NFL lockout nears end but this is no time to celebrate
Arthur Blank, Jerry Jones, Roger Goodell aren't worried about their next paycheck. (Curtis Compton)
Please, no celebrating. The commissioner, the owners, the NFL’s chief counsel — they all spent way too much time patting each other on the back Thursday night. We heard things like “incredible effort” and “good for the game” and, this gem from Carolina owner Jerry Richardson, “This is a journey that began in May of 2008. …”
Journey? I think the Israelites spent less time wandering through the desert.
Please, no congratulations, no balloon or tearful embraces. The NFL owners finally gave approval to a new collective bargaining agreement with the players. Assuming the players union votes to recertify and then ratifies the new agreement — and they’ll lose the benefit of the doubt from 99 percent of the free world if they don’t — the NFL lockout finally will be over.
So it only will have taken 38 months to reach a new deal. In the process, they damaged their product (at least in the short term), dumped on fans and, worst of all, made low-wage, front-office staff employees pay the price for their fictional financial crisis. A silly rich men’s war.
“The best thing for our fans is they won’t have to hear about labor-management relations for 10 years,” Giants owner John Mara said.
True. But before you celebrate the impending opening of training camps and your Fantasy League draft, think about how all of this could have and should have been. Think about this offseason. The draft lacked the usual buzz and joy. The usual March fun of free agency and roster shuffling was pushed back. The NFL, a relatively bullet-proof enterprise, saw its reputation dinged. There has been more than five non-productive months since the Super Bowl was played.
People lost jobs, or paychecks. A multi-billion-dollar enterprise couldn’t settle its collective bargaining issues in a reasonable amount of time, so it took it out on the $42,000 secretaries sitting in the office building.
Here’s something you probably don’t know: Nearly every Falcons’ employee (non-players) was forced to take a cut in salary in the spring, most in the form of a two-week furlough.
You know when they’ll celebrate the new CBA? When they get their money back.
Falcons owner Arthur Blank’s net worth was $1.3 billion as of March, according to Forbes magazine. This isn’t to pick on Blank. I’m just trying to add some perspective. NFL owners want new stadiums, new video boards and new martini bars. Meanwhile, staffers have been taking items out of their Kroger basket.
When asked Thursday about the league-wide furloughs, salary cuts and even layoffs, Blank initially gave a vague response.
“Every club has handled the situation differently,” he said. “From what I understand, there’s been situations that have been handled with great care and respect … and to the great sensitivity to the difficult times from an economic standpoint that most people are in today. Assuming there’s ratification and the lockout is over, I think clubs will make adjustments that are in line with their own values and philosophies.”
Does that include the Falcons?
“Yes.”
So will you pay back lost wages?
“Well, that’s a personal thing for me and our associates.”
The past two days have played out like a cartoon. Players were expected to vote Wednesday night on whether to accept the new CBA. They stalled. That irritated owners, who would’ve preferred being given the go-ahead so that they could vote early Thursday and throw a victory parade. (From Blank earlier on Thursday: “The owners can ratify the deal first and have the players approve it. It’s not what we expected, but if that’s the process, that’s the process.”)
But this mutated into a major ego battle, a glorified game of chicken. The NFLPA’s DeMaurice Smith fired a counter-productive warning shot over the bow from Washington, saying nobody should consider union re-certification an automatic. Owners stalled. They broke for “10 minutes,” which turned into a buffet dinner (you’ll pay for that). Finally, they voted. It was 31-0 with one abstention (the Raiders, of course).
Blank said earlier, “I’d be disappointed, like 330 million people in America, if we didn’t get it done today.”
But silliness ensued, time passed, day turned into night. It appears the lockout is over. That’s good. But it shouldn’t have taken this long, and this isn’t worthy of a celebration.
By Jeff Schultz
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91 comments Add your comment
Hit A Single
July 22nd, 2011
8:41 am
I can’t believe 75 former players are suing. Oh yea that is what our country has turned into. Nobody forced them to play and maybe they didn’t get the right treatment. Whose fault is that? My father died of lung cancer that I am sure was caused by smoking. When he smoked he didn’t know about all the dangers of it. Well my family is not going to sue the tobacco companies because it is not the right thing to do. But no nowadays people don’t want to do the right thing, they want to bleed money no matter how they get it. I feel for the players of yesterday, but medical discoveries had not been made back then just like the dangers of tobacco. They don’t deserve one dime. Maybe today’s players will invest better and plan for the future and be respsonsible, but oh yea that is not the way things are done today. Sorry for getting on my horse but I am sick and tired all this bickering. Fine some football players that want to play and let’s play.
jtfalcfan
July 22nd, 2011
8:59 am
I find the Owner/League bashing going on in the media day as wholey ridiculous.
If I’m not mistaken, these two dates for the players and the owners hve been talked about for two weeks.
“Handshake” agreements would most certainly have been done at some point and in fact all indications were by Monday or Tuesday were that everybody was ready to vote.
Now I’m certain the Owners would be more than capable of sliding in some “fine print” here – but the fact is they have told the whole world they were satisfied and they were going to vote
I find it abusrd that they are getting bashed for doing what they told everyone they were going to do. Where was it ever written that the Owners were supposed to hold up their vote before the players voted? It the players right to wait to vote if they want more review – but them trying to spin this is ridiculous in my opinion.
