I just got a tweet from Heath
 

Evans.

This was his tweet:
HeathEvans Heath Evans
“@Aubtgr87: @HeathEvans are the NFL financials not public record” No! The NFL operates as a non-profit w/ their anti-trust exemptions

This was my reply:
CheramieIII Lynn J. Cheramie III
@ @HeathEvans @Aubtgr87 do you make your financials public? Then why should they have to give you anything, your an employee.

This was his reply:
HeathEvans Heath Evans
@ @CheramieIII Your wrong! It's a partnership! If anything u could call us sub-contractors!

This was my reply:
CheramieIII Lynn J. Cheramie III
@ @HeathEvans Really do love ya Heath but I disagree. If you're sub-contractors that would make them the contractor which means your employer

I think he'll reply again and I'll invite him over for a discussion.

I just invited him over to see what other Saints Fans are saying. Heath if you show up thanks and I respect the hell out of you for talking to us. We love our Saints and even if we don't agree sometimes we still love ya.

I totally disagree with the players asking the owner's to open their Books, If i can't go to my job's HR and tell them to show me everything they're making off my sweat and blood, i don't think these player's should be able to either, they are employee's no matter how you define it, they can be fired the owner will continue to own the team and replace them..
The owner does have the right to terminate a contract however all he is required to do is pay out what is owed on that contract under various term's, term's set by the "OWNER" aka the "Employer".
The Owner "AKA Contractor" has the right to decline a Sub-contractor for any reason he/she see's fit.

These Players are way over their head and will end up suffering on the other end, if the Owner's wanted to right now all they had to do is fire every single player currently on every single roster and hire a bunch of hungry young college bodies and start all over again with new agreements and their new rules and expanded schedule all inserted..

The player's think they have some type of power? Really?!! LMAO! get real man.. You can be replaced! The owner can't, and as long as he has a product people are willing to buy into he will never sell his business..
If this continues the players and the Owners will hurt each other and the League..
I hope something come's up before something irrational happens.

ditto SW and I haven't seen too many siding with the players on this one. They are totally out of line and will tarnish their image more than the owners will. I just hope the owners stick by each other and let the players dig the hole deeper and deeper. This will end soon IMO as long as the owners stick together.

It seems pretty simple to me. The owners didn't want the last CBA, but they pressured themselves into signing it. It hurt their bottom line.

As quickly as they could, they bailed on it, because...uh...they want to make more money.

The players were happy, for the most part, with the last CBA and would be happy to continue with it. The owners want to add a couple games and pull a bit more off the top to make up the difference. The players see this as more work, more risk for injury, and thus refuse.

The players then go public in an attempt to get the owners to open their books - and I'm sure the thinking is no matter how much the owners could show they lose under the current CBA, the players are thinking they'll have huge public support because, regardless, the owners are still making money.

Anyone remember the air traffic controller strike when Reagan was president? Anybody remember what he told those controllers? Essentially, he told them to get their asses back to work or be fired.

Look, if the players were being mistreated I'd have sympathy, but they are FAR from mistreated. I can understand their desire not to give back what they worked so hard to obtain with the last CBA, but asking the owners to open up their books is a tactic I cannot respect.

At the end of the day, I'm down with the owners on this one.

Geaux Saintsfan

Sweet Cheramie!!!!

I don't post much, mostly lurk. But I feel like I should say something here. First of all, the owners taking another billion off the top of the total revenue: is it so hard to believe that with costs steadily rising as they have been the past decade that the owners need a little more to keep up with that? Players' salaries would not be affected at all. That extra money off the top would go where the billion off the top goes now, ie stadium upkeep, training facilities, etc. The rookie wage scale proposed, I imagine, would keep those costs from affecting player salaries. Also, that extra money for the owners would also help pay for the extended and improved benefits for the retired players. So I am struggling to see the players' side to this. What the players did by decertifying and suing the league amounts to the ultimate dick move, and has made me lose a ton of respect for them. I used to love Drew Brees for bringing us a Super Bowl. Now when I see him, all i will see is another greedy douchebag. Go get a real job that pays 8.50 an hour like mine does and see how that grabs you.

After the last couple weeks I've had I'm spent of all this bs NFL labor talk, I'm not watching ESPN cause they will cover no progress like it's the second coming, who cares. Like my dad said, "Flee a country that's going through a rebellion and all this labor talk is a bunch of millionaires b@&$?ing and moaning to richer millionaires". He's right, both sides would be stupid to drag this out and something will get done

Sorry for the rant, I normally don't do that

Soo all the owners have to do to fire a player is to "pay off his contract"??? Oh really??? How much do you think Reggie is going to collect on his $11.8 million "Contract"... The owners can terminate a player anytime they want to without honering the contract they signed....

I am normally pro-business but in this situation I come down on the side of the players... The owners do not carry the same risk most business owners carry while the players carry extraordinary risks...

