Goodell E-mails All Active NFL Players

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

NEW YORK (AP) - Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote NFL players Thursday, outlining the league's last proposal to the union and cautioning that "each passing day puts our game and our shared economics further at risk."

Goodell ended the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, by telling players: "I hope you will encourage your union to return to the bargaining table and conclude a new collective bargaining agreement."

Talks between the teams' owners and the NFL Players Association broke off last Friday, the 16th day of federal mediation in Washington. The union dissolved that afternoon, allowing players to file a class-action antitrust suit in federal court. Hours later, owners locked out the players, creating the NFL's first work stoppage since 1987.

"I've told my guys to take the letter and set it on fire. We're not that stupid," said Seattle Seahawks guard Chester Pitts, whose reaction was relayed by NFLPA assistant executive director George Atallah.


Read more: http://sports.excite.com/news/03172011/v5309.html

[Drale]

1. Goodell should go fuck himself

I feel bad for the players who would be hurt but the NFL needs to learn like the MLB did that you can only make money if you cooperate with your players.

[former9thward]

3. What is cooperation?

Players currently get a 60/40 revenue split with owners. That is more than any corporation gives their workers. What is fair?

[jakefrep]

7. What's fair?

How about the owners stop lying about their finances? It's not a true 60/40 split when the owners take the first billion off the top.

[former9thward]

8. That first billion is for stadium expenses. The players have never disputed that.

[cstanleytech]

14. Well if he players dont like it why dont

they just quit and form their own teams?

[Missy Vixen]

12. Owners get subsidized stadiums and multiple revenue streams

Players do not get guaranteed salaries, the average career in the NFL is 3.5 seasons, and most leave the league with debilitating injury. I might also add that the multi-million dollar contracts are a small percentage of those who play as well.

And, oh, yeah, the owners get $1 billion off the top of the $9 billion dollar profit the NFL made last year.

[former9thward]

13. You have your "facts" completely messed up.

The $9 billion is revenue not profit. Yes the owners get $1 billion off the top. It is for stadium expenses. The players have never disputed that. The average salary is $1.9 million. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/2010-03-09-nfl-salaries-story_N.htm Your assertion that the "multi-million dollar contracts are a small percentage" is false. Yes most NFL players have some injury. That is obviously one of the reasons they make the money they make. Salary contracts are negotiated by the player's agent. It is up to the agent to negotiate guarantees.

[cstanleytech]

16. The average is 1.9 million?

Umm, ya that does seem to be alot of money atleast imo when compared to say the wage my brother gets of under 30,000 a year as a produce manager with 20+ years with the same company.

[Missy Vixen]

19. Thanks for the slapdown. Might I have another?

Here's some facts for you:

The "average salary" may be $1.9 million, but that means 50% of the league makes less than that, and many much less.

>Yes most NFL players have some injury.<

The injury rate in the NFL is 100%. We'll see how long that $1.9 million lasts when any player has a career-ending injury, for instance.

>Salary contracts are negotiated by the player's agent. It is up to the agent to negotiate guarantees.<

There isn't a player in the NFL whose contract is guaranteed at 100%. Most contracts have guarantees of 50% or less. Contracts are also "backloaded" to pay out more money to agent and team.

[former9thward]

20. Sorry you ae wrong.

Any player with four years or more is vested. Their salary is guaranteed if they are on the rooster for the first game. Some of the things in the contract like bonuses (for catches made, points made, etc.) are not guaranteed but if they are not playing of course they would not be.

Many players leave the NFL with injuries but it is ridiculous to say it is 100%. Please give a link for that. The NFL has health insurance for retired players. They aren't spending their money going to the doctor.

NFL players deserve to be paid highly, it is a very rough game. I think baseball and basketball players are paid absurdly high salaries for what they do. But to suggest NFL players are "oppressed workers" is just crazy. The other day one of the players (it was posted on DU) said they were "modern day slaves". Sick.

[Omaha Steve]

23. You must have missed that retired players filed suit over their lack of QUALITY health care?

NFL retirees want fair treatment from league, union: http://fourthandgoalunites.com/2011/03/11/nfl-retirees-want-fair-treatment-from-league-union/

1/2 ay down: “The only place we’ve ever been effective is in court,” said Parrish, who initiated a successful 2008 class-action lawsuit against the union, forcing a $28 million settlement. “Taxpayers should be applauding us. They’re the ones on the hook for probably a billion dollars in disability bills that could be paid for by professional football.”

One of those players getting federal disability payments is Jimmie Giles, a four-time Pro Bowl tight end who spent 14 years in the NFL, mostly as a beefy blocker on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. For nearly seven years, Social Security disability payments have been tied to his football injuries.

