While I am sure everybody out there that even remotely follows the NFL knows that there is a possibility that there will be no NFL next year. This is very troubling, while sources close to the negotiations and people that are "in the know" have said that most likely there will not be any off season activities, or preseason and maybe miss a few regular season games while the owners and players battle it out, I am not happy with this! To get facts and a breakdown of what is really going on I would suggest to everyone to visit Mike Florio at PFT. This guy is a former lawyer and his site is the #1 source of all NFL related information and with his law background he does a great job at breaking down the negotiations. Other people that do well are Peter King of SI, Adam Schefter of ESPN, and Albert Breer of the NFL. But if you want my opinion, the opinion the everyday super fan then read on.....
#1 The economic impact is going to be large, you can get the real numbers from the above mentioned sites, but I am here to talk about all the regular people that will be out of work. Most all of the business operations of teams are going to be shutdown and the employees are being forced to take furloughs, large pay decreases, or unpaid time off. I am not talking about the executives making the large 6 and 7 figure salaries, I am talking about the people making low 5 figure salaries and the ones being paid by the hour to support there families that do things like: sell season ticket packages over the phone, PR people, equipment staff, assistant coaches (they don't make that much), stadium personnel, people that work at the sports apparel manufactures that make NFL gear (they aren't going to make much if there is no season), production staff for TV networks that broadcast the game, etc. These are the people facing the real injustice. To take it a step further how about the players, I am not talking about the superstars like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, DeMarcus Ware, etc. that are making 10+ million a year; I am talking about the guys like Kelvin Smith, Ross Weaver, Alex Daniels, (yea I know you have never heard of these players), etc. The guys that you have never heard of that are busting their rears on the practice squad, making $35k IF they are lucky, most of them live week-to-week and paycheck-to-paycheck to live out their dream of being on an active NFL roster. All these people are the ones that will have to find other forms of income until the greedy owners and NFLPA union can figure out how to split the $10+ billion in annual revenues brought in by the league...... This labor fight affects a lot more people than we realize. I am not here to pick sides, as a fan I don't care who gets what, the only thing I care about is seeing football next year, and if they do not come to an agreement soon, the quality of football may not be worth watching.
#2 As I left off in that last section, without any offseason activities, the quality of the product they put on the field is going to be no better than watching Arena League. Think about it, lots of teams are installing new coaches and coaching staffs who will want to install their own offenses and defenses, without the classroom time, mini-camps, OTA's, and training camp; how are the players going to understand what they are supposed to be doing next year on the field? How is Rob Ryan going to teach DeMarcus Ware when he is supposed to rush the QB, play the run and keep outside containment, drop back into zone coverage, or play a tight end or RB in man coverage if the first time he is allowed to talk to or coach him doesn't come until 2 weeks before the first game is played? How are teams going to be able to get the rookies ready to play? You think its hard to teach a veteran a new playbook, try teaching it to a rookie, especially if is a QB who is expected to be the savior of a franchise..... So far we are left with a lot of average income families being left without a source of income, and if they do reach a deal we are looking at a below average product on the field. I am a super fan so I will watch no matter what, but will the average fan want to watch a crappy NFL game? No, how well would a game last year between the Cleveland Browns and Carolina Panthers done? Horrible!
#3 Right now football (NFL specifically) is the most powerful sports juggernaut we have ever seen. Football is the highest rated show on TV every single time a game is played, it is the most popular sport in America, it is the new American pastime. 15 years ago baseball was the "IT" sport in America, they had a work stoppage, football capitalized and has never looked back. Now it seems that the NFL has gotten to big, to greedy for their own good. They are willing to let this monopoly of American slip away because grown men cannot come to an agreement on money. Will this destroy the NFL? I doubt it, I know I will always watch and so will most fans probably. But the smaller markets they have been working their way into, women, kids, other sports fans, those are the people that they have to worry about finding something better to do on their Sundays, or people that decide to give the NFL a shot this coming season and see a shoddy product on the field, those people may never watch again.....
#4 The last issue I will talk about today (Trust me there are a hundred more) is the effect this will have on me and other super fans like myself. I live for football, whether its the draft, mini camps, OTA's, Free Agency, etc. I am already tired of reading about the labor situation. We should be gearing up for the start of free agency tomorrow night with Friday being the busiest day of the year! Then we have the draft (which will still go on) but no players can be traded so there will be a lot less action. No off season activities for me to obsess about how the new draft picks are doing, and how they are picking up the pro game. The only thing I will get to hear about it is long negotiating sessions, and PR crap aimed at making me pick sides. I don't want that, I WANT FOOTBALL!!!! For your sake, and more importantly mine, lets hope the sides come to an agreement, and soon before they risk damaging the best entertainment out there, I really don't want to find something else to do.....
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