How do I say that? The owners are in a business where their source of revenue is virtually all guaranteed. The network share is guaranteed. Sure some have unsold seats but as a percent of their overall revenue that is very small. Then the largest cost, players salaries is FIXED at 60% of their revenues... Man I would take that deal, guaranteed revenues and my largest cost fixed at a percent of revenues every day and twice on Sunday...

If the owners are losing money I would suggest it is due to their own extravagence... Jerrah has a huge nut because he decided he needed 1 billion and a half palace to his ego? Whose fault is that? When Benson was pleading poverty to the state a few years ago, it was found he was expensing his own personal yacht against the Saints books....

So the players should agree to a cut because of jerrah's palace and Tommy's yacht? I would think not.... Now if thats not what is happening.. If their cost of business, real business, is eating into their 40% of the huge pie, then I think they have to show a bit more than audited financial statements. I read those for a living and I can tell you, audited financial statements tell you nothing about what the costs of the business really is

I love the players we have and all but this is what I'd like to see happen. Sure the quality of the game would drop of some but I'd get back to where it is quite fast.

I loathe unions and believe in capitalism, so it's hard for me to not defend the owners in this. They assume risk and they invest their own money, so I understand why they are taking the hardline, I'd do the same. They're not dummies, they know fans like players, but their true allegiance is to the franchises.

I also think owners make an easy target in something like this because they can be painted as somewhat nameless/faceless "greedy old white men" (quick, in five seconds or less name the owner of the Buffalo Bills or the Seattle Seahawks). It's easy to paint them as bad people, when in reality they're just doing business.

I too find it hard to feel bad for the players who are making millions.

Well said.

And I'll add, as a Conservative who believes in Capitalism, that I have no problem with either side wanting to make as much money as they can.

What irritates me the most is the demonization of the owners as "greedy".

You and I would do everything we can to improve the lives of our families. Thats not greed simply because the decimal point is a few more spots to the right.

Class warfare, I despise it.

This country was built on capitalism which means providing a product or service for a profit. The problem is at what point does making a profit become unreasonable and become taking advantage and price gouging? Reasonable capitalism is fine but just how much do these $9 hot dogs cost to make?
It all runs down hill and hits the fans square in the face and pocket.:bang:

I bet without folks coming out and saying conservative or liberal we could almost have placed accurate labels on each person who is a regular poster.

That being said it is a shame it has to be employer vs. employee. Does anyone know how much the union collects(liberal)or robs(conservative) from each player? I would assume 10's of thousands. I would think that each players agent could negotiate things such as pensions and insurance. As far the owners opening their books...bah, no one's business. It is a high price we pay to be entertained in this country. The entertainers are well paid and compensated. They are also aware of the inherent risk they are taking each time they step on the field. In my job, I have value to my employer that is why he keeps me around and I am compensated accordingly. I have no beef with any one making money. But one thing needs to be kept in perspective, we, the folks paying to be entertained are paying a price in high merchandise costs and ticket prices. And we will also pay the price if no season occurs, don't you hate being punished when you have done nothing wrong? This whole thing chaps my a$$

In my Radio days I would have loved a union. I signed on for a given salary. Over the years my knowledge increased. Over the years my responsibilities increased. Over the years I was asked to do remotes, taking up my entire Saturdays. I worked holidays. I inherited the Music director job. I became the default 'computer guy' and had to carry a pager - so now I'm on call 24/7. I installed Satellite dishes on the roof of the station for the latest weather gadgets. I enrolled in classes to learn more about audio engineering. I took a part time job at an ISP to learn more about the internet and became the liason between the station and the ISP as it related to our (new) online streaming and web pages. The prices for remotes and for advertising went up year after year. My salary never did. I was just supposed to be an announcer.

Unions, in their original concept, were devised to protect people like me in that situation. The problem is they've become bastardized. The people that run them are doing it to make money. During the NAB in Vegas, where we set up our software every year so that people can come by and see how awesome we are, we are not allowed to unload the trucks, for example, and other various tasks assigned to Union workers. The problem is that we are always in a hurry, and it takes 5 union workers all day to do something 2 of us could do in a couple hours. That's my beef with Union labor.

The players are right to want to hold on to all they gained with the last CBA. They are right to refuse taking a pay cut while being asked to play a single extra down. I know there is a method to their madness, but I am disgusted with the fact that they think the owners should have to open their books. I am disgusted with the fact that they have suggested that rookies about to be drafted not show up. I am disgusted with the fact that they are attempting to leverage us, the fans, to their benefit. I disagree, nearly completely, with their tactics.

But what do you do? The easy out is to say to them, "look, you guys make enough money. Be happy." That's what I WANT to say, but there is a part of me that completely digs where they are coming from, even if I have no respect for their play book, so to speak.

I'm torn. Somebody cue up some Natalie Imbruglia whilst I cry some more in my beer.


:violin:

The only thing I regret about this is that you beat me to the avatar...because he dont give a s_ _ _

That's right. Strike, Lockout, Natural Disaster, Honey Badger just does what he wants. Honey Badger don't give a ****!