Official American Football Thread

Has anyone been following the NFL CBA drama? I have been (given that I find the business end of football to be infinitely more interesting than the games themselves). I think the greed of the owners is utterly fantastic, and for once in an impending lockout situation, I tend to side with the players rather than the owners. The players are asking for better health care and retiree pensions (which makes sense, according to TSN.ca most players only get 3 years in the NFL before retiring due to injury or replacement, and make less than a million dollars over that span, much less than one needs to live on for their entire life, especially if they retired due to injury). The owners are asking for an extra $1 billion in revenue to be set aside as "owner only" before revenue sharing begins (in addition to the $1b they get to keep now), plus they want the season extended by 2 games without any change to player contracts (IE, more work for the same money).

Intensely greedy people, the owners are.
 
They're asking for retirement benefits and an improved health care package. Yes, it's more, but it's not $1 billion more.
 
Yeah, all that is money, but they are also looking for a higher percentage of the overall take to go into the cap meaning higher salaries. 
 
I get the feeling they'd be pretty willing to stay where they are. Most football players make a lot of money. At least, that's what I've read. I just feel like asking for an extra billion before sharing comes into play is a little greedy.

As a non-fan, I am wondering what effect a lockout might have on the other three major sports in North America. It would be interesting to see.
 
Football is the only sport I watch and if it went away, well I wouldn't watch football. Doesn't make the other sports any more special to me.

On of the DJs on Sirius today said that they should flip a coin for these decisions. And I really don't think that's a bad idea. It makes perfect sense.
 
I'd imagine that the Networks will determine what will happen.  If NFL is off the tube, and they pick up extra NHL games, I wouldn't be surprised if they pick up some viewers.  I'm not a big NBA fan, so if that's what they play, i'll watch Netflix or read a book. 
 
Because everyone is so greedy, there won't be a lockout. There's too much money at stake. They'll find some solution.

The NFL would do well to recall the '94 baseball strike. (That was '94, right? Somewhere around there.) The fans really hated it, and sales were down after the game came back. It took McGwire/Sosa to bring baseball back.

Would the owners risk that chance of a downturn after a lockout? Can they guarantee a story that will make the fans forgive, like the home run chase did?

I'd bet on a short-term fix, like a 1 or 2 year deal. Then we can do this again in 2013.
 
It all depends how firm the owners are on the $1b thing. Not to judge right vs. wrong, but the PA has been very, very firm so far on this. They are not budging on the revenue sharing agreement. Period. I think they'll move if the owners move first, because they know if they move first, the owners will swoop in.

It will be really interesting to see what happens here. I agree with SMX - the 94 baseball lockout harmed that sport seriously. The 2004-5 NHL lockout probably helped the game in the long run (attendance is certainly up, as are ratings), but that was because, unlike football, NHL had some playability issues that made the game less interesting, and the lockout resolved many of those issues. Football doesn't have that opportunity.
 
The last major NFL players disruption, remember that the league brought in replacement players.. I assume that is still a possibility. 

Of course there is College football to watch, I assume their ratings would go up. 

The 1994 baseball strike really hurt the sport, they got lucky that people got on the roid bandwagon and followed the Sammy and Mark show to bring people back to the game.  Though I think baseball was on a decline before the strike, football is in a stronger position right now than baseball was then.
 
bearfan said:
The last major NFL players disruption, remember that the league brought in replacement players.. I assume that is still a possibility.  
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It is not.  The CBA forbids using replacement players.  Looks like next step is for players to decertify union and file lawsuit.  Judge Doty is probably the players' best leverage point, as he almost always rules against the league.  He could enjoin the lockout.
 
I am not an expert on labor law, but I thought the CBA expired (or the extension will soon) and if the union decertifies, would that not leave open the replacement player option?  I'm asking, because I do not know.
 
I haven't read the CBA but according to the dudes on ESPN the prohibition on replacement players extends beyond the expiration of the other terms of the CBA. 
LooseCannon said:
Like I said, I just wanna see Keanu Reeves at QB.
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I thought that movie was pretty good for what it was. I think Gene Hackman can make any movie good.  (What the heck happened to him?  He hasn't been in anything lately.)  Also, Keanu's love interest in that movie, the head cheerleader, was unbelievably cute..
 
Just looked him up on Wikipedia.  Says he retired from movies in 2004.  With a career like his, would you really want your last film to be Welcome to Mooseport?? 

We are now badly off topic.  Back on track: Apparently Manning, Brady and Brees will be the lead plaintiffs in the players' class action.  Good PR, but are they really representative of the class (which is an important legal standard)?  The lawsuit presumably will emphasize the lower-paid players, who are the real victims of the lockout.  Tough to feel sorry for Tom Brady.
 
Yeah, though I think Brady is smart enough not to pull a Patrick Ewing and complain that he has a hard time paying for his sports cars, various homes and general opulent life style.
 
The lockout is on! Should be interesting.

Something I did not know - the NBA is close to a lockout as well with their PA. This could be a great year for hockey if both sports lock out.
 
NBA could suffer greatly if it locked out.  NFL is one of the greatest sports on TV (until now) and it can survive.  I don't know about the NBA...

It'd be nice to see a lot more NHL games on CBS and NBC.
 
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