NFL players lobby Congress to avoid work stoppage
What do we get when one group of Million dollar crybabies is upset with another group of billion dollar cry babies, well we get the mess that is the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations. Let us be clear, there is going to be a lockout because the owners feel that they are in a bad deal. As it stands they have to give up 60% of all revenue to the players, leaving 40% of the revenue to operate the team, stadium, and what not. The only thing that these two sides can agree on is that NFL rookie’s get paid way too much. However, there are other forces at play here.
The NFLPA will not strike, mostly because their players cannot afford too, in fact every NFL strike has ended before it began because there is no solidarity amongst the players. The reason for that is despite being paid millions of dollars to play football many NFL players live paycheck to paycheck. Their lifestyles are so extravagant that when their playing days are done, they are virtually broke. They spend money like they will get a NFL size paycheck for the rest of their lives, when the average NFL career is something like five years.
That is not the fault of the owners, but they are not innocent in all this either. The league as a whole has done a poor job of taking care of guys who gave up their lives and more importantly their health, to play football. Has anyone heard former Cleveland Browns’ QB Bernie Kosar speak recently? That guy is jacked up and his multiple head injuries, suffered while playing football, have seriously diminished the quality of his life after his NFL career.
Now the players are in front of Congress saying that they should step in and force the NFL to play, I hate to break it to the players but their course of action will not make life any better for them. The last people we want involved in this is Congress, and an uncapped year in 2010 will not be a great for the players as they think. First a player must have six years of service to be an unrestricted Free Agent in this scenario, and many players whose deals are up will find that they are restricted free agents, forced to negotiate with their current teams only.
