Details are starting to emerge about what Panthers owner Jerry Richardson said to Peyton Manning in a CBA meeting a day before the Super Bowl that got the Colts’ QB and NFLPA so riled up.
Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports has the details:
Richardson treated the Colts’ quarterback like a dimwitted child. After Manning questioned the financial urgency of the owners’ request in the absence of documentation – a common union refrain – Richardson became agitated and dismissive while lecturing the player about the risks that their employers assume.
“He was condescending to Peyton,” said one player who was at the meeting. “He tried to talk about P&L [profit and loss] statements and all these other risks that the owners assume, as if Peyton didn’t know anything. Drew interrupted and said, ‘All we’re doing is just asking you to show us your books. We want to negotiate in good faith.’”
Said another player who was present: “We were so pissed. Peyton was breathing heavily, and some of us were about ready to jump across the table.”
As one perennial Pro Bowl player told me Monday morning, “When the owners want to get serious, they just need to get him out of the room – because we’ll never get a deal done with him in there. It’s not professional, and it’s not good business.”
The last paragraph that I pulled from Silver’s article (which was incredibly well-written and I encourage everyone to check out the full piece) disturbs me the most. If there’s one guy who is keeping the contract negotiations from even getting off the ground then Roger Goodell needs to step up ask Richardson to control himself. Or leave. Or go on vacation. Or go back into food sales and sell the Panthers to someone who cares about the league just as much as he does his yearly profits.
Guys like Richardson think that the NFL is about making money. He thinks it’s the owner’s league. But it’s not – it’s the fans’ league. It’s our league. It’s our money that lines the owners’ pockets so that they can pay the players and we want football next year. So if Richardson is not a part of the solution, then get him out.
Jerry Richardson is about to become public enemy No. 1 among football fans. And that’s not good for the rest of the owners.
