2010
19
Jul
You remember the movie right? Keanu Reeves plays the former college QB who finally gets his chance to play pro football because of a lock out. Gene Hackman plays the role of the wise old coach who brings in talent from all over the country to fill the empty roster spots. Did you ever envision that happening in today’s NFL?
NFL Owners are arguing that player salaries are out of control and they’re profits are plummeting as a result. They claim that high profile athletes are taking the league hostage one contract at a time.
Their solution? An 18 game schedule! From a fans perspective that’s great, two more NFL games per year! So the players get to keep their salary increases and the owners make up the revenue right? Wrong. The owners are saying that revenue’s have decreased so much that they are suggesting an 18% pay cut + an additional two games!
The current collective bargaining agreement between team owners and the Players Association takes us through the end of the 2010 season. A new agreement would have to be put in place or the start of the 2011 season is in jeopardy.
This all sounds crazy at a time when the NFL is at an all time high in viewer ship and revenue. If there’s a recession going on you can argue that the NFL is not a participant in it. TV revenue alone from FOX,CBS,NBC and DIRECTV for 2009 was 4.1 billion. MNF telecasts drew 14 of the top 15 largest cable audiences of 2009. With big audiences comes big advertising dollars. In 2008, average team profits increased by 31%, while labor costs increased by only 4%.
Two things are clear. 1. The NFL is making a massive amount of money. 2. The two sides are very far apart.
Let’s hope we don’t see a lockout, the last thing we need is for Ryan Leif to mount a comeback!
