The NFL's Collective Fumbling: A Lockout Primer

by One.Cool.Customer on Jan 31, 2011 5:30 AM CST in Dallas Cowboys General

The current collective bargaining agreement between the owners and NFL Players Association expires at 11:59 p.m. on March 3rd, 2011. That much is clear. Not much else is.

Mike Florio from Profootballtalk led with a story yesterday suggesting that an impasse, not a lockout, is what could be in store come March 4th. Declaring an impasse based on the league's last best offer would potentially put the ball squarely into the players' court: barring further negotiations, the players would ultimately have to strike (unless of course they challenged that an impasse had actually been reached).

The NFL world this week is focused on the Super Bowl, but you can rest assured that behind the scenes the labor dispute is heating up, and will dominate the headlines once the Super Bowl hype dies down next week. To get you ready and primed to follow what's going on, and perhaps see through the rhetoric of both sides, we've put together a little lockout primer with some links that will help you navigate the treacherous waters of the labor dispute.

NFL players contract: NFL players and owners leaping into the great unknown - chicagotribune.com
The offseason is full of uncertainty for the 32 NFL teams. This handy little Q&A explains the key issues in an easy to understand way.

NFL Labor pains - National Football Post
In the sixth part of his labor pains series, Andrew Brandt continues to provide a Q&A on some of the hot labor topics and offers an opinion on what an eventual deal could look like.

What’s at Stake in the N.F.L.’s Labor Talks - NYTimes.com
Judy Battista argues that both sides are starting to feel the pinch of a potential lockout. Local sponsors and luxury suite holders are threatening not to renew contracts, which is going to hit small-market teams and owners with new or renovated stadiums particularly hard. And Major sponsors are unlikely to negotiate extensions without knowing what's in store.

Labor leaves NFL with uncertain season - NYPOST.com
Bart Hubbuch offers a guide to the NFL labor dispute, and argues that what everything boils down to is a case of big-market owners vs. small-market owners, with the players as unwitting victims and the fans as innocent bystanders. He also details the main sticking points in a dispute that NFLPA chief DeMaurice Smith last week compared to "war."

Ten things to know right now about the labor situation - ProFootballTalk
This basic overview of what could happen once the current CBA expires is already two weeks old, but is an excellent, though lengthy, summary of what could unfold this year. Required reading.

NFL: Owners, players have ‘lot of risk’ if no labor deal - DailyHerald.com
The NFL already is feeling financial effects from the uncertainty of its labor negotiations. The league estimates its cumulative gross revenue losses could reach $1.7 billion by 2015 if there is no agreement with the players union before the next regular season is scheduled to start.

The NFL's Collective Fumbling - adweek
Anthony Crupi explains how a lockout could cost the four networks as much as $3 billion in ad revenue. Fox generated about $975 million in ad dollars with its Sunday NFC package, NBC hauled in some $850 million, CBS churned up around $825 million and ESPN’s MNF round out the sum with ad sales of $175 million.

NFL lockout would be a losing move for everyone - Times Record News
Zach Duncan is sure that a lockout will happen in March, and thinks it's about as unavoidable as one of those Category 5 hurricanes swirling in the Gulf of Mexico.

Sports books could take big hit if NFL has work stoppage - Las Vegas Review Journal.com
As all sorts of stakeholders in a potential lockout begin to add up their potential losses from a prolonged labor dispute, news reaches us from the Las Vegas sports books that a season-long NFL work stoppage could cost them an estimated $850 million.

Chiefs lay off eleven, including Pete Moris - ProFootballTalk
Spotted at the Super Bowl XLV media center, where Moris is one of many team P.R. staffers assisting with the mammoth credentialing and media relations undertaking, Moris was in very good spirits. He spoke favorably of the Chiefs, and he jokingly taped the words "unrestricted free agent" over the Chiefs logo on the shirt he was wearing.

Matt Hasselbeck, Antonio Cromartie engage in Twitter war over labor talks - Sporting News
Only if you did not watch any sports this weekend could you have missed that Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie got into a war of words Thursday via their Twitter accounts. Cromartie had been critical of union leadership's slow pace of negotiations earlier this week, leading Hasselbeck to call out Cromartie.

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Comments

A lot of people will be in trouble if there is no football next season.

Imagine all of the service industries that will take a major hit if this goes wrong.I know this,if they mess this up,it will go a lot deeper than just the owners and players.Not to mention the real backbone of the NFL,the fans,and the damage that would be done to them.Without the fans they have nothing,and if I get"held hostage" because they can’t find a way to fix this,I will be very upset.

Cowboys For Life!!!! Win,Lose,or Lose Horribly!!!

by NVCowboy4Life on Jan 31, 2011 5:47 AM CST reply actions

Why Do the NFL players even have a union??

They make millions of dollars just to play football!! I dont know about you, but i would kill to be in their shoes.

Be a Angel Fan till I die... The only good team to come out of Texas is my Dallas Cowboys Baby

by Nord15 on Jan 31, 2011 6:37 AM CST reply actions

Sports leagues are a special case

This is just an off-the-cuff response with no deep thought put into it, but I think pro athletes HAVE to have a union in their respective leagues. Generally I’m what most would consider “anti-union”, but not in this case.

Sports leagues aren’t a free market. They’re organizations that have to have special anti-trust exemptions in order to survive. The owners have to be able to “collude” out of necessity, therefore I think the players have to have a union to protect their interests under those circumstances.

by bonedweezil on Jan 31, 2011 12:08 PM CST up reply actions

if they didn't have an union the league would be full on knuckle heads like Cromartie

the owners would also step on the players & decrease the benifits to almost nothing. the players make peanuts compared to the money they bring in each week. no one goes to a game to see Jerry Jones.
money also doesn’t do much good when NFL players die before the average person. you probably wouldn’t “kill” to be in there shoes longer then 1 play if you was on the field bc the impact is brutal. a RB that carries the ball 25 times a game is compared to getting on a bike with a helmet & slamming into a wooden garage door 300 times.

