World's Most Boring Thread: The CBA

[pbmax]

I wonder where those numbers come from?

Vikings are matched up with Skins is interesting. Flat out funny is Oakland being tied for fifth.

at Dallas's number. Think Jones and Steinbrener ever talk?

The talk at PFT is that they planned this, with language in the contracts that allowed them to convert money from this year to something pro-rated if the CBA was extended and the cap stayed in place.

[pbmax]

Traditional Revenue Sharing Not What It Used To Be

Revenue sharing remains a key source of potential controversy
Posted by Mike Florio on March 21, 2010 7:45 PM ET

Revenue sharing remains a key source of potential controversy
Posted by Mike Florio on March 21, 2010 7:45 PM ET
We've heard from multiple league insiders who agree with our assessment that the current unity among NFL owners is fleeting, and largely confined to one issue: Squeezing the players into taking less money.

As to the issue of owners sharing the money that their teams generate, the potential for discord remains. Indeed, four years ago we believed that, absent a comprehensive solution, the NFL possibly could split into two leagues -- one made up of teams willing to share every dollar and another composed of teams with an "every man for himself" mentality.

Supplemental revenue sharing, the redistribution of wealth from teams making the most to teams making the least, has turned out to be a Band-Aid at best. Meanwhile, the traditional notions of sharing have been challenged over the past decade.

A league source tells us that, for example, the traditional 60-40 split of ticket money between home team and road team doesn't apply universally. Per the source, the Cowboys have finagled an exception for club seat revenue, apparently to help defray the costs of the North Texas Football Cathedral. Other teams have worked out similar deals, many of which transactions have received little or no publicity.

Bottom line? If the NFL plans to maintain competitive balance via a salary cap and a salary floor based on total football revenues, any new agreement must account for the fact that a formula based on total revenues will increase the labor costs for low-revenue teams. Absent a long-term answer to this specific problem, the situation will continue to create controversy every time a labor deal is due to be renewed, and it will only get worse as the gap in the revenues continues to grow.

In the interim, the challenge for the NFL will be to keep that percolating problem tightly under wraps. For the NFLPA, the mission is clear -- find a way to force this core issue to the surface sooner rather than later.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/03/21/revenue-sharing-remains-a-key-source-of-potential-controversy/

[pbmax]

Its understandable and reasonable to want to devote a slightly higher share of ticket revenue to retire or at least service the debt carried by a new stadium. But the impact could be unintentionally tilting the field even more towards higher revenue clubs and away from other teams who do not get the discount eventually.

The new stadium team is getting a chunk of revenue not available to every team. This money comes from other teams. That money is used in part to finance (or pay for) new or refurbished stadium construction. Part of the reason new stadiums are built is to maximize revenue OTHER than ticket revenue. Like Bob Harlan explained, a team can choose to spend its capital budget on adding seats, but that money leaves the team the traditional 60-40 split. That hurts your return on investment.

Amenities that might attract fans year round (Hall of Fame, Atrium, Restaurants, Pro Shop, NFL Experience kids area, etc.) are the new must have items in stadiums. Having other teams subsidize the building of these revenue generators not only deprives them of the money lost from the traditional 60-40 split, it increases the revenue generating disparity between those teams.

My hunch is that teams with lower revenues, those that will depend on the public to finance a large part of new stadiums, are the teams who will not get the sweetheart deal on club seat revenue sharing.

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Have been heavy on the owner stuff lately, here is some news about the Players Union.

PFT has had several articles about Domonique Foxworth challenging incumbent NFLPA president Kevin Mawae's reelection bid last week. Mawae won, but the challenge was notable as Foxworth is reportedly Executive Director DeMaruice Smith's protege.

Possible motives for the challenge range from Foxworth acting without the blessing of his mentor to a possible rift between Smith and holdovers from Gene Upshaw's tenure.

The latest news are unnamed player sources claiming that Smith had nothing to do with the challenge and that Mawae and Foxworth are of one mind about the Union's direction. Florio makes a convincing case that with no explanation given for Foxworth's challenge, that none of these latest tidbits explain anything other than the Union trying to preserve the image of unity.

