GIANTS 101

On Thursday, New York Giants owner, John Mara, wrote an essay that was posted on NFL.com and Giants.com regarding the current labor dispute. In the essay, Mara stated that if the players are successful in their labor strategy then the NFL will be in chaos. The essay pointed to things like no salary caps and no minimums as examples of things that would plummet the NFL into eventual non-existence.

“The likely changes would be great for NFLPA lawyers, but not for players, teams, or, most importantly, fans,” Mara wrote. “For example, there could be no league-wide minimum player salaries, with many players making less than they do today, or no minimum team player costs, with many clubs cutting payrolls the way some teams do in other sports. Other bedrock components of the NFL’s competitiveness, such as the draft, would be called into question and assailed as antitrust violations.

“A steroid testing program is a must, so we would have to consider an independent administrator such as WADA. There could be varying player benefit plans from team to team, and limits on the ability to enforce other league-wide rules that benefit players, especially rank-and-file players that do not go to the Pro Bowl.” (AP)

Mara participated in two of three weeks of mediation before the players walked away from the table. He said that progress was made during that time, but the NFLPA lawyers refused to budge on key issues and decided to take their chances in court. He went on to discuss how the core elements of the labor agreement have been in place since 1993 but that now they are under attack.

Here’s what I think: It’s all a bunch of baloney. Owners are blaming players and the NFLPA lawyers for walking away from the table while players are blaming owners for locking them out. As has been previously discussed, we have billionaires quibbling with millionaires over how to distribute the NFL’s projected $10 billion in revenue. Owners think they’re being accommodating and coming down to meet the players while players still think the owners are being greedy and refusing to come up at all. Here’s one thing I think Mara said that hit the nail on the head:

“This strategy is no doubt designed to gain economic leverage in negotiations. But it has delayed the process of reaching an agreement and, more importantly, it threatens players, teams, and fans with very negative consequences. Without a CBA, we could be forced, as Mr. Kessler says, to come up with our own system that we think complies with antitrust law, knowing that each and every aspect of it is potentially the subject of years of litigation and uncertainty.

The likely changes would be great for NFLPA lawyers, but not for players, teams, or, most importantly, fans. For example, there could be no league-wide minimum player salaries, with many players making less than they do today, or no minimum team player costs, with many clubs cutting payrolls the way some teams do in other sports. Other bedrock components of the NFL’s competitiveness, such as the draft, would be called into question and assailed as antitrust violations. A steroid testing program is a must, so we would have to consider an independent administrator such as WADA. There could be varying player benefit plans from team to team, and limits on the ability to enforce other league-wide rules that benefit players, especially rank-and-file players that do not go to the Pro Bowl.” (giants.com)

The first paragraph of that last quote along with the first sentence of the second paragraph really hit it for me. Do the NFLPA lawyers have a secret agenda or alterior motive for going about things in this manner? How involved are the players with the lawyers decisions? I know there are players that head up the players association, and obviously they must be at least somewhat on board with what’s going on or we would know about it. On the other hand, Mara is a former attorney himself and knows just how to word things. You can read his full essay here.

John Mara knows what he is about and definitely has some valid points in his essay. The bottom line is that the fans are tired of hearing about all the legal nonsense that’s going on. They want answers. They – WE – want to know what the heck is going on and are we going to have an NFL season? We won’t get the answers we’re looking for until at least mid-June, so unfortunately we have to listen to the legal garbage that’s going on and try to piece things together on our own. Once again, the fans are the ones who suffer. And once again it feels like no one cares.

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