The proposed Collective Bargaining Agreement is currently being considered and voted upon by the players. The results of that vote could be revealed at any moment. It's a thrilling time. I'm somewhat divided in the outcome. On one side, I believe that adding a 17th game to the NFL season is a terrible idea. If the NFL was truly concerned about the current and long-term health of the players, adding to the 16-game season wouldn't be a consideration. On the other side, I adore labor peace. The 1982 and 1987 players strikes and the 2011 offseason lockout were experiences that I never want to endure again. I just want to see the two sides get along. It's also in the best interest of both sides to keep fans happy. Fans (and the coaches!) are rarely a concern when the owners and players get together to hammer out a CBA. Yet fans are putting up all of the money that these two wealthy groups (some obscenely so) are greedily dividing.
I tend to side with the players in most aspects of labor negotiations. That's mostly due to the simple fact that NFL owners have always seen the players as disposable. The owners never cared about former players until they were forced to do so. The owners don't care much for current players that are injured. There will always be more players willing to put their bodies on the line on a weekly basis. The owners take advantage of that. There's also an unfortunate career imbalance. Owners can own an NFL team for generations. Players can enjoy, on average, an NFL career of only a few years. Players risk their physical well-being routinely. They're financial well-being is often precarious as the average career is a relative blink and they can be released from their contract at any time. A fortunate few of those players can turn their playing careers into a nifty, well-paying job as Tony Romo has done. In today's market, owning an NFL team is a guaranteed money-maker. There's really no risk. Even apathetic owners of consistently shitty teams receive annual windfalls. All NFL owners are wealthy. Virginia McCaskey is the only current owner that can recall the struggling early days of the NFL. The Maras, Rooneys, Halas/McCaskeys, Davis', and Browns are the only owners that made their money from football. The other 27 team owners came into the league with fantastic wealth. I'm guessing that the one thing that a rich person wants more than anything after earning their first billion is a second billion. The only thing that all 32 NFL owners want is more money. It's likely a more important objective than a Lombardi. Very sad. How much is enough? Perhaps that's easy for me to ask as I've never sat on a vast fortune. It's likely that I never will. NFL owners are eager to reach Roger Goodell's goal of annual league revenues of $25 billion. From TV dollars to tickets to jerseys, every one of those dollars comes from the fans. Goodell routinely says that all that his league does is for the fans. I'm not sure that he's selling that effectively. Everything that the NFL does proves conclusively that it's lone objective is adding to an already fantastic pile of money. The fastest way to Goodell's goal is forcing another game on the players. And then another. There are always more players when the current ones are spent. I wish that the NFL would focus on what makes the league great. The games make the league great. The players make the league great. The fans make the league great. Focus on those aspects of the league. More games doesn't mean better games. Hell, the final week of the season is already filled mostly with games that more closely resemble puffed-up preseason games. Do we really need another week of those?
On the other side of the CBA debate, I just adore labor peace.
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