Every team has a great gameplan until they get Punched in the Mouth! Garrett & Ryan working as a team should create a physical environment at Valley Ranch that shows up on gameday.

by DCNation73 on Jan 31, 2011 12:30 PM CST up reply actions

Well this just shows you have put absolutely zero thought into this.

The owners make billions of dollars to facilitate the spectacle of millionaires giving each other brain damage. I can’t believe that the Man has gotten working folk to side with the boss. If you work for a living and have a boss to answer to, I don’t see how you can’t side with the players. You just expect the owners to treat the players fairly? When you sell out a stadium every week and millions of people watch you at home then you can talk about just being happy to play football.

by Omar Little on Jan 31, 2011 1:47 PM CST up reply actions

Im in the Military

so yeah i have a boss. And i Played DE my whole life. Trust me I would kill to be in their shoes. Maybe some of you might cry cause its too rough, but its a once in a life time opportunity that i will jump all over

Be a Angel Fan till I die... The only good team to come out of Texas is my Dallas Cowboys Baby

by Nord15 on Feb 24, 2011 8:08 AM CST up reply actions

some one needs

to step up to the plate here. And that guy needs to be Rodger Goodell. If he really wants to make his mark on the NFL and have a very positive legacy as the NFL commissioner, he needs to step up to the plate and get these guys behind locked doors for some period of time and get a new deal worked out and avoid any type of workstoppage.

by textaz03 on Jan 31, 2011 7:45 AM CST reply actions

HAH!

Fat chance. He’s probably one of the worst commissioners amongst the big sports. The league has a problem with race, the league has a problem with compensating retired players for work related injuries, hell it took a congressional hearing just to get the helmets investigated.

by Omar Little on Jan 31, 2011 1:49 PM CST up reply actions

I’ve been putting off learning about the new CBA, because frankly, it’s boring, depressing, and I have to preface anything I write with “Assuming the new CBA is done in time,” which is getting to be really annoying, and we’re not even into the official offseason yet. Thanks for the Cliff Notes, OCC.

by JimmyK on Jan 31, 2011 7:56 AM CST reply actions

ha ha ha totally agree. I don’t know how often I’ve already written "Assuming the new CBA is done in time," or something to that effect.

by One.Cool.Customer on Jan 31, 2011 8:43 AM CST up reply actions

for I will be said if there is no footbal next year

but atleast my rangers wil be starting up again soon. Kinda a hard sub but considering how stacked they are I’m expecting a great season.

Someone's always Going to be Hating on Da Boyz

by Jeff G. on Jan 31, 2011 8:26 AM CST reply actions

it stinks for the Ranger fans now that Cliff Lee left

i thought the Rangers were going to close the deal bc it was obvious he didn’t want to pitch in NY but the Phillies come in & took stole him away for less money.
looks like a Red Soxs & Phillies world series from paper.

Every team has a great gameplan until they get Punched in the Mouth! Garrett & Ryan working as a team should create a physical environment at Valley Ranch that shows up on gameday.

by DCNation73 on Jan 31, 2011 12:34 PM CST up reply actions

I've been saying this for months.

It’s not about the owners and players; it’s about the ancillary jobs that support them.

Look. Down here in South Texas, over at Padre Island, 90% of the yearly revenue generated by businesses—hotels, restaurants, bars, souvenir shops—is generated in three weeks in March, during Spring Break. Think about that. Now, imagine if colleges cancelled Spring Break. What would happen to the local economy?

Answer: Mass bankruptcy.

So, you’re 1 of 32 football towns. You’ve got a stadium, which the taxpayers are on the hook for. You’ve got an airport, hotels, restaurants, bars, souvenir shops, etc., and all their staff. But you only get to host 8, maybe 10, games a year. What percentage of the total revenues generated by your community is generated by those few games?

It may not be 90%, but it’s pretty damn close. We are talking about tens of thousands of fans willing to spend money here. Who is going to fly in, rent a hotel room, eat at a resaurant, drink at a bar, buy a souvenir, when there is no football to be played? How many of the locals are going to buy a ticket, much less a jersey? And if they don’t, how is that going to affect all the staff, you know common working people, that support these businesses and the local tax base?

The effect to your economy would be devastating. The owners and players are flirting with disaster if they don’t come to an agreement.

"Coaching is getting men to do what they do not want to do, in order to get them to achieve what they want to achieve." --Tom Landry

by The Soothsayer on Jan 31, 2011 11:55 AM CST reply actions

it may be close to 90%

in a place like Green Bay, but in Chicago, it is not even close……or New York or Dallas, or Atlanta or Miami, or Philly or Washington, or Minneapolis, (maybe Detroit at this point) ………any way, it sounds to me like you are putting the NFL in the “too big to fail” group that the government decided that GM was in. While i will not sit here and say no one will lose their job if there is a lock out and games are missed, but it will not be a “push the economy off the edge of the cliff” type of deal either…. on a national level, the hiring and then letting go of the people who worked to take the cencus will have had a bigger effect…..

the places that will take the biggest hit are the little towns that some teams go to for training camp, but the actual NFL cities will not feel it as much

He who laughs last, thinks slowest

by BigBad Joe on Jan 31, 2011 12:22 PM CST up reply actions