THE CURRENT CBA EXPIRES FOLLOWING THE 2021 NFL SEASON
The NFLPA (National Football League Players Association) is gearing up for perhaps a season-long work stoppage over many important issues they feel they got shorthanded in during previous negotiations with the NFL owners. The NFLPA has informed all of their players in the NFL to save their money. They have also taken out loans for each player to help take care of themselves financially. The loans come with a warning. Save your money this may last quite a while. "The inability of some players to budget effectively for a long-term impasse contributed to how negotiations unfolded in the last CBA" said George Atallah the NFLPA executive. The issues on the table far outweigh any potential short-term loss from missing an entire NFL season. DeMaurice Smith is the NFLPA Executive Director, he says a work stoppage is "inevitable" after the current CBA expires.
The NFL owners locked out the players back in 2011 for 18 weeks and 4 days. The Owners canceled offseason workouts and delayed free agency. Recently, DeMaurice Smith says they are "prepared for war"! An extension with the current CBA has already been ruled out as an option and so has replacement players like the ones used in 1987. The players have never beaten the owners in a labor dispute in the past. Most of these athletes don't make the same as the top players in the league. The debate around the new CBA sounds more like the beginning of World War 3 more than a sports labor negotiations. The issues that are being negotiated carry more value and the stakes are so high. The rewards outweigh any potential backlash from a prolonged work stoppage.
The NFLPA has already taken out loans paying every player in the NFL $225,000 in preparation for the lockout.
Some of the issues on the table is the sharing of revenue, Scaling back the rookie wage scale, The safety of players and how the Thursday night games are scheduled, Future potential relocation from NFL cities, Guaranteed player contracts, An 18 game schedule and How punishment is handed down to the players by the league, Sharing of league revenue as well as revenue transparencies by the 32 teams, The salary cap and Health benefits.
As to guaranteed contracts, the Chargers very own Russell Okung tweeted about this subject two weeks ago, "I don't see how the billionaire team owners convinced the public that players should put their bodies on the line for less than 50% of league revenue and the players are considered the ungrateful ones". The players presently get 47% of the league revenue.
Another issue the NFLPA says is a "thorn in our side" is "commissioner discipline". The players want to collectively bargain the issue. A player spoke on that he is a long snapper for the NY Giants, "To allow them to make those decisions, it's obviously not good for us and it's not good for the NFL. Anyway that we can move forward and get that collectively bargained is something that we really want". This is on the heels of the controversial 6 game suspension of Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott.
Can the NFL withstand a prolonged work stoppage in its current state? Man believe it is inevitable.
There have been 6 work stoppages in the NFL. The longest was the latest one dating from March 12 to July 25, 2011.
Is there a massive financial effect from a NFL lockout? You bet your ass there is! The Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross asked all front office personal to take a pay cut back in 2011.
If you made $75,000 or more the pay cut was 20%
If you made $50,000 or more the pay cut was 15%
If you made $25,000 or more than pay cut was 10%.
FINANCIAL FALLOUT
$0.00 amount lost taxable sales to a NFL city according to 3 economic professors.
$3.8 million amount Maryland will lose due to lost revenue ticket sales.
$6 million the lost of economic impact due to the loss of 1 NFL Game.
$7.4 million amount not generated by Green Bay for not holding training camp
$14 million amount lost that would have been generated by the New England Patriots in annual direct taxes.
$16 million is the amount lost that would have been generated by the average NFL team
$160 million lost by the NFL Super Bowl host if the work stoppage goes 1 year. (In this case the 2022 Super Bowl.
$3 billion is the expected amount "at risk" for gross national TV advertisers could lose by a lost NFL season
SIDE NOTE.... Dean Spanos would still have to pay the $650 million split into 10 years for relocating in relocation fees where payment begins in 2020. Dean is already at risk of losing $16 million in lost revenue if the season is cancelled.
The money at risk here is enormous for everyone involved. The current CBA expires in March 2022. That means the owners would lock out the players for mini camp, off season workouts and OTA'S. The pressure to reach a deal by the time August comes would be overbearing on the owners. They have the most to lose due to people becoming impatient with the NFL. The NFL saw a 8% drop off in ratings in 2016. That ratings were worse in 2017. Some would point to the CTE scandal and the players kneeling during the anthem as a result of the decline. Others would say the NFL never has been more popular than it is today. They point to the TV ratings decline as the direct result of fans having more options available to watch the games. As in streaming from their phones, tablets, and other private streaming sources that are simply not monitored by the Nielsen ratings.
One thing is known using history as a learning lesson. The owners and the players should remember baseball decline after they cancelling the world series during their own work stoppage. It took baseball years to recover thanks to a once in a lifetime 1998 home run chase between Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire to finally bring some fans back.
Is the NFL to big to fail? Could they be going to far this time and bite that hands that feed them?
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