Pyrite Gal Posted March 3, 2006 Posted March 3, 2006 Its been interesting to me to read a bunch of posts which seem to view the NFL as a struggle between the owners of the league and the players. I think this is an inaccurate perspective because certainly these two parties are locked in fearsome (and probably boring knowing the CBA) negotiations, but I think folks are confusing the fact that since the CBA was agreed to while folks like Ralph certainly are owners of their individual teams this is not the same as the question of who owns the NFL. On a broad basis the customer is always right and we all own the NFL. If suddenly a paying majority of the customers wanted the players to wear tutus while they played then every Sunday would see the game played to the tune of Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies (fortunately we customers are not organized enough to make these decisions). However, on a practical basis, just as no one owner owns the NFL and in fact there is no practical group of owners thaat owns the NFL, since the league broke the union for the most part in the mid-80a and the NFLPA threatened to decertify itself (and thus force all the owners to compete in a free-market for athletes), the owners almost fell over themselves developing an agreement with the NFLPA known as the CBA which shared control of the NFL between the owners and players. Most impostant, they agreed to a sliding scale of a designated portion ofthe gross receipts being dedicated to player salaries. This set up a situation within which team owners moved to shift revenue streams from designated areas like ticket sales to undesignated areas like luxury boxes. However, this move did not make a big enough difference as the relative loss of salary was easily made up by the big cash stream of TV revenue. As former Asst. Counsel to the NFL Cirwell noted on NFL Network yesterday, the provision of labor peace made the NFL a far more saleable product to the networks and he chase for dollars between what Cornwell himself called a partnrship between the league and the workers was on. Roughly 20 years of labor peace amidst the rapid growth in the need for TV programming to sell commercials around while at the same time the MLB, NHL and NBA were undergoing workstoppages which canceled the World Series, a massive chunk of an NBA season and a whole year of hockey occured. showed that the new partnership hit the timing correctly. One reasonable way to answer the question of who owns the NFL is to recognize that abstractedly we all do (remeber the customer is always right to make a buck in t his society) but on a practical basis where after the last NFL work stoppage the team owners and the players developed a partnership is to ask the question who is the majority partner. Under the original CBA the players did obtain a numeric aggreement which appeared to outstrip even the 52% of the gross the NFLPA demanded as part of the ED Garvey lockout. The first CBA gave the players a sliding scale of a % of the DESIGNATED gross (DGR). It was a number that started in the mid 50s and capped out in the 70s. The salary cap also required a minimum as well as a maximum payment which was the cap. As it turned out this, even though the team owners worked hard to shift revenue streams from designated areas like general ticket sales to undesignated areas like luxury boxes (for example, even though the capacity of Rich Stadium was drastically reduced, RWS actually got more money sent to his wallet rather than to the players because he used the extra space to convert general ticket revenue he had to share into luxury boxes he kept for himself), this move made no difference because provided a more stable guaranteed product allowed the NFL/NFLPA to get even larger dollars than many dreamed from the networks, Now as the CBA is moving toward renegotiation, I think one effect is that it has become more clear who the majority "owner" of the NFL is. The agreement apparently will change such designation of receipts to the players now getting a piece of total revenues. The % of player take will actually go down from its current lofty levels to something in between 54% and 6+%. However, anyway you cut it, by the % of assets taken in by the NFL it is the NFLPA which will easily take in a majority of these assets. The amount of money brought in will be so high and there are so few owners to split it among that even taking a minority of the total assets, the team owners will still make a mint. However, it is this this larger group (but still a relatively small number of people) that are card carrying members of the NFLPA who will get a majority of the assets produced by the NFL. On an even more practical long term basis majority gain of assets does not make these real "owners" of the NFL. Player careers are short and they do not own the naming rights to the team or rights to its paraphenalia beyond temporary agreement. However, in a real way it is the players who are the majority owners the NFL and through their entity the nFLPA they exercise at least strong influence (or essentially control based on the view of those of us who see the lunatics running the asylumI a plethora of day to day functional issues in the NFL like enforcement of drug use policy etc. So before folks claim that the team owners have all the rights because they own the league, take note of the fact that since the modern CBA was developed we have seen unprecedented cooperation between the players and owners to run this league. If one chooses to measure % ownership by what % of the received assets do they get then the NFLPA members receive a majority of the assets. If one chooses to measure % ownership by making a guesstimate about much influnece or control does a party have over working and business conditions, there is a reasonable argument to make here that thw NFLPA is an equal (if not majority) owner in this regard also. In theory, a party outside of the team owners themselves should have no ability tp demand that the team owner assets be divided a particular way. Yet, the reality is that the NFLPA though its elected leaders Gene Upshaw has made a establishment of revenue sharing (Pete Rozelle must be up there smiling about the key demand of the players more revenue sharing by the team owners. Revenue sharing has made the NFL general recognition as the best run major sports league while the near free-market MLB struggles to bring about some form of revenue sharing). Folks may rail at windmills that the reality of partnership between the workers and owners ain't right or that the restraint of trade practiced by both parties in the draft and in lawsuits against folks like Maurice Clarett is wrong. But it is simply reality. The reality is hat the lunatics are full partners in running the asylum and the result of NFL play is IMHO the best run major sports league in the world.
Crap Throwing Monkey Posted March 4, 2006 Posted March 4, 2006 On a broad basis the customer is always right and we all own the NFL. 617712[/snapback] Great! I'd like to liquidate my ownership stake, please. Want to buy it from me?
ieatcrayonz Posted March 4, 2006 Posted March 4, 2006 1. She loves the Bills 2. "Pyrite" makes her sound dangerous and learned today 3. She likes to wear tutus 4. She knows numbers and can probably do my taxes. The list keeps getting longer. So far the only downside I see is if she talks as much as she writes.
Fan in San Diego Posted March 4, 2006 Posted March 4, 2006 And your point is what in one concise sentence ?
Pyrite Gal Posted March 5, 2006 Author Posted March 5, 2006 And your point is what in one concise sentence ? 617972[/snapback] Gene Upshaw must be a pretty cool dude!
KOKBILLS Posted March 5, 2006 Posted March 5, 2006 The Human Filibuster strikes again. 618347[/snapback]
sfladave Posted March 5, 2006 Posted March 5, 2006 1. She loves the Bills2. "Pyrite" makes her sound dangerous and learned today 3. She likes to wear tutus 4. She knows numbers and can probably do my taxes. The list keeps getting longer. So far the only downside I see is if she talks as much as she writes. 617967[/snapback] Careful, you never know if she's a fake, or is fat, but she does seem to have a sunny disposition!
Recommended Posts