NFL Lockout Over: Now the Fun Begins

Article first published as NFL Lockout Over: Now the Fun Begins on Blogcritics.

I am sure if you're a big fan of the NFL, you are happy that the lockout is over and the season is saved. Now all of you who were wondering what to do with your Sundays in September without football can breathe a sigh of relief. And, as for those football widows and widowers, at least you will know where your significant others will be on Sundays. Why not grab a bag of pretzels and join in the fun?

That was a long 136 days of lockout, and I really didn't think that the players and owners would get their acts together in time for the season to start on time. With yesterday's agreement, training camps everywhere are throwing open their doors and welcoming the players with open arms.

After the deal was announced, NFLPA chief DeMaurice Smith said that either side didn't get everything it wanted, but NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said, "Football is back, and that's great news for everybody." Amen to that one!

As a Jets fan I was happy to hear head coach Rex Ryan shooting his mouth off again. Always boastful and kind of like the captain of a ship stuck in a terrible storm, Ryan has the knack for talking about good seas ahead even when he is throwing a life preserver overboard. Now he is telling the press "We got better" (during the off season). No one even broke a sweat at training camp yet, but Rex is ready to be the mouth that roared. I guess we fans of Gang Green wouldn't have it any other way.

So now that the lockout is over, what was all the fuss about? It seems some of the best things accomplished were unrestricted free agency after four years, 47 - 48.5% of all revenue (down from previous years but the owners can't skim one billion off the top as they always did), a salary cap set at $120.375 million, and a $620 million Legacy Fund to be paid to former players. The big one though seems to me to be that a rookie like super quarterback Cam Newton (first pick in the draft this year) can earn the big bucks with a four-year contract with an option for fifth-year cub option. To get a more detailed idea of what is going on, fans should check out the NFL web site for all aspects of the NFL collective bargaining agreement.

So football fans can get ready for some football. Get out the team jerseys and all the other paraphernalia. Watch the training camps and enjoy the frenzy of free agency. Things just got going and the excitement is already palpable. No other sport generates this kind of interest and excitement, and most fans do not really care what each side got or didn't get. We were just waiting for a regular season and now we've got it. Great news for everybody indeed.

Photo Credit: AP

NFL Lockout: Harrison's Rants Don't Speed Up the Process

Article first published as NFL Lockout: Harrison's Rants Don't Speed Up the Process on Blogcritics.


As the NFL lockout continues, and the owner's deadline of July 21 gets closer and closer, things do not look good for a resolution any time soon. Add to that the recent rant by Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison, and we get to see how this thing could get ugly and drag on and on. This is not good news for the owners, the players, and certainly not the fans.

Harrison, in an interview with Men's Journal, said negative things about some of this teammates, but reserved his most incendiary comments for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, whom he calls a "crook," "devil" and someone he "will never respect." Harrison's words are a far cry from someone like New Orleans Saints' quarterback Drew Brees, who seems to be trying to be a real negotiator in this mess.

NFL Players Association chief DeMaurice Smith has been anything but hopeful, and Goodell has had nothing positive to say about the negotiations. Of course, they are ongoing (mostly between the lawyers for both sides) but the writing may be on the wall. I guess this Jets fan is going to have to rethink how to spend Sundays this fall, which probably wouldn't bother my family one bit.

It does seem that neither side wants to give anything here, and it just doesn't make sense to me how the players or owners would want to risk losing the 2011-2012 season. Football, the most lucrative sport in the universe, should have enough money for everyone to go around, but issues like rookie contracts, signing bonuses, and free agency seem to still be the big problems here.

I do not know about you and your team merchandise, but I am not breaking out any of my Jets material until I know there is going to be a season. If the lockout does manage to derail the season, I am going to think long and hard about how much I need NFL games.

I mean, if I can survive one season without football (and anyone else with season tickets or just their team colors running in their blood can too), maybe it is time for a transfusion and a new winter sport to spend my hard earned money on getting crazy about. Now, if those NY Islanders could just get their act together, I'll get out to those games, and at least they are actually played in New York!

