The Future of the NFL

[ltjets21]

The comissioner will eventually back down for the sake of the league.

[rams80]

The comissioner will eventually back down for the sake of the league.

I'd take solace in that if you weren't wrong more often than a broken clock.

[Gothamite]

The comissioner will eventually back down for the sake of the league.

I'm not sure that the Commissioner backing down would be best for the league.

The NFL owes a lot of its popularity to the weakness of the players' union. Other sports wish their unions were so weak.

[crashcarson15]

If there's a lockout, the real loser's the city of Indianapolis. We're doing a lotta construction for SBXLVI (and built an airport terminal partly because of it) and it'd be a shame for the new hotels being built, and businesses if the lockout did occur.

[Mac the Knife]

Guys, there will be professional football in 2011.

So relax!

[BlueSky]

Surprised no one has mentioned the 'solidarity' thing the players did before last night's game, many from each team coming off their respective sideline and holding up the "we're number 1" sign.

From profootballtalk.com:

===

Vikings, Saints player reps hope showing of solidarity will spread

Posted by Mike Florio on September 10, 2010 12:25 AM ET

Before Thursday night's regular-season opener between the Vikings and the Saints, players for both teams walked onto the field after the National Anthem and held a single finger into the air as a show of labor solidarity.

A source with knowledge of the situation tells us that the Vikings and Saints union representatives decided that they needed to demonstrate unity at the outset of the last season before a potential lockout. The players hope that other players will do the same thing.

The Vikings and Saints reps came up with the idea earlier this week. It's unknown whether the seed of the idea was planted by anyone from the NFL Players Association.

If it was, it wasn't a bad idea. And we have a feeling it's going to catch on.

===

[JQK]

Surprised no one has mentioned the 'solidarity' thing the players did before last night's game, many from each team coming off their respective sideline and holding up the "we're number 1" sign.

Yea! I'm on the side of the millionaires in their fight against the greedy, evil billionaires...

[LMU]

One compromise I have in exchange for instituting a rookie salary cap is to drop the concept of restricted free agency and maybe mandate required performance clauses for rookie contracts. Something needs to be done about the yearly holdout plague, because it doesn't exactly do your league any favors to have a few of your stars just decide not to show up to work regardless of the contract they signed.

[BBTV]

If there's a lockout, the real loser's the city of Indianapolis. We're doing a lotta construction for SBXLVI (and built an airport terminal partly because of it) and it'd be a shame for the new hotels being built, and businesses if the lockout did occur.

If a city has to build new hotels and a new terminal just to host a Super Bowl, maybe said city shouldn't be the host. What's going to happen when the game is over and all of those hotels are empty because... well, it's Indianapolis?

[JQK]

If there's a lockout, the real loser's the city of Indianapolis. We're doing a lotta construction for SBXLVI (and built an airport terminal partly because of it) and it'd be a shame for the new hotels being built, and businesses if the lockout did occur.

If a city has to build new hotels and a new terminal just to host a Super Bowl, maybe said city shouldn't be the host. What's going to happen when the game is over and all of those hotels are empty because... well, it's Indianapolis?

Final Four's every other fu*king year...

[BlueSky]

Surprised no one has mentioned the 'solidarity' thing the players did before last night's game, many from each team coming off their respective sideline and holding up the "we're number 1" sign.

Yea! I'm on the side of the millionaires in their fight against the greedy, evil billionaires...

Given the number of players overall (about 2000 including practice squads), a relatively small number make millions. Don't get me wrong, they still make more than the average Joe but it's human nature to focus on the Brady/Revis/Haynesworth kinds of deals. The average NFL player is making nowhere near what the superstars make and many if not most are constantly on the bubble. They may be out the door in nothing flat following an injury, poor performance, or just that another team cuts a guy their coach likes better.

My issue is with players who approach their contracts with the whole "our careers are so short" thing, like football should set them up for life. Your football career is over? Hope you had a good run, now get a job like everybody else.

In the old days players had jobs in the off-season to make ends meet. One of my favorite stories is about what Cowboys FB Walt Garrison asked for and got as his "signing bonus":

Yeah, a horse trailer. Garrison was a cowboy in reality, not just on the field.

From Wikipedia:

===

A "real" cowboy, Garrison spent time on the professional rodeo circuit during the football off-seasons. His signing bonus with the Cowboys in 1966 season included a horse trailer. A knee injury he sustained in an exhibition steer wrestling accident at the College National Rodeo Finals in 1974 ended his pro football career.

===

[BBTV]

I'm not sure I buy the argument that careers are already so short that adding two extra games / season would make them even shorter.

I have nothing to back this up, but I'd bet that the fact that a lot of players just suck and get cut after a year or two has more to do with the calculation of average career length than does the amount of players who are just too banged up to play any more after two or three years. How many career ending injuries do you hear about every year? How many players voluntarily retire after a season or two? If anything, adding two extra games will get crappy players some extra pay checks so they can save up more money for when they get cut for being... well, crappy.

[infrared41]

I'm not sure I buy the argument that careers are already so short that adding two extra games / season would make them even shorter.

I have nothing to back this up, but I'd bet that the fact that a lot of players just suck and get cut after a year or two has more to do with the calculation of average career length than does the amount of players who are just too banged up to play any more after two or three years. How many career ending injuries do you hear about every year? How many players voluntarily retire after a season or two? If anything, adding two extra games will get crappy players some extra pay checks so they can save up more money for when they get cut for being... well, crappy.

