NFLPA applies for decertification.

[O]

Begin the lockout and lawsuits.

 

[juza76]

Begin the lockout and lawsuits.

wha is going to happen now..i heard Judge Doty will be considering an injunction to prevent any potential lockout

 

[O]

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/...n-union-decertifies-labor-talks-owners-031111

 

[az jam]

Its now going to get very ugly.

 

[desertdawg]

Wow Jeff Pash (VP) is laying it all on the Players, saying the Owners wanted to split the difference financially and prevent a lockout. Said the Players Union was dead set on not working on a agreement.

Who cares! Both sides can kiss my ass. Greed killed the golden goose.

 

[gamebird98]

I guess I wished I really understood what the players really want. Is it my understanding that they want to see the books of the NFL, so theyy can demand more money? It kills me to see the average american struggleing to make ends meet, and these people earning millions, just not getting enough. Now that they have decertified from the Union, can they be fired by the owners? What does this do the contracts that were written when they were part of an union?

 

[juza76]

i dont know if any of us in our job can arguments with our boss how much profit they have from their business..i think is ridicolous..just spoiled rich players.

 

[Buckybird]

Who cares! Both sides can kiss my ass. Greed killed the golden goose.

I'm with ya Dawg.

But I'm still mostly on the owners side. The assume all the risk even though the players are the product. Both sides dont give a rats ass about us fans who are suffering filling our gas tanks, rising costs of food & losing our homes because of a tanking global economy. At some point ticket prices, food & beer at the stadiums will increase again & get ready to pay $500+ a year for our Sunday ticket.

 

[Goldfield]

i dont know if any of us in our job can arguments with our boss how much profit they have from their business..i think is ridicolous..just spoiled rich players.

It is silly to compare normal life jobs to professional sports players.

 

[Buckybird]

It is silly to compare normal life jobs to professional sports players.

Not IMO...if the greedy ******* dont like it find a new career. I might go broke 1 day & be on the street but it won't be because I had 7 cars, 3 houses & 20 person posse. One of these days all athletes with have to deal with reality & the real world that you & I live in.

 

[juza76]

It is silly to compare normal life jobs to professional sports players.

but these disputes on sports only happen in states.in europa soccer is a rich business but strike or lockout never happen..

 

[RugbyMuffin]

I guess I wished I really understood what the players really want. Is it my understanding that they want to see the books of the NFL, so theyy can demand more money?

Silly for the players to demand more money while being locked out.

Again, billionaire NFL owners don't care, and can wait it out for a year or more. The got the money to wait a lifetime.

The player don't have that type of option to them. Plus by the time the game returns, the fans will have changed their routine, and many probably starting today will stop watching all together. Thus the players will come out of this situation making even less then they are now.

Strike two for me personally and NFL football.

 

[Crazy Canuck]

It's about the $$$.

One of the things I find hilarious is fans thinking that spliting up $9B is somehow easier to split than say 4.5B.

 

[Mitch]

What smells like a rat here?

What the owners are hiding.

Plain and simple.

What the players make is public knowledge.

No one can determine what the fair slice of the pie is...if there's no telling how much money is in the pie.

I blame the owners...they are crying wolf and yet they cannot provide tangible evidence as to why.

Meanwhile...the biggest losers?

As always, the fans...the average john and debbie who have to either pony up the bucks---so often beyond what their means will allow...to partake in this crazy game.

I don't know about you...but I abhor the fact that Direct TV has every out of town fan by the balls...just to have the ability to watch the games.

It's a rip-off.

There's no freeking competition...

It's Direct TV or nothing.

And that my friends, is not American.

I don't know about you...but tonight I am sitting here thinking I need to seriously re-evaluate the reasons why I spend so much time, passion and energy supporting a game and an industry that basically is raping you and me.

And I also sit here wishing my favorite team had owners who really cared about the fans...this past year was an egregious debacle...and it's all too clear tonight what the Bidwills were saving all that money for...

For themselves.

They could give two doo-doos about you or me.

The rhetoric is a ruse.

This is the bottom line...because it's all about:

THEIR BOTTOM LINE.

And I say to the Bidwills...go you know what.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

And that my friends, is not American.

Sadly, I think you're wrong. Not who most of us want to be, but what most of us are.

 

[juza76]

Source: Free agency could start at midnight

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/03/11/source-free-agency-could-start-at-midnight/


bulls*it

 

[40yearfan]

"The union left a very good deal on the table," the NFL also said. "It included an offer to narrow the player compensation gap that existed in the negotiations by splitting the difference; guarantee reallocation of savings from first-round rookies to veterans and retirees without negatively affecting compensation for rounds 2-7; ensure no compensation reduction for veterans; implement new year-round health and safety rules; retain the current 16-4 season format for at least two years with any subsequent changes subject to the approval of the league and union; and establish a new legacy fund for retired players ($82 million contributed by the owners over the next two years)."

