World’s Most Popular Sport on Precipice of Labor Unrest?
May 20, 2008 on 2:07 pm | In Uncategorized |The NFL owners have decided not to complete it’s collective bargaining agreement with the players, which opens up the possibility of a number of undesirable scenarios, in my eyes.
The agreement, which was supposed to be honored until 2013, will now expire in 2011. During the current three year window, there will not be any sort of interruption in play. However, if a new deal is not agreed upon by March 2009, the 2010 season will be played without a salary cap. Beyond that, there is a high potential for a lockout by the owners, if the players and owners can’t eventually come to terms.
The owners no longer want to give the players 60% of league revenue, claiming that the current economic situation makes it increasingly difficult to turn over that amount of money.
The owners are essentially forcing the players to the bargaining table, and creating a situation that will attempt to force the players to concede to the owners position. In this particular situation, I believe that the players may actually call the owners bluff.
The players certainly can accept an NFL without a salary cap, and short of league-wide collusion, individual stars would likely benefit from the absence of a salary cap. Unfortunately, the rank-and-file players pay would likely suffer as a result.
The players are also going to want to revisit the “franchise” and “transition” tag designations, which serve as an impediment to players fully exploring all of their free agent opportunities by restricting their movement.
In a suffering economy, amid a crowded sports terrain, it’s difficult not to be struck by the overarching crassness of all parties involved. When people are struggling to put gas in their tanks, food on the table, and find the money to purchase tickets for increasingly high-priced entertainment, it is very hard to be perceived otherwise.
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Forgive me for correcting you but Football is not the World’s Most Popular Sport. Ever heard of Soccer?
Comment by Mario — May 20, 2008 #
Thanks Mario. You’ve put somebody in their place. I only hope the author feels shamed and humiliated. After all, not only is soccer the world’s most popular sport, it is also played by the world’s greatest athletes. I’m sure that most people that read this blog probably will not jump to the Manchester United website after reading this. Those who are just reading a football blog simply are not quite as cultured and intellectually able as soccer fans, so please forgive us. I’m actually listening to a baseball game as I read this. How plebian of me! I’m sure the author wasn’t thinking clearly as he is probably not sophisticated enough to take the sensitivity of soccer fans into consideration. I only hope that he will someday earn your forgiveness, and possibly, just possibly, he may earn enough respect for you that will not feel obligated to correct his little gaffes.
I admit that it is pretty pointless and somewhat rude to make petty corrections. However, I would have put a comma after “you” in the first sentence and would not have started the next sentence with an adverb.
Comment by Angry Lions Fan f/k/a Hondo — May 21, 2008 #
Mario–isn’t that Futbol, not “soccer”? At any rate, you may be correct in principal, but at least in this country, “soccer” is comparable to celebrity pentathlon in popularity, and pentathletes don’t suffer a near career-ending injury, only to be back up five minutes later playing like nothing ever happened.
Go surf web sites that feature fashion spreads with David Beckham and articles about Alexei Lalas and his guitar playing, and please leave mine alone unless you want to comment about our sad Lions.
Comment by Steve — May 22, 2008 #
Very inconciderate, Mr. Author!
Long Live Pele’.
Comment by SleePac — June 18, 2008 #