NFL Owners Opt out of Labor Deal

[ferrousoxide66]

Well, I'm rooting for utter chaos. I think Goodell has been horrible in his short tenure as Commish, so to have the league blow up under his watch would be absolutely wonderful.

How has he been horrible? Compared to despotic Stern and bumbling Bettman, he's been an absolute ubermensch.

[rams80]

Well, I'm rooting for utter chaos. I think Goodell has been horrible in his short tenure as Commish, so to have the league blow up under his watch would be absolutely wonderful.

How has he been horrible? Compared to despotic Stern and bumbling Bettman, he's been an absolute ubermensch.

Spygate should have been a dead issue a long time ago. Thanks to his bungling, it hasn't. And that's just one problem. Losing the CBA would be a bigger fiasco than anything Bettman could hope to achieve.

[jkrdevil]

Well, I'm rooting for utter chaos. I think Goodell has been horrible in his short tenure as Commish, so to have the league blow up under his watch would be absolutely wonderful.

How has he been horrible? Compared to despotic Stern and bumbling Bettman, he's been an absolute ubermensch.

Well the NHL's problems have less to do with Bettman than it does the 40+ years of inept management of the league that came before it. League management before Bettman was chaotic with it basically being every team for themsleves and showed no vision. The NHL was the last to expand out west which put them behind and was the last to get on US tv which put them further behind. Then when they got to TV in the late 60's and 70's they weren't accommodating resulting in those relationships quickly ending. That in turn lead to the NHL not having a broadcast network TV contract for close to 20 years until the league finally went after and got one in 1995. Under Ziegler the league didn't even try a get a TV even after the Miracle on Ice along with Gretzky coming up in the early 80's. Don't you think the league's tv ratings would be a bit more favorable in comparison to the the other leagues if a tradition of watching the Final had been able to build. Instead when they finally got to "free tv" it was in an age where cable had been long established and people had up to 50 choices in channels.

As for Stern he is probably the best major sports league commissioner out there. I just talked about how the NHL never had a vision well Stern did have a vision for the NBA. Yes he is forceful in some cases but it's because he has to. Rams80 brought up how Goodell has handled spygate compare that to how Stern has handled the betting ref situation, a far more serious issue. Stern has basically made it a non-issue in the season this year. Where as Goodell with spy gate has left that fester and become a bigger and bigger issue.

[infrared41]

the NFL. Let 'em walk. I think it would be hilarious if the NFL pulled and NHL and stopped play for a year. I wouldn't miss it.

It isn't going to come close to progressing that far. This will all be sorted out well in advance of 2011.

I'd bet not. Both sides of the deal think they are far more important than they actually are. Nothing would please me more than to see the pompous NFL get knocked off it's pedestal.

I'm with GregJigga. Utter chaos all the way! Watching ESPN themselves trying to figure out how to cover it yet still manage to keep their lips firmly planted on Goodell's ass would be reward enough for me. Screw it, I want chaos just to see how John Clayton and Chris Mortensen react to it.

[Brian in Boston]

I'd bet not.

You're welcome to your opinion. I'm of the mind that you'll lose that bet.

Both sides of the deal think they are far more important than they actually are.

Hello! Welcome to human nature in the 21st-century. There isn't a day that goes by when one or another of us doesn't think we're far more important than we actually are. That's most certainly true amongst the uber-egos that make-up the ranks of NFL executives, owners, coaches and players.

All of that said, the folks who draw a regular paycheck from the National Football League are well aware that they have the best thing going when it comes to popularity, marketability and - most importantly - revenue-generation in the world of major-professional sports. They've seen the likes of Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League shoot themselves in the foot over the years. They recognize how fortunate they were not to do permanent damage to the league's reputation as a result of the work-stoppages that took place in 1982 and 1987.

Bottom line? Both sides will engage in rhetoric and posturing. However, when push comes to shove, they'll iron-out their differences in order to maintain their strangle-hold on popularity and profitability amongst the "Big Four" pro sports entities.

Nothing would please me more than to see the pompous NFL get knocked off it's pedestal.

I'm with GregJigga. Utter chaos all the way! Watching ESPN themselves trying to figure out how to cover it yet still manage to keep their lips firmly planted on Goodell's ass would be reward enough for me. Screw it, I want chaos just to see how John Clayton and Chris Mortensen react to it.

And therein is the explanation for how you've allowed your desire for "utter chaos" to cloud your judgement on this topic. You have little to lose if there is an NFL work-stoppage. On the other hand, the millionaires and billionaires doing business within the world of the NFL have a great deal to lose. So much, in fact, that they'll ultimately see the light and do everything to salvage the good - no, GREAT - thing that they have going.

[infrared41]

I'd bet not.

You're welcome to your opinion. I'm of the mind that you'll lose that bet.

Both sides of the deal think they are far more important than they actually are.

