CBA

[pbmax]

Mike Silver, Yahoo! Sports, Feb 14th, 2011

Well, according to two people who were at the meeting:

Richardson complained about being asked to negotiate on the busiest weekend of the year (Super Bowl). And then dismissed Manning's question about taking another billion off the table before calculating revenue for cap purposes and Brees' request to see financial documents (the current NFLPA position).

That was followed by an angry Richardson outburst about players making so much money that they should be able to own their team after three years. At that point, the owner's side suggested a break.

Three owner's and others apologized to the players present and one of the sources said Richardson later apologized to Manning.

Richardson seems to be taking this very personally. He is a former player who had a short career and turned that money (though its unclear if that was his only resource) into a Hardee's franchise ownership, which led to him owning Spartan Foods and on his way to making himself quite wealthy. The connection Richardson made to a mention of an injury shortened three year career with his own career path is probably not coincidental.

Is probably also worth noting that there are two absences being reported in the first round of mediation talks. Jeffrey Kessler, long a thorn in the ownership side, the NFLPA outside counsel and Richardson, were not present when meeting with the mediators.

[Patler]

An angry outburst at a negotiation session is hardly newsworthy. It doesn't even merit a mention, in my opinion. There will be a lot more of them from both sides before this gets done. When one occurs, from whom and what is said should be kept in the negotiation room.

[Freak Out]

Perhaps in 2026 I can expect the Super Bowl to be played at 4 a.m. after China outbids the West Coast for prime time rights.

2026? China is going to own the NFL before then.

[swede]

2026? China is going to own the NFL before then.

I have an inkling of how THAT first CBA meeting goes.

Oh look! Here come the new owners now! I believe the first limo belongs to the owner of the Tiananmen Tigers. Looks like he is ready to offer a first proposal.

[Smidgeon]

Good news:

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/02/21/labor-talks-going-well-after-fourth-day/

[Jimx29]

if there is a lockout or strike for a long period of time, i for one am likely to lose a lot of interest in the game

much like how i have not watched a baseball game since their last strike, or hockey or basketball

these asshole have their teams make their money and play the game strickly for our amusement, if they aren't there then i'm ready to say fuck them

my problem is that i was born and raised a packer fan, they are my religion and my reason for living, so it would be next to impossible for me to turn my back on the team or players

however, i noticed while watching this season that i am no where near as passionate about the packers as i was 15 or ever 10 years ago. it has almost become a chore or something, something i have to do on sundays rather then something i look forward to doing. i think to me the game isn't just a game anymore, its just another giant corporation trying to make as much money off of me as possible

i don't know. my love for football is starting to slip away and a lockout or strike right when my team should be making a run would damage my love a lot i fear

i hope the owners and players realise they are there to entertain us, that is their worth. and they better continue to fucking do it, uninterupted

Couldn't of said it any better, Red

[Tarlam!]

What is to stop the NFL Team owners and Murphy plus their aides getting into a room, drawing up a rule book on cap, rookie cap, revenue sharing, # of games etc and saying take it or leave it to the players? Especially if they move on with their plans to disband the NFLPA? Sure one has the Snyders, Jones' and Davis', but if a 7/10ths rule was employed, there'd be unity pretty quickly. Maybe the upcoming season would suck from a quality standpoint, but really, you just tell the players if they don't report for duty by day "x", they lose a year's paycheck.

I mean, I don't get it.

[pbmax]

What is to stop the NFL Team owners and Murphy plus their aides getting into a room, drawing up a rule book on cap, rookie cap, revenue sharing, # of games etc and saying take it or leave it to the players? Especially if they move on with their plans to disband the NFLPA? Sure one has the Snyders, Jones' and Davis', but if a 7/10ths rule was employed, there'd be unity pretty quickly. Maybe the upcoming season would suck from a quality standpoint, but really, you just tell the players if they don't report for duty by day "x", they lose a year's paycheck.

