Trying to Make Sense out of Nonsense; The Strike

OK, so the owners want a rookie salary wage scale, increase in expense credits and an overall reduction in salaries across the board. Goodell states that players deserve to well paid but of course that is only lip service. The NFL claims poverty yet the are bringing in more than 4 billion dollars in television revenue and billions more in business alliances, i.e. Anheuser-Busch knocked Coors out as the Official Beer of the NFL in a six-year, $1.2 billion deal that begins in 2011.

The Players made a terrific offer in hopes of placating ownership. The union for the players offered up what they call a “Proven Performance Plan”. The proposal would reduce rookie contract lengths to a max of 3 years. According to the NFLPA, that would reduce spending on rookie salary by approx. $200 million. The proposal would then take those savings and divert $150 million to players who signed relatively low contracts either as rookies or veterans, but whose performance has been much greater. rest of the balance (approx. $50 million) would be devoted to a fund for new retired player benefits. The proposal is also seeking the league to match those funds creating a $100 million pool for retired player benefits. This would seem to have been an imaginative and viable offer that accommodates and addresses many of the owner’s issues. But no, even this innovative proposal was summarily rejected by ownership.