What to Expect When You're Expecting (Football)

     Remember when Major League Baseball had a strike in 1994? Really hurt the league. The NBA and NHL also have had labor disputes over the last 12 years. But the NFL? This is AMERICA'S game! The most popular and profitable sport there is. There is no way there can be a problem, why mess up something that's good?

     If you really think about it, we all should have seen this coming. Something like this happens every year. Let's say a running back runs for 2000 yards, awesome. He's only (only?) making 1.25 million per year, not awesome. What does he do? Hold out for a new contract. The NFL has been raking in tons of money off of these players and they want a bigger cut. After all, they are the ones putting their bodies on the line.

      Now I hear all the time, players signed a CONTRACT, they shouldn't gripe over what they get paid. They shouldn't have signed that deal if they didn't like it. Fair enough, but if the owners can cut that same player and not have to pay him his contract, how is that any better? I believe the players have every right to look to get a better deal. We feel like we should be able to go to our bosses if we think we deserve a raise. They should too.

      The big sticking point is that the players want the owners to open their books. The owners claim that profits are down. Other leagues are claiming the same issue, so that is plausible. But why not let the players and fans know how dire the situation is? The owners want to get 2 billion of the 9 billion dollar pie before sharing it with the players. That's 62,500,000 per team before splitting the last 7 billion with the players.

     I would love to see these books. I'm curious how owners of publicly funded stadiums that currently get 31,250,000 million for operations yearly are not making money. I did a little research to compare attendance numbers of NFL teams with a league that is struggling, NBA. Six out of thirty-two NFL average less than 90% attendance at home in 2010. Fifteen of thirty NBA teams claim the same thing. That's half of the NBA. They have 41 home games, compared to 8 in the NFL. That's five times as many games to pay for event staff and other game day operations. Am I missing something?

     This problem is a lot bigger than just for owners and players. NFL teams are cutting salaries and laying off staff. Cities build business around their franchises, with no season, those business could close down. Not only that, but schools, police, and other services are being cut because cities and counties are paying for stadiums that may or may not be in operation this fall.

     Do I think that they will get past their differences and have a 2011 season? Yes. The players will go broke before the owners will. Let's just hope that it's a deal that lasts a while, and we aren't doing this again in 4 or 5 years.