I mean, I don't get it.

If it happened AFTER decertification, it would probably be successfully challenged in court as an Antitrust violation. That was how Free Agency began. Football has much more limited protection from antitrust laws than baseball does.

One of the arguments for tolerance of a monopoly is the presence of a collective bargaining agreement. To have such an agreement subjects the NFL and other sports leagues to laws governing collective bargaining, one of which is to bargain in good faith. If the owners impose work restrictions while the Union exists but the agreement has expired, those rules could be challenged if they do not represent the owner's last offer in negotiations.

And the sides have a fiduciary duty to each other. For the owners, maximizing revenues is one such duty. And the NFL could be sued by the Union over such matters as the limited Thursday night NFL lineup that broadcasts over the NFL Network. Most feel that if even the partial season package were offered to competitive bid, the owners could increase TV revenue. As it stands, the availability of games on NFLN hasn't caused it to be picked up by some of the major cable providers. Having a CBA prevents such arguments.

So could they do it? Yes. But it would not be the end of it.

[Tarlam!]

Thanks PB, but with the existance of other Amreican football leagues, it's not strictly a monopoly, is it? It's just the best in it's product category. One could argue it to be an ogliopoly. I'm not sure what the law says about that.

If the NFLN policy is the only real threshhold, then that has little to nothing to do with the players. As I understand it, the average fan is sick and tired of the NFLN policy anyway. So the Owners and the League have a golden opportunity to get fans on their side right there and, if I understand you correctly, actually increase revenue!

Personally, I have zero issues with OPB (open book policy). My experience of supplying McDonald's for nearly 15 years made it a pre-requisite. PLCs are forced to open their books by law, it's the way they increase their value or it is decreased. I am quite suspicious about the owners' stance on this, so I understand where the players are coming from. I also think they're trying to eat a cow in one gulp, rather than butcher it and eat it in digestable portions. Any all or nothing stances are difficult. I understand the league to have made monumentous cocessions on this point, so maybe the players should take it for now, hammer out the other stuff and set up for this year only. They could have a real great deal hammered out if they use the mediatory for 10 more months ready to sign next year long term.

I've been toying with the idea of starting my own firm and one of the foundations would be OPB and profit sharing from day 1. Once we achieved a certain attraction, I'd be looking for vendors that agreed to OPB with our firm; it indicates trust and a willingness to partner. Any tools to keep an "us attitude" versus a "them versus us" is good for business.

[Guiness]

Apparently the league and union have made some headway, agreeing on a rookie wage scale.

Four year contract for 1st rounders, 3 year deals players drafted after the first round, but the RFA tag remains available for the 4th year.

There will also be a wage scale, but no news on what it will be. Initial offer by the owners was 5yrs, $19million, $6million guaranteed. Wrong number of years, of course.

While it's nice to hear that they've agreed on something, if it took them this long to come to terms on something everyone thought was going to be the easy negotiation, it doesn't bode well for the rest of the issues!

[Smidgeon]

Apparently the league and union have made some headway, agreeing on a rookie wage scale.

Four year contract for 1st rounders, 3 year deals players drafted after the first round, but the RFA tag remains available for the 4th year.

There will also be a wage scale, but no news on what it will be. Initial offer by the owners was 5yrs, $19million, $6million guaranteed. Wrong number of years, of course.

While it's nice to hear that they've agreed on something, if it took them this long to come to terms on something everyone thought was going to be the easy negotiation, it doesn't bode well for the rest of the issues!

I'm just hoping that agreement on one thing leads to agreement in others.

[pbmax]

Thanks PB, but with the existance of other Amreican football leagues, it's not strictly a monopoly, is it? It's just the best in it's product category. One could argue it to be an ogliopoly. I'm not sure what the law says about that.

If the NFLN policy is the only real threshhold, then that has little to nothing to do with the players. As I understand it, the average fan is sick and tired of the NFLN policy anyway. So the Owners and the League have a golden opportunity to get fans on their side right there and, if I understand you correctly, actually increase revenue!