The original article for SBJ is behind a paywall, so all there is to link to is the PFT mention:

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/03/22/report-smith-didnt-ask-foxworth-to-run-against-mawae/

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Owners win a round in the lawsuit over supplemental revenue sharing. Players won and stopped the owners from shuttering the program in the previous challenge. The owners won this round, in which the NFLPA claimed the NFL shorted teams by adding qualifying factors to the formula for payments.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/04/17/league-wins-latest-supplemental-revenue-sharing-ruling/

[Guiness]

Reviving this thread, saw some statements from Smith that took me by surprise.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/13414011/nfl-union-chief-reaches-to-explayers-for-cba-fight

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- DeMaurice Smith has a difficult fight ahead with owners on a new labor deal, and the NFL Players Association chief wants to stack his side with as many supporters as he can find.

Retired players, especially.

Hoping to win them over before the NFL owners can, the union's executive director spent much of his speech at the Charlotte Touchdown Club luncheon on Wednesday wooing the handful of ex-players sprinkled in the crowd of mostly business executives.

Smith asked them to stand and be acknowledged. He promised past troubles are over, and vowed to work for increased retiree benefits in the next collective bargaining agreement, floating the idea that each team should put $1 million aside every year to boost pensions.

"Our issues, or some of our issues, are going to stretch not only from players today, but they're going to reach back to players before us and they're certainly going to push forward to players ahead of us," Smith said.

Smith made eliminating the bad feelings between retired players and the union one of his top priorities when he took over last year for the late Gene Upshaw, who angered many when he once said he worked for only current players.

Now facing a potential work stoppage after the 2010 season -- Smith reiterated he believes a lockout is probable -- Smith wants a unified front.

"It was on the logo -- 'Past, Present and Future' -- but I always felt bad that the former players really weren't a part of things," said Steve Beuerlein, a former NFL quarterback and union representative who attended Wednesday's luncheon. "I think DeMaurice has really attacked that issue. I think that's what guys are really looking for."

Smith quickly settled a legal dispute over marketing rights for former players after he took the job. He got two former players to sit on the executive committee. He's combined meetings between current and former players. He's set up small gatherings -- including one Tuesday in Charlotte -- with retirees.

He indicated if each team gave $1 million a year, players who retired before 1993 would see their pensions increase by $1,000 a month. Smith also wants to the league to boost health benefits for retirees.

"Every one of these stadiums in the country has that ring of fame that celebrates all of those great players who used to play that game. I know for a fact that each and every team in the National Football League sells legacy," Smith said. "My problem is, that as we look on those names up there on that ring of fame, not one player gets a dime from that team."

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has been public with his intentions of boosting retiree benefits in the new CBA. Smith insists current players shouldn't suffer with their own wages and benefits in such a deal.

Smith suggested players would only accept a pay cut in the new deal if owners agreed to give up equity in their teams to the players.

"I do not believe and I reject that there has to be some sort of world in which players have to choose between current players and former players," Smith said.

Smith also touched on a handful of other subjects:

• He said the union doesn't know the names of the two men listed in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Buffalo on Tuesday. Dr. Anthony Galea was charged with injecting at least one current NFL player with an unapproved drug and giving human growth hormone to a retired player.

• When asked about speeding up the appeal process for drug issues -- Houston Texans linebacker Brian Cushing tested positive in September and was suspended this month -- Smith said the union would like a number of testing procedures changed. He then harped on a judge chastising the NFL for its policies in the case involving Kevin Williams and Pat Williams of the Minnesota Vikings.

"I consider those to be serious issues that we need to address about the process," he said.

• Smith didn't back down from critical comments he made about Cushing, when he said players who break the rules "cheat the game, cheat the fans and cheat themselves."

"The players know that my background was 10 years as a prosecutor, four years in the homicide section," Smith said. "I'm probably not the guy that you want to cry to about misconduct. I'm probably not going to be a sympathetic ear."

Smith then tied in personal conduct with how players will be treated following their playing careers.

"I demand that you be good men in your community. I demand that you be good husbands, good fathers, good sons," Smith said. "I demand it because I know if you are you will not only be a good football player on the field that our fans will love, you will be a great former player in your community that our fans will always love."

Beuerlein met Smith for the first time after the luncheon. Walking around these days now with an artificial hip, Beuerlein sounded optimistic that a unified front would increase the chances that current and former players are served in the new labor deal.

"You always hear, 'There's strength in numbers.' Well, there's strength in unity," Beuerlein said. "As long as we can be a united force I think we can be stronger for sure."
Copyright 2010 by STATS LLC and The Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and The Associated Press is strictly prohibited.

Of great note to me is that he wants the owners to give up equity in the teams to the players???? Talk about a non-starter, can you seem Pacman Jones being a co-owner with Jerry Jones?

[ThunderDan]

Bump!

Fun to look at an old post now that the agreement is hopefully close to done.