Photo Credits: espn.com

NFL Players Union Plays Its Trump Card: Decertification

Article first published as NFL Players Union Plays Its Trump Card: Decertification on Blogcritics.

Riddle me this; riddle me that: what is worse than a game without a bat? The answer is perhaps a game without players. That is the ugly prospect in the National Football League labor dispute with its players, and things took a decidedly ominous turn today when the NFL Players Association made the decision to decertify as a union.

Football fans everywhere may be asking why did they do this, but it makes perfect sense since their negotiations with the NFL are going nowhere. Since a lockout was no doubt imminent, the NFLPA's choice makes sense because of this: if they are not a union then they can sue the NFL in federal court under antitrust laws.

The prospect of this getting resolved any time soon seems unlikely. The NFL can counter sue the NFLPA in some way, probably noting that the decertification process was only meant to set up this possibility of suing before the CBA (collective bargaining agreement) expired. Either way there looks like no end is in sight and that's not good news for the players or the fans.
NFLPA Executive Direct DeMaurice Smith and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell have been involved in negotiations that have been going nowhere. What is the problem, you may ask? The answer is 750 million of them (dollars, of course). That was the gap between what the players wanted and the owners refused to give.

As it seems this thing could take months to be worked out in the courts, the worry here is that it will jeopardize training camps and even the start of the season. What doesn't make sense is why either side would want to ruin the good thing that they have going here.

Of all American sports, football has to be the most lucrative one in the nation. The amount of money generated by games, merchandising, and advertising is overwhelmingly more substantial than from any other sport. The grandaddy of all championships is the Super Bowl, a marketing and entertainment juggernaut that is second to none.

So why are these guys spoiling a good thing? The answer is that the owners like their huge piece of the pie and don't want to share; they also don't want to disclose the ingredients or the baking process. Will the lawsuit force the lords and ladies of football to pry open the castle vault doors and reveal all the secrets to the recipe? Maybe, or perhaps they will come to an understanding, learn to play nice and share more, and this whole thing will just go away.

At least that's what I'm hoping for. As a Jets fan, I don't want my team distracted in any way by all this. Let's hope this will move things forward and get something resolved soon, or otherwise we'll be looking at them playing the Super Bowl around Easter next year.

Photo Credit: AP

Are You Ready for Some More Football? : NFL Owners Want 18-Game Season

Article first published as Are You Ready for Some More Football? : NFL Owners Want 18-Game Season on Blogcritics.

National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell announced yesterday that the thirty-two owners of the teams "overwhelmingly support" an 18-game season. He indicated that they would like to see this implemented as soon as the 2012 season.

This is interesting timing since, according to a report in Forbes Magazine, things do not look good for the upcoming negotiations between NFL players union leader DeMaurice Smith and Goodell. They note that "expert observers think the chances are real for a drag-out battle escalating to a strike or a lockout."

The current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) expires in March 2011, so this concept of an 18-game season would definitely be one of the hot items on the table. Since Forbes is almost guaranteeing some kind of stoppage due to problems in negotiations, why would owners put such a proposal on the table at this time? Probably because they want to be certain to have some kind of leverage should a lockout drag on for more than a few games.

This cannot please players very much, considering the 16-game season is already gruelling enough for them, but an increase in games played is not unprecedented. The NFL has gone from a 12-game season to a 14-game season to the current 16 games, so it has happened before. How would the schedule look if this is implemented? Would we be playing the Super Bowl in March?

I think the 16-game season is certainly long enough; with some teams going into the playoffs and playing additional games, it would definitely drag the season out unnecessarily. Two more games added to the season, while no doubt enhancing the owners' coffers, will increase the chances for more injuries and certainly will present a tougher terrain for the players each year. This could well be one of the sticking points if a lockout occurs during negotiations next year.

We do not need an 18-game season in the NFL. I think Goodell and the owners would do much better to start thinking about ways to avoid a lockout next season by doing everything they can to make certain the current 16-game season is played in its entirety in 2011.