Personally, I have zero issues with OPB (open book policy). My experience of supplying McDonald's for nearly 15 years made it a pre-requisite. PLCs are forced to open their books by law, it's the way they increase their value or it is decreased. I am quite suspicious about the owners' stance on this, so I understand where the players are coming from. I also think they're trying to eat a cow in one gulp, rather than butcher it and eat it in digestable portions. Any all or nothing stances are difficult. I understand the league to have made monumentous cocessions on this point, so maybe the players should take it for now, hammer out the other stuff and set up for this year only. They could have a real great deal hammered out if they use the mediatory for 10 more months ready to sign next year long term.

I've been toying with the idea of starting my own firm and one of the foundations would be OPB and profit sharing from day 1. Once we achieved a certain attraction, I'd be looking for vendors that agreed to OPB with our firm; it indicates trust and a willingness to partner. Any tools to keep an "us attitude" versus a "them versus us" is good for business.

Except for the Packers, no NFL team is a publicly owned or traded corporation, and thus only the Packers must publish their books. Not sure if that is what PLC strictly translates to or not, but that is the starting point to resistance to opening books.

As for competition, there are alternate leagues, but just as with IBM and AT&T (and Standard Oil, etc), the NFL team position in the marketplace is so dominant, allowed freely to coordinate, they could set almost any terms they wish and not be harmed by the competition. Its an interesting question, because the only true competition for the NFL would be the other sports leagues. And even they try to avoid competing head to head.

[Joemailman]

Apparently the league and union have made some headway, agreeing on a rookie wage scale.

Four year contract for 1st rounders, 3 year deals players drafted after the first round, but the RFA tag remains available for the 4th year.

There will also be a wage scale, but no news on what it will be. Initial offer by the owners was 5yrs, $19million, $6million guaranteed. Wrong number of years, of course.

While it's nice to hear that they've agreed on something, if it took them this long to come to terms on something everyone thought was going to be the easy negotiation, it doesn't bode well for the rest of the issues!

NFP is reporting that no deal is done yet. http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/...age-scale.html

[pbmax]

You know, Bedard presented some challenges reading his work at JSO, but he at least worked for most of the week.

JSO right now has nothing up for a story on Tuesday's bargaining. Not even an AP article. And there is nothing on the blog since yesterday's deconstruction of Jones' desire to start somewhere for someone. They have two full-time reporters on the Packers beat (Nickel and Silverstein) and McGinn who works intermittently in the offseason. They need to hire that web person soon.

The Press Gazette has been knocking them silly this offseason.

[Guiness]

I saw an interesting post at Sportsline. Obviously a worst case scenario, it made me laugh...

Why owners don't want an antitrust suit

For me, the funniest scenario possible is as follows:
(1) In a move that may prove astoundingly stupid, the NFL colluded with the networks by trading the latter's promise to front the TV rights for the first year for SOME consideration, which a court could only fairly conclude, WITHOUT the need for a trial, was a decrease in the rights fees (pro-rated over the length of the contract.)

(2) The judge could rule that the $4 billion be fronted, pro rata, to players and teams. Existing percentages of upfront money could then arguably go to individual players, where appropriate (pro rata, as they are guaranteed) and the interest on the remainder could then be distributed to all players under contract (by vote.)

(3) Meanwhile, the NFLPA could file suit to recover the value of the players' share of the foregone rights fees. I would suggest that they argue that the league's anti-trust exemption should be pierced (on a one-time basis) as a matter of public policy. (As punishment for the collusion.) Treble damages. Plus, I believe that the court is entitled to also award the actual non-professional costs of the lawsuit as an added amount in anti-trust cases.

(4) To gild the lily, any players who are subsequently let go should front a complaint against the NFL for both anti-trust collusion and RICO violations. The union and current players would be bystanders for that circus.