Hello! Welcome to human nature in the 21st-century. There isn't a day that goes by when one or another of us doesn't think we're far more important than we actually are. That's most certainly true amongst the uber-egos that make-up the ranks of NFL executives, owners, coaches and players.

All of that said, the folks who draw a regular paycheck from the National Football League are well aware that they have the best thing going when it comes to popularity, marketability and - most importantly - revenue-generation in the world of major-professional sports. They've seen the likes of Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League shoot themselves in the foot over the years. They recognize how fortunate they were not to do permanent damage to the league's reputation as a result of the work-stoppages that took place in 1982 and 1987.

Bottom line? Both sides will engage in rhetoric and posturing. However, when push comes to shove, they'll iron-out their differences in order to maintain their strangle-hold on popularity and profitability amongst the "Big Four" pro sports entities.

Nothing would please me more than to see the pompous NFL get knocked off it's pedestal.

I'm with GregJigga. Utter chaos all the way! Watching ESPN themselves trying to figure out how to cover it yet still manage to keep their lips firmly planted on Goodell's ass would be reward enough for me. Screw it, I want chaos just to see how John Clayton and Chris Mortensen react to it.

And therein is the explanation for how you've allowed your desire for "utter chaos" to cloud your judgement on this topic. You have little to lose if there is an NFL work-stoppage. On the other hand, the millionaires and billionaires doing business within the world of the NFL have a great deal to lose. So much, in fact, that they'll ultimately see the light and do everything to salvage the good - no, GREAT - thing that they have going.

I think you may have taken my post more seriously than I intended it. Other than that you have some very good points. They probably will work it out, I don't know. I just get a kick out of the NFL sycophants in the media fretting the possibility of a work stoppage in the mighty NFL.

[Brian in Boston]

I just get a kick out of the NFL sycophants in the media fretting the possibility of a work stoppage in the mighty NFL.

Well... talk about a vested interest in the outcome. They wouldn't know what to do with themselves without the NFL juggernaut to describe, discuss and dissect nearly 24/7/365.

[ferrousoxide66]

Well, I'm rooting for utter chaos. I think Goodell has been horrible in his short tenure as Commish, so to have the league blow up under his watch would be absolutely wonderful.

How has he been horrible? Compared to despotic Stern and bumbling Bettman, he's been an absolute ubermensch.

Well the NHL's problems have less to do with Bettman than it does the 40+ years of inept management of the league that came before it. League management before Bettman was chaotic with it basically being every team for themsleves and showed no vision. The NHL was the last to expand out west which put them behind and was the last to get on US tv which put them further behind. Then when they got to TV in the late 60's and 70's they weren't accommodating resulting in those relationships quickly ending. That in turn lead to the NHL not having a broadcast network TV contract for close to 20 years until the league finally went after and got one in 1995. Under Ziegler the league didn't even try a get a TV even after the Miracle on Ice along with Gretzky coming up in the early 80's. Don't you think the league's tv ratings would be a bit more favorable in comparison to the the other leagues if a tradition of watching the Final had been able to build. Instead when they finally got to "free tv" it was in an age where cable had been long established and people had up to 50 choices in channels.

As for Stern he is probably the best major sports league commissioner out there. I just talked about how the NHL never had a vision well Stern did have a vision for the NBA. Yes he is forceful in some cases but it's because he has to. Rams80 brought up how Goodell has handled spygate compare that to how Stern has handled the betting ref situation, a far more serious issue. Stern has basically made it a non-issue in the season this year. Where as Goodell with spy gate has left that fester and become a bigger and bigger issue.

Stern has compromised the very integrity of the game by attempting to pin the blame squarely and singularly on Donaghy's shoulders. Anyone knows it runs deeper than that one man.

And his absolute instransigance in regards to Seattle and his cronies from Oklahoma is just bad all around, for the league in losing a better market to the fans who are getting jerked around in the worst possible way.

Spygate? Nothing compared to the Donaghy.

This will come back to bite Kaiser Stern in the ass, and rightfully so. Something's got to take that man down from his lily white ivory tower.

[Gothamite]

Agreed. Stern bungled it.

I'll give him this, though - conning the NHL into hiring Bettman was a very smart move. Saved the NBA at a time when hockey was threatening to eclipse basketball as the number three sport in America.

[jkrdevil]

Agreed. Stern bungled it.

I'll give him this, though - conning the NHL into hiring Bettman was a very smart move. Saved the NBA at a time when hockey was threatening to eclipse basketball as the number three sport in America.

I'm a big hockey fan, but at what time was that? The NHL was no where close to eclipsing the NBA as the "number 3 sport" in the early 90's when Bettman was hired. The NBA then was pulling double digit ratings on broadcast network TV while the NHL didn't even have a network TV deal (and hadn't had won for nearly 20 years). The NHL is a hell of a lot closer now to the NBA than they were then.