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The Golden Goose May Die … Friday Cup O’ Super Bowl
February 4, 2010 - Bob Gretz

From Ft. Lauderdale, Florida


It was an interesting Thursday afternoon here in Super Bowl Land. The National Football League Players Association held its annual press conference.

I decided to attend the affair with a friend. I’ll call him The Capitalist.


After some 45 minutes of listening to NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith’s saber rattling, talk of an owner lockout in 2011, a season ahead without a salary cap and the plight of retired players, The Capitalist left the room with his blood pressure jacked up and incredulity dripping from every pour.

“These guys are nuts,” The Capitalist said. “They get 60 percent of the NFL revenue and they think that’s their right? Where is their risk? The owners assume all the risk.”

I reminded The Capitalist that the football players more than any other team sport, risk their bodies in playing the game.

“It’s not like they aren’t getting paid,” The Capitalist nearly shouted. “How many 23 or 24-year olds are making two or three million dollars a year? They get paid quite well for their risk.”
Yes they do, and owners make a lot of money themselves. The golden goose landed on pro football some 20 years ago and continues to punch out eggs filled with riches. The owners have seen the value of their franchises rise remarkably in the last 20 years. The players union says those values are up 500 percent. The players are getting 60 percent of the league’s gross revenues. This coming season, the minimum salary for rookies is $320,000. A three-year veteran has a minimum of $545,000.

Everybody has gotten rich and the fans have gotten poorer.

The Capitalist started his company over a decade ago. Like a lot of entrepreneurs, things did not start well, but he worked hard, sacrificed and made many more good decisions than bad. Today he has a company that grows its revenue by 20 to 30 percent a year, even in these bad economic times. If he liquidated it all tomorrow, he would never have to work another day of his life.

So I asked The Capitalist what he would do if his employees suddenly banded together walked into his office and demanded pay and benefits equal to 60 percent of the company’s annual revenues. He thought about that one for a second.

“If they were together and strong, I would probably have to make the deal,” The Capitalist said. “Then, I’d mark up my product and services. I’d pass the increased costs along to my customers.”

Which is exactly what’s going to happen to NFL fans when all this finally gets sorted out through collective bargaining or the courts? The players’ percentage of the revenue may go down. The owners may have to accept decreased monies. The only group that’s guaranteed to see an increase, and in this case an increase in cost, is the fan.

Smith railed against the league owners for presenting an initial CBA proposal that included the players taking an 18 percent cut in the revenue directed to them. Smith kept spitting out the 18 percent number, saying it was too insulting to even make a counter offer to the owners. A collection of current and former players sat behind him, including the seldom seen or heard from Barry Sanders (left).

“I almost jumped up and asked if the players association would support an 18 percent reduction in ticket prices,” said The Capitalist.

Smith worked Thursday’s press conference like a motivational speaker, wearing a wireless microphone, pacing on the stage in front of a dozen current and former players who were there as a show of solidarity. Smith kept saying “I dig it.” He dug the history of the game. He dug the idea of players coming together to create a team. He said he dug capitalism, although The Capitalist had some doubts about the veracity of that statement.

The first question to Smith came from a member of the media his membership, Bengals WR Chad Ochocino who appeared as a television reporter. Ocho wanted to know how series the executive director viewed the possibility of an owners’ lockout in 2011. “On a scale of 1 to 10, it’s a 14,” said Smith.

The union believes all signs point to the league locking the doors after the 2010 season and not opening until the players accept whatever demands are put on the table. There’s ownership’s initial offer featuring the 18 percent reduction in the players’ share. The league has a new deal with the TV networks that will continue payments to the league even if there are no games to broadcast. And there is the restructuring of contracts for assistant coaches to reflect no pay if no games are played.

Would the owners be silly enough to take football off the field in a year? Have the players become rich fat cats on their own, trying to gain a lifetime fortune in five or six years in the league? Based on the comments and action of both sides in this battle, it appears they are silly and fat cats enough.

But that is the nature of negotiating these types of agreements. There will be plenty more saber rattling and posturing in the coming months and the next year.

“Unbelievable!” said The Capitalist. “How do these guys getting anything done?”

Why is this important? If you are a football fan – and I assume you’ve found this site because you enjoy the game – then these are important times. No matter what eventually happens in this negotiation, there will be a hand in your pocket.

I find the whole thing disgusting! I wonder how owners and players alike would feel about a nation wide fan base boycott? They're both to blame in my opinion. The owners, more then likely, have more money then they or they're descendants will ever spend in ten life times. The players are getting paid more then handsomely to play a freakin game in spite of the risk they take to their bodies; they know the risks and sign on the dotted line anyway. Both parties walk into their perspective situations eyes wide open. It looks like 1982 all over again.

I also think the whole then is a big joke. Both are about to sh@@ on their golden goose.
Owners whose teams are worth probably twice what they paid for it and have money coming out of everyhole on their bodies.
The players know the risk and are playing a sport at a level most men would give thie eye teeth to do.
But i think the owners can hold out longer than the players.

Oh, definitely; on both sides of the isle the issue is greed IMO.

sounds like their goose is cooked-lol

Yup, and the real losers here are the fans.