theres more than a handfull of players that are at the end of there carreers and hoping to nail a year or 2 of good money in the bank. but if this thing drags they will lose that one last lick and there careers are over. watch out guys

The whole employer/employee opinion is based on a relative view point of looking at a business exchange as a 1 tiered street. Money is just a symbol of value, and the only thing that makes it special is the liquidity of it. Business exchange is always a 2 tiered street. Both entities are exchanging values with each other, the players bring their talents to the game; the owners bring their financial backing.

The reason that the players can ask for these things in collective bargaining is that they have leverage. They aren't just some employee off the street that is easily terminate-able. The leverage they have is created by the scarcity of the resource that they offer. If the NFL were to replace them with 2nd tier players at cheaper salaries, the profits of the NFL would drop drastically because a lot fewer people would be willing to watch them on a regular basis; which is exactly why they haven't done it.

Basically what the NFL has done is tell them that they are going to take money off the top of the split that they proposed; citing economic hardships. According to the NFLPA, this would have actually left them with less money then in the past. The logical step for anyone willing to consent to this would be able to see the economic data from the NFL to back up their claim(to make sure that they aren't lying about the economic decline).

I say don't show anyone anything and see what the second tier players have to offer and see how the fan base reacts. I'm sure there are a bunch of college players getting ready to enter a draft where they don't belong to any union and all they have is an agent working out salary negotiations.

Who says you should belong to a usnion to be able to play ball? That's just silly. If you like the money but not the benefits then make a choice. Play or sell cars.

Just wonder if we could use any similarities between the NFL and the teachers in Wisc. The teachers have a good union and still they have to give back a % of their pay. Would you rather be a teacher losing 20% of your pay or a QB losing 20% of your pay? Sure would suck losing 20% of an 8 million dollar contract but it would suck more losing 20% of a 40000 salary.

Wonder why that state would only pick the teachers to cut benefits for. Would be less of a cut if they cut everyones benefit that was a state employee. I wonder if the politicians ever considered cutting their own benefits along with the teachers.

they should have busted the unions years ago put limits on salarys years ago with yearly cost of living raises years ago. football would still be the same today, most popular sport. this is sucking royal pains in the butts

That is not true. I want 18 games. I could live with 16 if they cut out 2 preseason games, but they are never gonna do that. I just can't believe that the players are being such crybabies over 2 more games. Baseball players play 162 games. I know football is a rougher sport, but not by 146 games. I mean...seriously. Would you rather play 18 games of football for megabucks or 162 games of baseball. To me, it's a no-brainer.

Agreed. I wanted 18 games too, with other concessions like 2 bye weeks, 4 and 8 week IR's, increased roster sizes, more two-team training camps, less off-season OTA's, mandatory safety equipment, more safety equipment R&D etc...

This mess was created by Paul Tagliabue's inability to grow a pair...

Inmates have been running the asylum and now we are seeing the bill come due...

Oh, I want Iceshack to bring back his polarbear avatar and FFan to disclose who the avatar is along with a facebook link...

OK. I'll bring it back, JP.