Comments on: Let’s not be too gleeful at the NFL’s labor issues, baseball fans

By: frug

frug — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 22:51:47 +0000

NFLPA has officially filed for decertification according to ESPN.

By: frug

frug — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 21:20:09 +0000

I’d be shocked if there is any substantial increase in revenue sharing since 90% of the money paid out under the current agreement comes from only 4 teams (Yanks, Mets, Red Sox and Cubs).

By: marinersnate

marinersnate — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 20:42:01 +0000

“Yeah, those brooms are fun, we use them for 4 game sweeps of the Red Sox in July.”

Yep. I bet the Red Sox are just crying at the thought of having to face the combo of AJ, Garcia, and Colon/Nova in three of those four games.

By: scapistron

scapistron — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 20:02:27 +0000

Its my wrapped little make believe world to make a point. The value of the wage itself is not the point, it is that a group to which you are not a part of is using your potential earnings as a bargaining chip.

By: kindasporty

kindasporty — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 19:25:58 +0000

I don’t understand why anyone would take glee in another’s struggles. Baseball and football are not directly competing. Personally I’m a fan of both but if someone else isn’t then that’s their prerogative. In no way does football hurting make being a baseball fan more pleasurable. The same could be said the other way around. I mean I don’t like NASCAR or hockey but I don’t wish that they would disappear.

By: pwf207

pwf207 — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 18:02:44 +0000

the owners in the NFL negotiated a salary cap not out of concerns about competitiveness but to put a cap on the most substantial portion of their costs, that is player salaries. that is why they are negotiating over the distribution of a billion dollars right now. the owners have at most a passing concern with competitiveness, see Loria, Jeffrey and whoever owns the Pirates among others. no one at the bargaining table during these CBA negotiations cares about fan concerns beyond how they impact revenue generated. these are private for-profit businesses, they are not in this to make you happy your home town team won a tournament, they are in it to make money and increase their social status and prestige.

By: Utley's Hair

Utley's Hair — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 17:13:01 +0000

Wait! Craig, first you say no throwing batteries, and now THIS?!?!? This blog sucks.

By: Utley's Hair

Utley's Hair — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 17:10:34 +0000

Wow…you have a really warped vision of what minimum wage is.

By: Utley's Hair

Utley's Hair — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 17:08:58 +0000

Len, (pick either Carmelo/Deron) just heard you say that and has demanded to be traded.

By: Utley's Hair

Utley's Hair — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 17:07:13 +0000

As a Sixers um…uh…well…er, fan, I guess, I most certainly don’t want to see the Micks win again. It’s time for the Collins boys to keep their run going all the way through the Finals in August…or September…or whenever the hell basketball ends.

By: yankeesfanlen

yankeesfanlen — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 17:03:00 +0000

I’d join in, but I don’t think we have one of those NBA teams around here.

By: BC

BC — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 16:56:07 +0000

I vote to get rid of the Lakers, Spurs, Heat, Bulls and Magic. I want to see the Celtics grab one more before everyone retires.

By: scapistron

scapistron — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 16:39:05 +0000

Lets say for example you graduate college and go off to be an accountant. Though in this world the accountants have all formed a union, and during their negotiations with the firms one of the concessions they made to ownership was that all the new accountants coming in will be paid minimum wage for 3 years before they can start moving up the pay scale. And in return you pay all of your current accountants more.

Does that really sound right to you?

By: Utley's Hair

Utley's Hair — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 16:31:09 +0000

I vote to get rid of the Lakers and the Heat.

By: yankeesfanlen

yankeesfanlen — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 16:19:44 +0000

Yeah, those brooms are fun, we use them for 4 game sweeps of the Red Sox in July.

By: yankeesfanlen

yankeesfanlen — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 16:17:58 +0000

When small teams do not spend the money in the pool toward improving their team, that’s not disparity, that’s avarice. You ascribe that to the Yankees while failing to see it in the “poor teams”.

By: sportsdrenched

sportsdrenched — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 16:17:35 +0000

Why? They haven’t done anything at the MLB level at that point.

Unions have their place, but I think you should actually contribute to the Unions trade before belonging to one.

By: florida76

florida76 — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 16:11:44 +0000

The NFL will figure out this current labor problem, and come up with a reasonable solution for both sides. Whatever happens, you won’t see a Steinbrenner situation, or teams dismantling like you see in MLB.

Regarding the author’s idea for increased revenue sharing to substitute for a salary cap, the figure would have to be high enough to be effective. We can’t continue to see teams with payrolls close to $200M, while others are much lower. It’s fundamentally unfair to have that kind of disparity, even a child can see that.

By: scapistron

scapistron — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 16:04:49 +0000

I’d love to see all of the undrafted players form their own union prior to the draft. I think it is terrible that a union you are not yet a part of gets to determine how you should be compensated.

By: yankeesfanlen

yankeesfanlen — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 15:14:54 +0000

I like the idea of owners running willy-nilly and insulting each other, complaining about profitable small teams, lamenting the loss of key players to richer teams and generally running amok. Then the players play this confusion for all it’s worth, with handy guys like Scott Boras around, and hone their talents and skill levels to maximize their individual earnings.
Trying to even the playing field financially leaves less motivation to increase total revenue. I don’t know what would be worse, the Pirates spending $200M, the Yankees $40M, or everyone $100M.

By: BC

BC — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 14:58:24 +0000

Well, until June anyway. Then its, sayonara.
I only pay attention when the Celtics are relevant. It’s 6th on my list of sports anyway (NFL, NASCAR, Baseball, College Basketball, College Football all beat it), only beating out the NHL and Curling (which I do think is pretty cool though).

By: Jeremiah Graves

Jeremiah Graves — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 14:51:08 +0000

the NBA?!

…that’s still a thing?!

By: BC

BC — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 14:32:32 +0000

If you think the NFL situation is bad, read up on the NBA situation. The NBA is going to go bye-bye for a long time. And, you’ll likely lose 2 to 4 teams. THAT one is going to be protracted and ugly.