subject: Get Your Clock Out if There Is A Lockout [print this page] Get Your Clock Out if There Is A Lockout Get Your Clock Out if There Is A Lockout
I love professional football. I love planning my weekend around watching the NFL and I am unashamed of that fact. I also have the same love for professional wrestling....for far different reasons of course (football being a competition and pro wrestling being a performance). The WWE will never have a work stoppage because professional wrestlers do not have a union. Do not, by the way, think that a Union was never discussed in pro wrestling by none other than Jesse Ventura; notas former Govenor of Minnesota but when he wasrocking the feather boa, leopardprint tightsand known as simply as "The Body". Unfortunatley for better or worse the NFL does have a players' union. The NFL work stoppage is going to happen. The only conclusion...the inevitable conclusionis that the players' union will cave in long before the owners become uncomfortable.
I want to go on record and say that I am absolutely in favor of the existence of the National Football League Players Association and I fully understand why the NFLPA is needed. History shows us, in all of the major sports, that before the players organized, they were treated like cattle and the owners had the absolute power in professional sports. Televison brought awareness and then popularity, which in turn brought money. The cold hard truth is that in America, money in professional team sports means agents and lawyers. Agents and lawyers mean unions, collective bargaining agreements and work stoppages or the threat of them.
Players began to protect their careersand at least put up some resistance to the owners and exsposed their situation to the public. The public, if asked to pick a side, will always side with the players because the players are the underdogs and they are the face of the sport in most cases (Jerry Jones and Mark Cuban excluded of course). The greatest arrow that the players have in a very sparse quill is perhaps the wrath of the fans. The average Joe will side with millionares that can complete 30 passes a game over that 68 year old billionaire in the ascott with the "winning smile" way up in the luxury suite.
The average age of an NFL football player, according to USA Today, was $770,000 in 2009 and the average length of a career is a little more than three years. A vast portion of the league is in their twenties and are signed to their first contracts. Unless you are a high pick, chances are you are on the down side of that $770,000 a year. How many of those players do you think have the wherewithal to withstand a 2 year work hiatus unpaid? How many have planned for a lockout and have not gone out and made finanacial obligations that were dependent on getting the full amount of the contract that they signed?
The players that are near the end of their career should be considered and their position should be examined as well, especially if they are not a marquis player. An NFL player in his late twenties or early thirties is lucky that his body and ability have lasted.Heis at the twilite ofhis career and the sand inhis hourglass is decidely running out. If you have two years left on your contract, how do you know for sure if you will get another contract? The turnover in the rosters of NFL teams is sudden and dramatic; nevermind thatif anothercontract is signed, it will probably not be aslucrative or long as the contract you are being locked out of currently. How long are you going to want to sit around and fight the good fight and soldier on for the cause of the NFLPA brotherhood? Everyday you get older and some kid that is 20 years old and kicking some major ass in the SEC is waiting to get out of history class and into your job.
TheNFL owners are bigger, better and more coordinated than the NFLPA. Owners stay in the league considerably longer than the players do and if this was a financial combine the owners would run the 4.0 40 yard dash and have a 50 inch vertical jump. The players deserve to get at least close to what they want because it is true that without the players, their is no league. Players do sacrifice their body for the game and yes it is a fact that they choose to do so by their own accord. The fact that owners profit from this willingness is why the players deserve to be taken care of.
It should also be noted that the retired players that are disabled from their playing days should be thrown a bigger and beefier bone. The empire that the NFL has become was built on their legacy and the owners will certainly kick in for them with more money and better programs. If they do not, it will become a public relations black eye and one they do not need. The fact of the matter is that without money there is not an NFL for the players to play for. The issues of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, who is right, who is wrong and the other facts of the NFL lockout have not been addressed here because it does not matter. Owners do not lose to players unions and this will certainly be no different. The question is how long will it take before the players realize that at the end of the day they get paid to play football for a short time in their lives. Starting now...time is running out.
