NFL Lockout Thread

Roger · Post by **Roger** » Tue May 10, 2011 5:31 am

Greg & Tom,

Did you see the story on profootballtalk over the weekend that if the owners lose on appeal, they may try to get around the lockout injunction by completely shutting down all business operations for all 32 teams until there is a collective bargaining agreement? The thinking is that owners are always free to shut down their businesses, and therefore it is not a lockout.

I wonder what the public reaction would be against the NFL if they went with what seems like a "nuclear option."

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue May 10, 2011 5:45 am

Originally posted by Trust In Bill:
Greg & Tom,

Did you see the story on profootballtalk over the weekend that if the owners lose on appeal, they may try to get around the lockout injunction by completely shutting down all business operations for all 32 teams until there is a collective bargaining agreement? The thinking is that owners are always free to shut down their businesses, and therefore it is not a lockout.

I wonder what the public reaction would be against the NFL if they went with what seems like a "nuclear option." I didn't see that Bill, but if it's true that's just crazy. Again, in 1982 and 1987 it was the fight over free agency and you can see why the owners were willing to shut down the game to prevent that. Today the fight is over....MONEY!! Really, that's it. It's a fight over how much money each side gets. I don't think the 18-game schedule is even in the fight now. So why would they go nuclear just to get 3-5% more of the pie?? It's insane.

Let's hope that cooler heads prevail here. Goodell should provide the leadership this fight needs and find a solution. Personally, I think it's going to be that the owners give up their request for the $1 billion off the top for them and in return the players allow a smaller percentage of revenue to come to them, maybe down from 60% to 57% or so. Both sides give a little and we don't lose this season. Is it possible?

Diesel · Post by **Diesel** » Tue May 10, 2011 6:04 am

I suggest the NFL bring in King of Queens as the official mediator. After a thorough viewing of all books, what Glenn says, goes. Football will be back in full swing by June 1st.

hammer · Post by **hammer** » Tue May 10, 2011 6:14 am

A long as we're talking nuclear options, the players' decertification was part of this mutually assured destruction.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue May 10, 2011 7:38 am

Originally posted by hammer:
A long as we're talking nuclear options, the players' decertification was part of this mutually assured destruction. There's plenty of blame on the players, that's for sure. It might actually start with their choice to head the union a few years back as he was confrontational from the start. This looked like a fight to the finish from their side as soon as he came on board.

But you also have to realize you are taking on a monopoly with anti-trust protection who despite seeing franchise values skyrocketing because the game is so damn popular is claiming that they need help from the players to make ends meet. That's just ludicrous and asking for $1 billion on top to help build infrastructure is an insane request. The Packers just unveiled plans last week to add 7,500 seats to Lambeau Field and they will sell personal seat licenses at $2,000 per to help with financing. If the owners do get relief from the players to help build stadiums, the owners will still ask the fans to foot some of the bill and local governments to foot some of the bill. It's happening in Minneapolis right now with the Vikings' stadium plans. Everyone has to pay for that new stadium and the ownership wins the most.

We have a right to be very mad at both sides, but it's obvious that mediated negotiations weren't getting a deal done. The players decertified as a union and now it's up to the courts to lead us in some direction. What a shame and again, both sides blew it big-time. Go nuclear, either side, and college football may become America's favorite sport.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue May 10, 2011 7:43 am

Originally posted by Diesel:
I suggest the NFL bring in King of Queens as the official mediator. After a thorough viewing of all books, what Glenn says, goes. Football will be back in full swing by June 1st. I think if any of us as fans saw the books we'd gasp at the amount of television revenue both sides split, the amount of sponsorship revenue both sides split and the amount of ticket revenue both sides split and ask the NFL to lower in-game ticket prices. After that we'd tell both sides to split all revenue 50-50 and become true partners in this great game and to keep the salary cap in place. This great game makes it possible for Green Bay, Wisconsin to compete and win against teams from New York and Chicago like no other sport. Split the damn revenue, keep growing the revenue pie, keep the salary cap and let's start mini-camp tomorrow. How's that for negotiating?

Who needs King of Queens. I'm on it.

Diesel · Post by **Diesel** » Tue May 10, 2011 8:29 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:
quote:Originally posted by Diesel:
I suggest the NFL bring in King of Queens as the official mediator. After a thorough viewing of all books, what Glenn says, goes. Football will be back in full swing by June 1st. I think if any of us as fans saw the books we'd gasp at the amount of television revenue both sides split, the amount of sponsorship revenue both sides split and the amount of ticket revenue both sides split and ask the NFL to lower in-game ticket prices. After that we'd tell both sides to split all revenue 50-50 and become true partners in this great game and to keep the salary cap in place. This great game makes it possible for Green Bay, Wisconsin to compete and win against teams from New York and Chicago like no other sport. Split the damn revenue, keep growing the revenue pie, keep the salary cap and let's start mini-camp tomorrow. How's that for negotiating?

Who needs King of Queens. I'm on it.

[/QUOTE]Here Here! Greg, you are duly appointed the unofficial spokesman for the fan. Send that post to Goodell's email address, and let us know what's going on, ok? Thanks.

Old School · Post by **Old School** » Tue May 10, 2011 11:46 am

We all can agree that greed is the main culprit here, no doubt. I wonder if they realize how many lives are affected by such greed; folks who work at stadiums, vendors, etc.......not to mention fantasy football players. Baseball drove me away with that strike. I hope football doesn't

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue May 10, 2011 11:54 am

Originally posted by Old School:
We all can agree that greed is the main culprit here, no doubt. I wonder if they realize how many lives are affected by such greed; folks who work at stadiums, vendors, etc.......not to mention fantasy football players. Baseball drove me away with that strike. I hope football doesn't Agreed Joe. The longer this goes the more it's going to be affected. Just within our industry, you can see pre-season fantasy football magazines being cancelled, print companies being affected, newsstands losing revenue, publishers losing revenue. Pay content in the fantasy space could be greatly affected if something doesn't happen by mid-summer. NFL apparel and all of the stores that sell it are already being affected and even in Packerland you are seeing Super Bowl items being greatly discounted. Think of all the sports bars and restaurants affected across the country and vendors greatly affected near the stadiums if even the pre-season games are lost.

You could go on and on, but trust me they have affected people's lives already. Look at the traffic on the fantasy football message boards; it's dead. There's nothing to talk about and probably nothing to talk about until June or July. Our industry could be very affected by this lockout and in a big way, but we're not alone. Millions of people are going to be affected the longer this goes on.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed May 11, 2011 2:50 am

Here is a great example of what we were talking about yesterday when it comes to stadium construction. The Vikings announced aggressive plans to build a new site with a retractable roof in the suburbs of Minneapolis complete with plenty of parking for tailgating and a Vikings' museum. Give the Vikings a lot of credit here because this would really be something great for their franchise. I hope it passes.

But as you can see from the attached ESPN.com story, all of the financing is coming from the Vikings, the taxpayers, the local government and the state government. I don't see the NFL pitching in to help. And while the Vikings are footing a big part of the bill, Zigi is going to be able to monetize the site with restaurants and other businesses. It's good for the team and the area, but the taxpayers are the ones paying the most for it.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6521457

Do you think it will pass or will they return to the plan that brings it back to the Metrodome site? Pretty interesting situation and one definitely worth following.