Sports talking heads and callers to talk radio shows, newspaper writers and the ESPN mafia all are wasting their time caring about and discussing the NFL labor situation. As far as I’m concerned this is a fight between two different groups of millionaires that has nothing to do with the rest of us.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m as big of a NFL fan, and football fan, as anyone. But I couldn’t care less about either side of this issue. Let the players strike, or let the owners lock out the players…it won’t matter a whit to me. I’ll just watch more college football. And don’t think that the networks won’t add more NCAA football to their programming if the NFL goes on hiatus. We’ll have plenty of football to watch.
But let’s get back to the issue at hand. As of Monday, March 6th, the two sides are apparently fighting over .5% of gross revenues and esoteric salary cap issues that are ultimately tied into a new kind of revenue sharing plan. Zzzzzzz….wake me when it’s over.
The owners are idiots if they can’t handle their own finances with regards to the salaries of their teams. Should we care that some of these dopes need to be protected from themselves – Daniel Snyder of the Washington Redskins leaps to mind – because they spend, spend, spend and don’t get a return on their investment? For fans this should be the ultimate “who cares” issue. As in, “who cares if these owners and their front office people don’t know how to spend millions and millions of dollars?”
The owners are selfish idiots if they don’t want to share revenue equally. The NFL has done a great job at leveling the playing field and as result has avoided most of the problems experienced by the other major sports leagues. Sorry Mr. Gekko, but in this case greed isn’t good.
Player management and coaching staff management is at a premium since teams can’t just go out and buy players without regards to financial constraints. Everybody in the organization needs to be on the same page and work together. It shouldn’t be all about who can sign the biggest checks. And I say this as a fan of a team that operates in the biggest market in the league, and thus would benefit the most from getting a bigger share of the revenue.
Article comments
1 - Matthew T. Sussman
Whoa, Sal. You laid down the hammer. I too could care less about financial negotations.
And if NCAA football is boring, I have Tecmo Bowl. I can't lose, baby!
2 - Craig King
On the Lions: Yup they have sucked. But let's look at the coaches they lined up this year. Let's look at their salary cap space. I think you'll eat your words in the next 2 seasons. I expect 9-6 this year and 11-5 on 08.
Craig
BTW: I predicted 6-10 last year, with a strong start and falling apart by Thanksgiving. Not bad.
3 - sal m
hey i wasn't picking on the lions unfairly...i've been a lions fan since the days of the book "paper lion" by george plimpton...there's nothing wrong with that team that couldn't be fixed by firing matt millen...