Tag: 2011 NFL lockout (Page 13 of 16)

      NFLPA tells players to boycott 2011 NFL Draft

      March 14, 2011 /

      Imagine you’re one of the very few athletes blessed with enough talent to be considered a top NFL prospect. You’ve earned the opportunity to hear your name called by the commissioner, to walk on stage at Radio City Music Hall in New York and to snap a photo holding that #1 jersey for your new team.

      You’ve earned the opportunity to enjoy that experience. But because of an ongoing labor dispute, it’s highly likely that you’ll be stripped of that opportunity now.

      According to ESPN.com, the NFLPA is in the process of blocking prospects from attending next month’s draft in New York. So instead of a prospect standing on stage at Radio City Music Hall enjoying the moment with his family, he’ll be elsewhere because the owners and players can’t figure out how to best divvy up the fans’ money. Apparently the Players Association is considering showing the players on another competing network to do post-pick interviews, but it won’t be the same experience.

      It’s easy to see where the NFLPA is coming from here. It’s in the middle of a financial battle and doesn’t want to take a brief timeout so that the draft (a production put on by the league) can go on as usual. The NFLPA is trying to prove that the league is nothing without the players, so why have this year’s prospects attend the draft so that the NFL can once again profit? (Plus, the NFL has already told prospects that it won’t pay players a fee in an attempt to have them present this year, so the league isn’t make the NFLPA’s decision any easier.)

      That said, I feel bad for the prospects. They’ve worked hard to reach this point and now because of the labor dispute, they’ve been dealt a rough hand. If they skip the draft, then they’ll never get that moment back. If they go, then they’ll always be known as the players that defied the union. (How bad would they get it from veteran players if that happened?)

      Either way, a sacrifice will be made on behalf of the 2011 NFL Draft class but oh, well. There’s always a price to be paid in situations like this and the top prospects from this year’s class are finding that out the hard way.

      External Sports, NFL, NFL Draft

      Turn of events? Judge Nelson will oversee players’ case against NFL, not Judge Doty.

      March 14, 2011 /
      Domonique Foxworth (L) of the Baltimore Ravens and Kevin Mawai (C), former player for the Tennessee Titans and current NFL Players Association president, depart with NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith (2nd R) after a day of negotiations with football team owners as they seek an agreement as a deadline looms for a player lockout, in Washington, March 3, 2011. Man at far right is unidentified. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT FOOTBALL EMPLOYMENT BUSINESS)

      Since the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement last Friday, I’ve become awfully bitter when it comes to the NFL and NFLPA. So when I read, “Judge Nelson and not Judge Doty will be overseeing the Brady v. NFL case,” I can’t help but laugh.

      The only reason the players went through Minnesota to file their claim was because it was Judge David S. Doty’s district. As the media has made everyone aware of, Judge Doty has been player-friendly when it comes to cases against the league. So when the players decertified last Friday, they thought they would have an advantage in court because Doty would be overseeing their case. But now that Judge Susan Richard Nelson is in charge, things may have shifted.

      In other words, the players may not have an advantage now.

      When the dust settles on this labor dispute, here’s hoping that neither side wins. Obviously I want there to be football next fall, but it would be nice if the greedy players and the even greedier owners didn’t walk away feeling like they won anything. Seeing as how they don’t care about the fans, I think that’s fair. The NFL spent a decade building its popularity and taking the fans’ money at every turn, now it’s become a victim of its own success. The players and owners can’t figure out a way to share $9 billion and the fans are left hanging because of it. So let both sides lose something in this war.

      The owners thought they had a huge trump card when it came to the TV revenue. Then Judge Doty ruled that they couldn’t use that money to financially support a lockout and the owners took one to the gut. Now the players, who thought they had a trump card of their own in Judge Doty when they decided to reject the owners’ proposal last Friday and decertify, just took one on the chin themselves by getting Judge Nelson to oversee their case.

      Thus far, neither side is winning and I love it.

      External Sports, NFL

      2011 NFL season to be uncapped once the lockout ends?

      March 14, 2011 /
      National Football League Players’ Association’s (NFLPA) Executive Director DeMaurice Smith arrives to continue negotiations between the National Football League (NFL) and NFLPA in Washington March 11, 2011. The parties were still negotiating a range of sticking points, including how to divide more than $9 billion in annual revenues, but the players’ union insist one issue, the NFL’s proposal to add two more games to the regular season, was off the table. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts (UNITED STATES – Tags: EMPLOYMENT BUSINESS SPORT FOOTBALL)

      The Washington Post is reporting that the 2011 NFL season would likely be played with no salary cap if the players succeed in ending the owners’ lockout.

      That would mean there would be no player-payroll maximum or minimum for NFL teams. Players with expired contracts would need six years of NFL service time to be eligible for unrestricted free agency, rather than the four seasons required when the salary cap system was in effect; players with expired contracts and three to five seasons of NFL experience would be restricted free agents. Each team would have an extra transition-player tag, in addition to the one franchise-player or transition-player designation allowed per club under the salary cap system, to restrict players’ movement in free agency, and there would be limits on the free agent activity of last season’s final eight playoff teams.