He’s suing the union for failing to aid him with degenerative orthopedic ailments he and Social Security say were caused by the NFL. The union has blamed his problems on obesity throughout his adult years — a problem Giles’ Georgia attorney, John Hogan, also said was caused by the teams, which required his client to stay too hefty to play.

NFL retirees lobbying for pension boost: http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/columns/jerry-sullivan/article370012.ece

Paragraph 5: Here's an idea: Root for the retired players. Specifically, the guys who retired before the landmark 1993 deal and are forced to survive on pensions that look like table scraps alongside the lucrative salaries of today's players.

There is a lot more IF you really want o know it.

[former9thward]

24. I guess you missed the part which said they were suing the union.

I agree the union has let past players down. They have negotiated for current players (the ones who vote in union elections) and they have ignored retired players (who don't have a vote). This is not confined to the NFL. My old union (Steelworkers) has ignored retired workers in contracts. Unfortunately many unions do this.

[Omaha Steve]

27. Depends on the contract

Retirees in my union are locked into benefits of the contract at the time they retire. The exception was health care when the city sued retirees and 4 different unions in federal court and got a settlement (slight giveback) with retirees . That was thanks to other court cases around the US that would hurt our case. Much of that is the same with the NFLPA.

I volunteered and walked two different steelworkers picket lines in the last couple years BTW. Goodyear and Griffin Pipe.

So the NFLPA needs to fight for changes in the past contracts being updated. As I understand it, that is part of the current break down in negotiations.

[rurallib]

2. The players ARE the product

they ought to start their own league.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Downwinder]

5. In Public stadiums.

[raystorm7]

6. Agree!

[ncdemclt]

10. You can’t be serious

Who will finance the “new league”? Mark Cuban? Ok, there is one. Who else? The owners AND the players are both acting like children during this process. The owners want a better deal, and the players want to keep their better deal. I don’t feel sorry for either party.

This scenario is very complicated. The split for owners vs. players is pretty even. People don’t like the fact that the owners are strong arming the players (labor), but those players CANNOT create the NFL without the owners. The cable companies are locked into significant contracts with league (i.e. owners) that will not allow them to just start a new league.

Both sides will come together when they realize they cannot exist without each other. The owners have the advantage at this point, as the vast majority of NFL players do not make $7M a year, and live paycheck to paycheck. The vast majority of the players have also not graduated from college, so their other options do not match up to their earnings in the NFL.

My hope would be to split 50/50, but the owners are to driven to let that happen. In all likelihood, it will come down to the courts in Minnesota.

[former9thward]

18. I hope you are joking when you say the vast majority live from paycheck to paycheck.

The average salary is $1.9 million. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/2010-03-09-nfl-salaries-story_N.htm If they live "paycheck to paycheck" it is because they have five mansions all over the place.

"Half of the N.F.L.’s players have college degrees — a greater percentage than in the N.B.A. or in baseball, because fewer football players declare professional eligibility as early. Nearly 100 players went back to college in the off-season, and the league conducts a management program with universities, including Harvard and Stanford. Players receive up to $15,000 for educational reimbursement." http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/sports/basketball/06nba.html

[ncdemclt]

11. How?

Who will finance the “new league”? Mark Cuban? Ok, there is one. Who else? The owners AND the players are both acting like children during this process. The owners want a better deal, and the players want to keep their better deal. I don’t feel sorry for either party.

This scenario is very complicated. The split for owners vs. players is pretty even. People don’t like the fact that the owners are strong arming the players (labor), but those players CANNOT create the NFL without the owners. The cable companies are locked into significant contracts with league (i.e. owners) that will not allow them to just start a new league.

Both sides will come together when they realize they cannot exist without each other. The owners have the advantage at this point, as the vast majority of NFL players do not make $7M a year, and live paycheck to paycheck. The vast majority of the players have also not graduated from college, so their other options do not match up to their earnings in the NFL.

My hope would be to split 50/50, but the owners are to driven to let that happen. In all likelihood, it will come down to the courts in Minnesota.

[cstanleytech]

17. Well I agree with the start their own league part, not sure if they "are" the product

though, it seems to be more of a combination of the team which is owned by the owners with its rich history and name combined with the players ability.

[madrchsod]

9. the owners have enough money to sit out the season.

the new tv deal covered any loss they occur this next season. the owners are trying to cover their asses for their bad business decisions

[think]

15. I'd like to see some football this year even if I'm a Viking's fan

So I hope they can work it out.....

[mybuddy]

22. Right on!

Could you imagine Fall/Winter _without_ football??

[gratuitous]

21. Owners don't open their books, have an anti-trust exemption, and it's "let's bargain"?

Gee, I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want to play poker with one player holding three-fourths the deck while the rest of the table splits the remaining 13 cards among them. Sounds like some good odds to me!

[xchrom]

25. +1

[Stuart G]

26. Let the players start another league...then what will happpen??nt