Is the NFL really going to Lockout?
I just don’t see how something that just flat out prints money could possibly be held up by a labor lockout. The real problems that the owners seem to be arguing about are problems between the owners. The teams purposely taking advantage of the revenue sharing so they can make more money. That is much more of an owner issue then anything having to do with the players. The other issue is one that the NFLPA is more then willing to come to terms about, the insane contracts being handed out to rookies (Matthew Stafford is currently making more then Tom Brady).
Another issue should be a non-issue. The 18 game season is one that both the fans and players don’t want to happen. Yes, there are a few people who are saying that an 18 game season means more games, but most fans I talk to seem against it. To us it feels like the owners trying to make even more money off the fans with pointless end of the season games while fans get to see 2nd and 3rd stringers later in the season at full price because the starters are hurt or resting. Sounds like a great tradeoff of getting rid of the two pre-season games.
This really shouldn’t be that hard to fix, and hell if I was the owners I probably would have just kept the current CBA in place. They are like I said, flat out printing money. Football has easily bypassed Baseball as the national past time. The NFL is also by far the most competitive of all the leagues. When you’ve been doing everything right for so long, why are you going to decide to rock the boat?
The worst part is that it’s not these millionaires and billionaires that are going to be hurt the most. They are going to be fine. It’s the regular fan who is once again going to be pushed out of buying season tickets. It’s the regular fan who is going to most likely see Tickets continue to rise in prices, Personal Seating Licenses taking hold across the league. Whichever way the possible lockout goes, it’s going to be the fan left holding the bill. Between the possibility of a lockout and the NFL more and more losing touch with it’s average fan, it might not be long before the reign of Football as America’s new past time is remembered for being so short lived.
So wise up NFL. Before TV companies were offering you billion dollar deals, it was the fans who carried you into greatness. It doesn’t matter how many tiger beat magazine covers your face of the league gets on or how many commercials your other favorite QB gets, if fans stop watching the money stops flowing. You can think the average fan is an open wallet for you, as you gouge us on not just ticket prices, but merchandise, concession stands and even parking. You can only push people so far before they will revolt, and a lockout for largely useless reasons is getting too far.