      The reason that system would be used, sources said, is that it might have a better chance of withstanding an antitrust challenge by the players, given that the union previously agreed to those rules for an uncapped year in collective bargaining. Attorneys for the players’ side have said they would challenge in court any rules put in place by the league if the lockout is lifted.

      The NFL is a victim of its own success. After making the game extremely popular over the last decade, fans are rightfully ticked off about this lockout. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve reached a point where I hope neither the players nor owners get what they want in the end.

      An uncapped year would be great because the players ultimately won’t get what they want. The union has always wanted players to reach free agency as quickly as possible so that they can cash in great seasons. But as the Post points out, in an uncapped year players with expired contracts would need six years of NFL service to quality for free agency – not four like it would be under a cap. So there would be no “cashing in.”

      In the end, both the players and owners will come to realize that their best bet was just to compromise months ago. Now they’re in a hell of their own making and I wouldn’t mind seeing both sides get burned in the process.

      External Sports, NFL

      Owners, union agree to fix rookie wage scale

      March 9, 2011 /
      St. Louis Rams quarterback Sam Bradford throws the football under pressure in the first quarter against the Arizona Cardinals at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis on September 12, 2010. UPI/Bill Greenblatt

      It seems that the NFL and NFLPA are starting to make some headway on important issues pertaining to the CBA.

      According to Jason Cole of Yahoo Sports, the owners and players have agreed to install a rookie wage scale to replace the current, ridiculous rookie salary cap. Thus, the days of a No. 1 pick like Sam Bradford receiving $13 million a year appear to be over (assuming of course that the two sides can agree on everything else CBA-related).

      Cole provides more details:

      According to two sources familiar with the negotiations, the league and the union have reached a basic compromise on a rookie wage scale that will replace the current rookie salary cap. The owners backed off the idea of requiring first-round picks to sign five-year deals, instead limiting the contracts to four years before a player could become a free agent. The agreement is also expected to include a stipulation limiting the amount of guaranteed money and signing bonus offered to draft picks.

      In addition, the league agreed that all players drafted after the first round would be limited to three-year deals, but teams would be allowed to put restricted free agent tags after the three years. That’s essentially similar to the current process where players can be tagged as restricted free agents after a three-year deal, although the existing rule allows players drafted after the first round to sign four-year pacts.

      The union wanted to reduce the number of years teams can sign rookies because they want the players to get to free agency faster. That certainly makes sense, but something had to be done about the old rookie pay scale because players were making too much money. Teams had to invest a lot of dough in players that had never seen a down in the NFL, which made zero sense. On top of that, you had teams trying to trade out of the top 5 because they didn’t want to pay a player millions of dollars and have him turn out to be a bust. Yet, many times they couldn’t because other teams didn’t want to take on similar risks.

      This is great news for two reasons. One, the old rookie pay structure was a joke and had to be changed. Two, it finally looks like the two sides are making some serious headway when it comes to the CBA.

      External Sports, NFL

      A mock conversation between a NFL fan, Roger Goodell and Jeff Pash

      March 4, 2011 /
      NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell talks about the Gen Youth Foundation during a press conference in Dallas, Texas on February 4, 2011. The Pittsburgh Steelers will take on the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XLV on February 6, 2011. UPI/Ian Halperin

      As they continue to work towards signing a new CBA deal, the NFL and NFLPA are in the midst of a media blackout, which basically means that they won’t share any details about how the discussions are going.

      In light of this, I’ve decided to compose a mock conversation between a NFL fan (for creative purposes, let’s call him “NFL Fan”), commissioner Roger Goodell and NFL Executive Vice President Jeff Pash using Goodell and Pash’s actual media transcripts from Friday.

      Seeing as how they won’t shed any light on what’s actually happening behind closed doors, I figured this would be more entertaining than just posting Goodell and Pash’s highly useless comments.

      NFL Fan: Should I cancel my NFL draft party in April, my fantasy football draft in August and my NFL Sunday Ticket subscription? In other words, are we going to have a season next year or what?

      Roger Goodell: We are in a media blackout. I’m sorry. I’m not trying to dodge your question. With respect to the process, to George Cohen, to the NFLPA, I think we want to continue to respect that. But we’ve continued to work hard. I think the fact that we are continuing this dialogue is a positive sign.

      NFL Fan: You know what else would be a positive sign? If you guys stopped making fans grab their ankles waiting for you to reach an agreement. That would be a pretty positive sign, wouldn’t you say, Jeff? Do you think fans should be optimistic just because you guys have agreed to another extension?

      Jeff Pash: I think this is better than the alternative. Should they be optimistic? They know we’re talking. They know we’re working hard. I think that should be a positive.

      NFL Fan: Actually, we don’t know that you’re talking or working hard because you a-holes don’t say anything of substance when you do talk to the media. For all we know, your “meetings” consist of smoking cigars, playing Texas Hold’em and watching re-runs of Knight Rider while laughing at how the fans are clinging onto hope that an agreement will be reached soon.

      Roger Goodell: We are going to continue to work as hard as we can. I promise.

      Continue reading »

      External Sports, Humor, NFL

      « Older posts Newer posts »

      © 2026 The Scores Report – The National Sports Blog

      Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