prove yourself" period should be sufficient before throwing the big money at a player. Hell, I'd say pay the rookies at league minimum for the first year, then raise it the second year if they meet certain incentives, then again a year after that--something akin to an annual raise, but only at the average of the veteran minimum. (That might also go a long way towards curbing the "sense of entitlement" some players come into the league with.)

Of course, this is all just one man's opinion...my two rusted Lincolns.

[JQK]

It was my understanding that there are a lot of veterans that resent the fact the rookies who have yet to prove a thing make a killing on their first contracts while the veterans have to constantly prove what their worth. If that is in fact true then it shouldnt be much of a hangup.

The union will still fight against it. Their argument is that an NFL player's career is so short, that players need to be able to make as much money as quickly as possible, and if there is a rookie cap, then you will have players being destroyed and having no money to show for it.

The Union will never say "ok" to less money for it's players...

[BlueSky]

Roger Goodell is quickly becoming another clueless joke like Gary Bettman, I understand the 18 game schedule idea, but the players do have health concerns, and if they wqant to reduce salaries and add two games than this will get ugly.

"then"

Goodell is there to look out for the owners interest. Removing games from the schedule will not happen. Next best solution? Instead of forcing people to pay regular price for 4 pre-season games, have them only have to endure 2 pre-season games, and get their money's worth for two more regular season games.

I don't think the 18 game schedule is the sticking point. What sends this into a lockout is the rookie salary cap...

Well a rookie cap is despretley needed.

Tank, that's ridiculous. They already have draft caps, sideline caps, fashion caps, camo caps...the last thing they need is a rookie cap.

[goalieboy82]

i hope there is a season in 2011. if the NFL comes back in 2012, it would be a short season anyway. this will be because, if what some people say is true, the world will end on friday, december 21st 2012.

fixed the wording in the post

[NJTank]

So Super Bowl XLV could be the last one, I blame Roger Twowey Goodshoes Goodell for wanting a generic Super Bowl logo.

[TFoA]

In my own personal opinion, a lockout might actually be beneficial for the league as a whole. Though neither side may want a work stoppage, it may well give both sides time to really sit back an re-evaluate the way this business operates, as well as the state of the game today.

Plus college football will still be going on...so nothing of value will be lost.

No seriously, the more I think about it, the more I agree that a lockout, while it would suck, it wouldn't be too bad for the league in the long run. It'd definitely give them more time to fix the kinks that are beginning to show in the league, and like you said, take a second look at the way that they handle their business. Hopefully they go back to just keeping the NFL as King of the Mountain when it comes to the Big 4 pro sports, and not trying to turn it into some international behemoth overseas, knowing damn well it will always play second fiddle to the "real" football outside of these shores.

So yeah, not like the NFL (both sides) wouldn't at least have a chance to benefit from a stoppage. Hell, it already seems like they're getting ready for it.

[ninersdd]

If this happens, we will have 4 of the biggest clowns ever to be commishes:Bud Selig, Bettman, Stern, and Goodell. How the hell did they get to run these leagues?

[Gothamite]

It was my understanding that there are a lot of veterans that resent the fact the rookies who have yet to prove a thing make a killing on their first contracts while the veterans have to constantly prove what their worth. If that is in fact true then it shouldnt be much of a hangup.

The union will still fight against it. Their argument is that an NFL player's career is so short, that players need to be able to make as much money as quickly as possible, and if there is a rookie cap, then you will have players being destroyed and having no money to show for it.

The Union will never say "ok" to less money for it's players...

On the contrary, I think that one gets an automatic pass from the union (unless they decide they need to make a show of "bargaining."

The rookies who will be affected aren't union members yet. And if the money that they would get is to be distributed to veterans, as is reportedly the plan, well, they *are* union members.

A rookie scale is the easy part in these negotiations.

[HedleyLamarr]

If this happens, we will have 4 of the biggest clowns ever to be commishes:Bud Selig, Bettman, Stern, and Goodell. How the hell did they get to run these leagues?

Commissioners are hired to work for the owners.

When they were applying for the job, these guys get asked "Are you willing to lockout the players' union?". If they answer "No.", they don't get to be commissioner.