FanPost

The Sad State of Affairs in the NFL


This post originally came from a comment posted on Gang Green Nation, the home of the Jets on SB Nation. Yes, I do take part in their conversations from time to time. I'm posting it on here too because I feel that it is such a sad moment that the NFL and the players are arguing over more money.

The case against the players: NFL players take perhaps the most physical beating of any professional athlete, but are often times one of the least compensated. When I say least compensated, I'm talking nearly $500,000 even for the worst of players, those that may not even take the field during a game. Heck, some of the kickers are being paid over $2 million just to kick field goals and extra points. It kind of makes you want to teach your son how to kick a FG early in his life, doesn't it? The NFL also boasts less games than the other sports, though the players do need the rest between games and they often rest for only a day before preparing for their next opponent. Still, the players still get a relatively long offseason that ranges from February through June. They may have OTAs thrown in there, but usually the workload is relatively light besides weightlifting and other regimens the players go through to get in shape for the season. It's hard to feel bad for someone who gets four months time off and gets paid at least $500,000 per year.

The case against the owners: Even if the owners make less profits than some of the highest paid players - the Packers final profit for 2011 was $9.8 million - the owners still have a longer window to receive profits from the sport. The shelf life as an NFL owner is far longer than the length of an average player's career. It's not like any of the NFL owners are in danger of going broke either.

As ESPN reported, Seattle owner Paul Allen has a 414 ft yacht with all these luxury items and owns 2 emergency yachts.

Hated Redskins owner sunk so low to make more money by buying stale peanuts from airlines and selling them at games.

Stan Kroenke, the owner of the Rams and 4 houses and 4 ranches, ordered $3 million worth of wine to be destroyed, not donated or resold, because they weren't up to his standards.

The Redskins are one of the wealthiest franchises in the NFL. I can't imagine they have been doing so bad all these years they needed to resell stale peanuts. If Allen is in such a pinch, why wouldn't he just sell one of his "emergency" yachts? I'm sure Stan Kroenke can go without the wine, or at least not purchase $3 million worth of wine, if he is in such desperate need of more cash.

I don't like the excuse that the owners need more of the money because they need to pay off debts from newly built stadiums and buy new ones in the future. Most of the stadiums were fine in the first place. There was nothing wrong with Giants Stadium, formerly the home of the Giants and Jets. I enjoyed going to games there and the stadium itself was perfectly fine. Sun Life Stadium has always been a quality stadium as well. Floridians have become accustomed to the heat at the games for the most part, though I will admit I have seen a carts carrying some people away because of heat related concerns. Still, a partial roof will do little to solve the high humidity inside the stadium.

There was only one explanation the owners could have provided that would've allied myself with them. If they told the NFLPA they needed to take in more money to reduce costs and lower ticket prices because attendance has been in decline in many cities, I would've bought that. I would completely agree ticket prices have become too inflated and attending a football game is now rarely a family event. Sadly, even if the owners were to receive an extra $1 billion off the top of profits, how much do you think the price of a ticket would fall? Would the prices fall at all? I doubt it. In the end, it doesn't matter whether the NFL or the NFLPA win or lose because it will always be the fans that pay.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of The Phinsider's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of The Phinsider writers or editors.