That's what I've always thought too. How much of this "average" is due to players who have managed a year or two as a no-name special teamer in the NFL? Not that being a "no-name" special teamer" is a bad gig. If memory serves, isn't being paid the minimum for two seasons on an NFL roster good for about 850,000 dollars? Play your cards right and that 850,000 can go a pretty long way. (He says as if NFL players are known for their financial acumen)

[dfwabel]

There does not have to be a lockout in March by the owners even without a new CBA. The owners can call an impasse in negotiations and then apply new work rules for the upcoming season.

One of the finalist to be the NFLPA Director, David Cornwell has talked of this scenario since February.

[IceCap]

Guys, there will be professional football in 2011.

So relax!

Ah, now I have to have a favourite UFL team.

---

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.

Not that HL's wrong about the "are you willing to lockout the union thing" but there's something of a myth going around here.

Specifically the one that commissioners are just puppets of the owners. They are not. Yes the owners hire them, but they hire them to run their respective leagues. That is to say they hire them to be their boss.

Yes, they can fire him at will, but here's the thing. The owners aren't dealing with the day to day happenings of the league. The commissioner is. So when it comes time to make a decision the owners will, more times then not, bow to the decisions of the commissioner because in their eyes he's the guy with the most experience, as he's involved with running the league on a day to day basis.

So yeah, this whole "the owners hire the commissioner, he's just a puppet" thing is false.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

I'm not sure I buy the argument that careers are already so short that adding two extra games / season would make them even shorter.

I have nothing to back this up, but I'd bet that the fact that a lot of players just suck and get cut after a year or two has more to do with the calculation of average career length than does the amount of players who are just too banged up to play any more after two or three years. How many career ending injuries do you hear about every year? How many players voluntarily retire after a season or two? If anything, adding two extra games will get crappy players some extra pay checks so they can save up more money for when they get cut for being... well, crappy.

That's what I've always thought too. How much of this "average" is due to players who have managed a year or two as a no-name special teamer in the NFL? Not that being a "no-name" special teamer" is a bad gig. If memory serves, isn't being paid the minimum for two seasons on an NFL roster good for about 850,000 dollars? Play your cards right and that 850,000 can go a pretty long way. (He says as if NFL players are known for their financial acumen)

After 15% to your agent, you're down to 722,500. Another 30% to taxes (just making that number up), and you're at 505,750.

Now that's more than I'll make in five years, but less than I'll make in ten. And I have the benefit of not being 22 years old, surrounded by a culture that encourages big spending, and I have a few letters after my name. Point being, yes, it's a ton of money, but it's definitely not lifelong sustainable. Invest well and all of that, but two years of pro football really only guarantees you the equivalent of a decade of middle class living.

There are opportunities available to former standout players, and many of them should have a college degree. But I don't think that an NFL contract is necessarily hitting the lottery. To whit, I've met a couple of former players that live pretty ordinary lives today. They just happen to have a cool helmet on their mantel and I don't.

[infrared41]

I'm not sure I buy the argument that careers are already so short that adding two extra games / season would make them even shorter.

I have nothing to back this up, but I'd bet that the fact that a lot of players just suck and get cut after a year or two has more to do with the calculation of average career length than does the amount of players who are just too banged up to play any more after two or three years. How many career ending injuries do you hear about every year? How many players voluntarily retire after a season or two? If anything, adding two extra games will get crappy players some extra pay checks so they can save up more money for when they get cut for being... well, crappy.

That's what I've always thought too. How much of this "average" is due to players who have managed a year or two as a no-name special teamer in the NFL? Not that being a "no-name" special teamer" is a bad gig. If memory serves, isn't being paid the minimum for two seasons on an NFL roster good for about 850,000 dollars? Play your cards right and that 850,000 can go a pretty long way. (He says as if NFL players are known for their financial acumen)

After 15% to your agent, you're down to 722,500. Another 30% to taxes (just making that number up), and you're at 505,750.

Now that's more than I'll make in five years, but less than I'll make in ten. And I have the benefit of not being 22 years old, surrounded by a culture that encourages big spending, and I have a few letters after my name. Point being, yes, it's a ton of money, but it's definitely not lifelong sustainable. Invest well and all of that, but two years of pro football really only guarantees you the equivalent of a decade of middle class living.

There are opportunities available to former standout players, and many of them should have a college degree. But I don't think that an NFL contract is necessarily hitting the lottery. To whit, I've met a couple of former players that live pretty ordinary lives today. They just happen to have a cool helmet on their mantel and I don't.

I wasn't saying it would last a life time. I said it could go "a pretty long way" meaning don't act like it's enough to last forever. My point was that if you pull in over a half a million bucks in a two year career you could set yourself up nicely for the future. I don't know too many middle class people who got a half a million dollar head start. In short, bank and invest as much as you can and in ten years you won't have to sweat it when it comes time to put a new set of tires on the car.

So you really think the only difference between you and a former NFL player is the helmet on the mantel? My guess is some girl in a bar wouldn't see it that way.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

In fairness, a lot of former players eat the way they did when training, but without the exercise.

And I have original comic book art on my wall. Meeting girls at bars has long been out of the question for me.

[infrared41]

In fairness, a lot of former players eat the way they did when training, but without the exercise.

And I have original comic book art on my wall. Meeting girls at bars has long been out of the question for me.

I wouldn't want a girl who thought being a former NFL player was all that mattered. Come to think of it, I wouldn't want a girl who had a problem with original comic book art either. Then again, we're discussing this on a website devoted to jerseys, stripes, uniforms, etc. We were both probably well beyond pathetic long before this conversation brought it to light.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

And there's my life affirmation for the day.