Posted on 03/12/2011 3:04:49 PM PST by publius321
And what if they’re not charged or found innocent?
The players going on strike aren’t the ones making millions, they might be the face of the league but for the most part they don’t really care how the money is getting divided. The guys going on strike, the ones with the most to gain and lose in this, are the guys making league minimum, well under a million a year, that are going to be lucky to have 3 year careers. And actually at this point they aren’t whining for more money, they’re trying to keep the money that was promised to them with the LAST CBA that the owners decided they didn’t like after the fact. Nobody is on strike, it’s a lockout, most of the time that’s a matter of semantics, but this time since it was the owners that decided to opt out of the CBA it’s really true, the owners have locked the players out, nobody is on strike.
Technically there is no more NFL players union. They decertified, meaning that they are now 1700 individual employees and are suing the 32 separate teams for collusion using antitrust laws.
Yes, the NFL is the big league, but it is not the ONLY pro-league, it is not a monopoly.
Most of the small basketball leagues are actually tied to the NBA, they’re the D-league. The small football leagues have no connection to the NFL. And the Arena league and UFL are both national.
NFL had 9 billion in total revenue last year and the current TV contracts average out to just a touch over 3 billion. So the 3rds are the other way around.
The other leagues do not offer a product anywhere close to the NFL even if the odd NFL player decides to play there. NFL product is unique.
They aren't striking and they aren't asking for more money. The owners are crying poverty and asking for another billion dollars off the top for themselves. The players have asked them to open the books and prove their poverty. The owners have refused.
I have no problem with the Player’s Union. Whatever benefits they receive is a function of the marketplace. Nobody’s forced to subsidize them.
They don’t that’s true. But again there ARE other pro leagues, players CAN get paid to play football by people NOT the 32 NFL owners, they do NOT have a monopoly and do NOT form a defacto union. Unique yes, monopoly, no.
It’s a De Facto monopoly.
No it is not. It’s not a monopoly, it’s not a de facto monopoly, it’s not a semi-monopoly, it’s not ANY kind of monopoly in any way ever.
Do you think that argument will work in the upcoming court proceedings?
as a former stabbed in the back browns fan, I gave the NFL up when they pulled the browns out from underneath us. I have not spent a dime for tickets or apparel...I for one think these players are morons for this strike. Owners just as dumb paying them...I,ll follow high school and college and enjoy the true passion those athletes leave out on the field.
“That whole 11 minute thing has been one of the all time stupidest “stats” dumb reporters have been waving around for 25 years. It goes under the completely false assumption that the only time football happens is between the snap and the whistle. 90% of whether a play succeeds or fails is determined by pre-snap reads and adjustments, that 20 seconds BEFORE the snap, any “stat” that pretends that time doesn’t matter is, quite simply, a lie. And you know football better than that.” - discostu
Exactly my friend. It is rather insipid thinking.
It’s like comparing Chess to the game of “tic tac toe” and claiming Chess is inferior to the tedious Tic Tac Toe because the latter has so much more action. None of the stratagizing and thought that goes into Chess counts for anything; you must simply add up the time spent moving your objects.
Football is superior to ALL sports because of the previously cited reasons. Basketball has a prodigious amount of scoring and it bores the hell out of me because it is so monotonous. The guys are an average of 7 feet tall and score almost effortlessly.
They could shorten the games to 5 minutes because that’s what it always comes down to. Everyone would just step up the level of exertion to account for the shorter time and the END RESULT would usually be the same.
The simple truth is that American football shares one of the serious flaws of soccer -- in that these are the only major sports where the clock keeps running after the whistle blows. Nowhere is this more apparent than when you attend an NFL game in person. When you are sitting in the stands without on-screen graphics and commentary between plays, and without direct access to a refrigerator, a bathroom, or anything else that could fill several minutes of time during television commercial breaks, it's amazing how dull and mind-numbing football has become. It's worse than baseball, because at least the interruptions in baseball games are "natural" breaks between innings and fit into the flow of the game.
That’s a good point, Borges. In my opinion, the only sport where the “major” sports league might have any real competition from other leagues is hockey. Because it requires such a high degree of specialized skill to play, the gap between an NHL player and a minor league player is very small. AHL and ECHL hockey is pretty close to the “real deal,” and college hockey offers a whole different look because it is played under rules that are more similar to international rules than the NHL.
1. The situation with the Browns was very complex, and in my mind the NFL did about as well as they could for the city of Cleveland and its football fans by protecting the franchise name and by giving them a new team so soon after the "old" Browns left and became the Ravens. From what I've read, the move to Baltimore was driven largely by estate tax issues for the Modell family at the time, and they made that move to provide them sufficient revenues to help keep the team in the family. Under the old Federal estate tax rules, the heirs of a team owner would have to sell the team just to pay the estate taxes on the team alone (aside from any other assets they have).
2. THe players aren't going on strike here. The owners are locking them out. This may sound like mere semantics, but it's important to note that the collective bargaining agreement came up for re-negotiation this year because the owners exercised an opt-out clause that had been written into the last agreement a few years ago.
Batter’s practice and pre game warm ups don’t take place during the game. In football, line shifts, and man in motion action all takes place in the game and before the snap and it’s very much a part of the game. Listen to the crowd noise when the players are rushing to get a play off or when the QB is pointing out a defensive shift before he gets the ball. To football fans it’s exciting.
No they’ll have to be more technical and legalistic, but the fancy buck and a quarter word version of that argument WILL win.
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