http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11280819/
Time running out for new NFL labor accord
If owners, players can't agree on CBA, all bets off, including salary cap
Despite drawing more than 90 million Americans to the television screen, the Super Bowl was a dud. Poor officiating and bumbling two-minute drills made XL, despite its extra-large moniker, rather small and inconsequential.
After all that, don’t you think NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue would welcome a week in Hawaii before the Pro Bowl? The 50th state worships the NFL’s annual visit and, after grim days in wintry Detroit, the stolid commish could swap his trademark business suit for a swimsuit and a lei.
Instead, the face of the NFL opted for mind-numbing discussions in conference rooms with his foe, Gene Upshaw — who also shunned a free week-long visit to the islands — about the collective-bargaining agreement, or CBA. The fact Tagliabue was focused on this task the minute Pittsburgh coach Bill Cowher was soaked in Gatorade shows that the league is extremely worried a deal may not be forged — and if it isn’t, the NFL’s sterling image among sports fans, sponsors and others may evaporate.
Without a doubt, Tagliabue’s tenure has been masterful. Labor strife has been practically non-existent, and the TV contracts have ballooned to numbers that put Third World budgets to shame. New stadiums have been built, thanks in part to NFL loans implemented during Tagliabue’s tenure, and the value of franchises has skyrocketed. From scratch he has helped build the NFL Network, and his decision to broadcast games on it in 2006 not only gives the cable channel instant legitimacy, it strikes fear into TV partners such as Fox and ESPN who wonder whether, in a decade, they’ll be of any worth to the league.
Yet the CBA threatens to become Tagliabue’s albatross. Though negotiations with the NFL Players Association started two years ago, there’s been little progress. Players demand that owners share revenue from luxury suites and stadium naming rights deals with them, even though owners haven’t even agreed to split that money among each other. Armed with $200 million to help players survive a work stoppage, Upshaw has threatened to decertify the union in March if an agreement isn’t reached.
It is hard to believe the CBA will be hammered out before then. Consider: No one even knows if the value of the games on the NFL Network, the newest pawn of any revenue discussion, will count as revenue toward a salary cap (and even their value is debatable). What owners do know is that, without an agreement during the 2007 season, the salary cap ceases to exist for those 16 regular-season games. And, ironically enough, free-spending owners like Washington’s Daniel Snyder and Dallas’ Jerry Jones may prefer it that way, spending a lot on players then in a win-at-all-costs season and causing division among their brethren.
So could the NFL go the way of Major League Baseball, the NHL and the NBA and suffer a strike and/or lockout that cripples the league for years? The outlook is gloomy. The money NFL teams bring in has reached mind-boggling levels, and players — whose careers average four years — want as big a cut as possible before they retire at age, say, 27.
Whatever happens, few issues have been as a serious during the NFL’s run as the premier sports league in the United States as fashioning a CBA extension. Sure, the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction reddened many a Park Avenue face, and players getting in trouble with the law has been a black mark.
But if Tagliabue and Upshaw are unable to secure labor peace and a season eventually is lost, at that point they'll want to head to Hawaii — because the anger among fans, sponsors, owners and players on the mainland will be truly XL.
David Sweet is a sports business writer in the Chicago area.
This was an article from Feb 10th, I think. So it's kind of old, but this is something to talk about.
This better not happen and I think the NFL knows better to let it happen.
Time running out for new NFL labor accord
If owners, players can't agree on CBA, all bets off, including salary cap
Despite drawing more than 90 million Americans to the television screen, the Super Bowl was a dud. Poor officiating and bumbling two-minute drills made XL, despite its extra-large moniker, rather small and inconsequential.
After all that, don’t you think NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue would welcome a week in Hawaii before the Pro Bowl? The 50th state worships the NFL’s annual visit and, after grim days in wintry Detroit, the stolid commish could swap his trademark business suit for a swimsuit and a lei.
Instead, the face of the NFL opted for mind-numbing discussions in conference rooms with his foe, Gene Upshaw — who also shunned a free week-long visit to the islands — about the collective-bargaining agreement, or CBA. The fact Tagliabue was focused on this task the minute Pittsburgh coach Bill Cowher was soaked in Gatorade shows that the league is extremely worried a deal may not be forged — and if it isn’t, the NFL’s sterling image among sports fans, sponsors and others may evaporate.
Without a doubt, Tagliabue’s tenure has been masterful. Labor strife has been practically non-existent, and the TV contracts have ballooned to numbers that put Third World budgets to shame. New stadiums have been built, thanks in part to NFL loans implemented during Tagliabue’s tenure, and the value of franchises has skyrocketed. From scratch he has helped build the NFL Network, and his decision to broadcast games on it in 2006 not only gives the cable channel instant legitimacy, it strikes fear into TV partners such as Fox and ESPN who wonder whether, in a decade, they’ll be of any worth to the league.
Yet the CBA threatens to become Tagliabue’s albatross. Though negotiations with the NFL Players Association started two years ago, there’s been little progress. Players demand that owners share revenue from luxury suites and stadium naming rights deals with them, even though owners haven’t even agreed to split that money among each other. Armed with $200 million to help players survive a work stoppage, Upshaw has threatened to decertify the union in March if an agreement isn’t reached.
It is hard to believe the CBA will be hammered out before then. Consider: No one even knows if the value of the games on the NFL Network, the newest pawn of any revenue discussion, will count as revenue toward a salary cap (and even their value is debatable). What owners do know is that, without an agreement during the 2007 season, the salary cap ceases to exist for those 16 regular-season games. And, ironically enough, free-spending owners like Washington’s Daniel Snyder and Dallas’ Jerry Jones may prefer it that way, spending a lot on players then in a win-at-all-costs season and causing division among their brethren.
So could the NFL go the way of Major League Baseball, the NHL and the NBA and suffer a strike and/or lockout that cripples the league for years? The outlook is gloomy. The money NFL teams bring in has reached mind-boggling levels, and players — whose careers average four years — want as big a cut as possible before they retire at age, say, 27.
Whatever happens, few issues have been as a serious during the NFL’s run as the premier sports league in the United States as fashioning a CBA extension. Sure, the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction reddened many a Park Avenue face, and players getting in trouble with the law has been a black mark.
But if Tagliabue and Upshaw are unable to secure labor peace and a season eventually is lost, at that point they'll want to head to Hawaii — because the anger among fans, sponsors, owners and players on the mainland will be truly XL.
David Sweet is a sports business writer in the Chicago area.
This was an article from Feb 10th, I think. So it's kind of old, but this is something to talk about.
This better not happen and I think the NFL knows better to let it happen.
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