If this is true, it's hard to understand why negotiations didn't continue.

 

[Mitch]

Sadly, I think you're wrong. Not who most of us want to be, but what most of us are.

What I am saying here, Chris, is that "competition" in the market...is American.

When we want to sign up for high speed internet...we have many options...which drives down the cost.

With watching out of town NFL games...there is only one option: Direct TV.

In my opinion, that is not American.

 

[conraddobler]

It's not Direct TV's fault Mitch, they bid, the NFL accepted.

That's very American, what's unAmerican about that?

Do you march up to your employer and say show me the books or we're all walking?

No, most people don't.

I don't mind the players striking or the owners locking them out, all of which is very American.

Evaluating how much of your hard earned dollars you're going to allocate to a bunch of spoiled millionaires and billionaires is very American.

Nothing about this seems un American, it all seems uniquely so IMO.

We can chose to be whatever we want to chose to be, loyal fans who'll sit still for being trashed by both sides or consumers who take a giant can of whoopass out on both of these clowns in the form of wallet shutting, our choice.

 

[Buckybird]

What I am saying here, Chris, is that "competition" in the market...is American.

When we want to sign up for high speed internet...we have many options...which drives down the cost.

With watching out of town NFL games...there is only one option: Direct TV.

In my opinion, that is not American.

And yet our President will try to end competition if he has his way.

 

[Crazy Canuck]

In a battle between Billionaires and Millionaires, I stand with the little guy.

As a former Pro hockey player who worked pre and post union, I couldn't care less what fans may or may not think. They sure as Hell didn't care when I needed a summer job to make ends meet, and they are not losing any sleep over my knee, shoulder and back problems.

 

[Longcolts]

Can anyone tell me in what industry or business a union has the right to know what said business spends to pay their secretaries, how much it cost to replace the carpet in the office, how much money is spent on meals or per diems to others besides the union members, etc, etc, etc. None that I can think of.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

What smells like a rat here?

What the owners are hiding.

Plain and simple.

What the players make is public knowledge.

No one can determine what the fair slice of the pie is...if there's no telling how much money is in the pie.

Not to many places on earth where the boss is going to show where every cent comes, and goes. What might be shocking to some, is that the boss sometimes doesn't know this himself.

Time and time again the owners have submitted financial data to the players that "they don't even show to other teams or the league". At the 11th hour the owners were willing to find, gather, and present even more financial data, as well.

So, instead of extending and continuing talks ? The players bail because they don't trust the owners ?

LOL. Yeah, Drew Brees and Kevin Mawae are going to tell the owners how to run their business ? Yeah, that will be the day. The players are beyond skewed in their collective power (which they just gave up btw), and the willingness of the fans to put up with this crap, especially in the current economica climate.

Right now the players are doing the opposite of what is happening in Wisconsin (there is a thread about it in P&R for those who want to discuss this topic I am using as an example here). In Wisconsin the bosses (politicians) are too lazy to negotiate, with a willing partner in the unions who were willing to compromise, so they abolished the methods of negotiation. Here the players are too lazy to to negotiate, again with a willing partner in the owners who were willing to compromise, so they abolish the methods of negotiations.

Sad. Just sad that in the land of the free people can no longer sit down, and peacefully come to a compromise. It is the age of all or nothing, and "I am right and will do it my way even if it is the wrong thing to do."

I don't know about you...but tonight I am sitting here thinking I need to seriously re-evaluate the reasons why I spend so much time, passion and energy supporting a game and an industry that basically is raping you and me.

100% with you there, and have been thinking about this since the Cardinals were out of the playoffs.

And I say to the Bidwills...go you know what.

Yeah, I can see you half way there. I would say that the Bidwills, Godell, and D.Smith can go pound sand as well.

Both sides are wrong.

And regardless of what side we all choose, it sucks none the less.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

What I am saying here, Chris, is that "competition" in the market...is American.

When we want to sign up for high speed internet...we have many options...which drives down the cost.

With watching out of town NFL games...there is only one option: Direct TV.

In my opinion, that is not American.

Agreed, and I know where you are going with this.

There is a lot I can do with 16 Sunday afternoons and $300+.

 

[Buckybird]

I really think teams & the league will see many, many more empty seats this season because of whats taking place in our economy.

Much of the problems in sports are being created by ESPN, Fox, NBC, etc because of the mega deals they are giving sports teams including college football. I really believe the downward spiral is about to happen for these guys because the fans will have to choose.