Potential NFL Lockout will not Affect 2011 Season

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Author: Ryan Graff

The rumor mill continues to swirl with looming talk of a National Football League (NFL) lockout. Be assured, football fans, that while it will prove costly for ticketholders, there will indeed be a season in 2011. This is not the first time in professional sports that players and owners have gone to mediation concerning monetary disputes and player rights. However, one would think that similar situations in the past — namely player strikes in 1982 and 1987 that resulted in shortened season — would teach them a lesson. The only difference this time around is that, unlike in ’82 and ’87, price tags are much higher, especially for the average fan.

The current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between league owners and the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) is set to expire at 11:59 p.m. on March 3. According to SI.com, this CBA uses the term “Final League Year” to describe the 2010 NFL season that just passed. During this “Final League Year,” there was no salary cap, free agency restrictions were tighter and player benefits like the pension fund diminished. Without adopting a new CBA on which players and owners agree, the NFL is in danger of lockout or worse.

Undoubtedly there will be a lockout that begins on March 3 the very minute the CBA expires. In a mandatory meeting with player-agents on Feb. 25, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith told players to prepare for lockout. He said, “If you’re not ready [for lockout], it’s on you.” In addition, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, players, owners, agents and NFLPA committee members refuse to reveal any information about enduring arbitration and CBA discussions. There is some question about what all this means about next season.   

The easy answer is that it probably means nothing to the NFL. The likelihood of the 2011 season kicking off as planned is strong. This is because there is too much money in the current NFL market, and any revenue losses would be detrimental for the entire league. Historically, the players crack first and the owners are quick to follow when it comes to giving players what they want. Even though they might miss a few months of team workouts and film study, life will go on.

 Players are so used to living on millions of dollars and many cannot afford to miss an entire year of pay. Furthermore, no player wants to shelve his talents for a season and miss out on playing experience, awards, endorsements and other assets. Since players don’t get paid in the off-season, these debates will likely stalemate until the fall when players start feeling the effects of not receiving pay. When this time comes, they will crawl back to their owners with their tails between their legs and settle for multi-million dollar deals. It must be really tough to live on millions of dollars. As for the owners, we all know that they can’t make any money without players on the field. For this reason, owners will welcome players back with open arms and be willing to give them obscene amounts of money for their talents. In some cases, owners will attempt to hold onto star players by applying “franchise tags” that are exempt from any salary cap. These tags obligate a potential unrestricted free agent to one additional year so long as contract conditions are ironed out. In the cases of some players, quarterback Peyton Manning for example, franchise tags have paid upwards of 20 million dollars in exchange for an extra year on a given team. If this doesn’t solidify the NFL as a service industry, nothing else can.

One might wonder where all this money comes from. This is where the bad news comes into play for fans. With the frenzy of spending that occurs in a time like this, fans often end up paying these hefty fees. Some wonder where players get the money for luxury vehicles, MTV Cribs mansions and all their bling-bling. Fans should look no further than the bathroom mirror. This is because the average fan always winds up paying indirectly for the monetary demands of players and the whimsical spending habits of NFL owners. In order to keep up with players’ increased salary demands, owners and league officials must raise ticket and merchandise prices.

So, the good news is that there will be an NFL season in 2011. The bad news is that its cost will ultimately fall on the shoulders of the fans. Wise fans will resist the urge to spend over 100 dollars for nosebleed seats and 10 dollars on a hot dog and simply watch football from the comfort of their own living rooms until the league solves their own issues without inflicting them on their supporters.

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