Get over it. If there’s something they don’t like – fix it. Stop whining and get it done.
PreyDawg
July 22nd, 2011
9:12 am
Both sides are greedy. But I have to say, the players are being idiots now. First of all, hiring Demarcus Smith was a bad idea. Mr. Frivilous litigation himself. Second, they should ratify this deal and move on. They got what they frigging wanted. But now they have to show us all how tough they are. Show the owners who really runs this league. Well that is a recipe for a season without football. They had their conference call last night and still no vote. They are going to screw this up yet.
Bennett
July 22nd, 2011
9:16 am
Classic Class Warfare. Reminds me of someone. I wonder what side of aisle Schultz is on?
Jimmy Crack
July 22nd, 2011
9:18 am
I don’t see any reason to stop boycotting NFL Shop. At least for the 2011-2012 season. Just the fact that the owners are counting on the money they make from preseason games makes me want to boycott the preseason as well. It’s something tangible we can do as fans to voice our displeasure.
Besides, playing 4 preseason games is like putting 4 bullets in the chambers for a game of russian roulette. 4 times the chance of an injury to an important player before the real season starts. It wouldn’t surprise me if the players see it that way as well and prolong their union holdout. If anything they can get their pound of flesh from the owners from the missed preseason games’ profits.
Dr. Phil
July 22nd, 2011
9:21 am
Excellent article, Jeff. I doubt if Blank will be inviting you to any Arthur Blank “man of the year” award ceremonies for humanitarian service. Blank had recovered somewhat in my estimation from his days of pushing Mike Vick’s wheelchair and covering up Vick’s dog fighting and illegal drug use. As far as I am concerned, Blank is just another robber baron trying to wear lamb’s clothing. Thanks for exposing this masquerade.
SecFan
July 22nd, 2011
9:23 am
Schultzy, thanks for yet another column proving that you just don’t understand how America works.
Cecil34
July 22nd, 2011
9:24 am
Some of you younger fellas won’t agree with this, but actually I enjoyed there not being any football activity (other than draft) in the off-season.
In fact, we finally had an “off-season.” The first in many, many years.
The NFL takes themselves too seriously, and they have in the last 20 to 25 years convinced owners, coaches, players and fans that they have to work on their “product” 12 months a year.
If the schedule wasn’t too long already. The players should have never let the NFL go to a 16 game season. 14 was plenty.
The players didn’t know at the time that they would keep adding extra layers of playoffs for the $$$, and now, well fellas, they play the Super Bowl in FEBRUARY!
Pro football lost it’s luster and mystique years ago; I find much more interest in college football.
It’s as if the NFL has gotten too “cute” in it’s approach to football: marketing, scheduling, strategy and philosophy.
Take it from someone who has watched 50+ years of pro football – the highwater mark of the NFL as far as it’s product was concerned was the late 1970’s. What they play now is a nintendo-version of it.
Palinissmart-sike!!!!!
July 22nd, 2011
9:24 am
Ronald Regan – I thought you were dead, especially after you bankrupted the country. I’m so sick and tired of non-athletic guys(hillbillie CFB fans) that never played a sport always hating on the NFL because it’s the best sporting event in the country. Even the NBA is global, when your sport is mostly regional. You disgrace the union and what it stands. Because of a union, you have weekends off(learn your history). The only people that cares about college football are inbreds from rural south that stop kissing relatives to watch games. Yes, I’m from Chicago, and not a yankee(shows your education). We don’t reinact the civil war, why, because we won and we don’t wave confererate flags, screeming the south shall rise again. If the south did, no African-Americans will support you. They use your SEC to go to the NFL, and you wonder why people laugh at the south. The average education level in the south reads on a 7th grade level…………..Chicago’s best -
The Ghost of Norm Van Brocklin
July 22nd, 2011
9:33 am
Gee, like some of the ESPN boys late last night, you sound a little rough around the edges as you put pen to paper this time, Schultzie.
Long day, huh?
And taking it out on Blank – what’s the matter? He didn’t invite you to spend some quality time with he and Jerry and Roger at the hotel bar?
Reid Adair
July 22nd, 2011
9:45 am
I’ll be in the minority, but the fact that the owners added things to the collective bargaining agreement that had not previously been agreed upon by the players is nothing more than a power play. As you said, Jeff, the owners put on quite a show yesterday. They had the media tied up for hours at that Atlanta hotel, and when they were finished, it was all, “Hey, look what we did! We did our part. Now it’s up to the players!”
Paul H
July 22nd, 2011
9:57 am
Great article and great perspective, Jeff.
Paul H
July 22nd, 2011
9:59 am
At the end of the day, the common American football fan only sees a bunch of rich people griping. He doesn’t care about the details or who is to blame for this or that.
Delbert D.
July 22nd, 2011
9:59 am
The players should just join the Screen Actors Guild.
College Football Fan
July 22nd, 2011
10:00 am
It kind of looks like the owners “blinked first”
in order to get a deal done to get the season back on track.
This looks like a high-stakes gamble by the owners to force the NFLPA’s hand..
If it’s really just a “gamble” by the Owners, and the NFLPA balks,
this will get VERY ugly, VERY quickly.
Beef
July 22nd, 2011
10:35 am
D. Smith’s first email was horribly irresponsible and misleading. THIS is what he should have said:
“Issues that need to be collectively bargained remain open because we haven’t reconstituted the union yet. Once we do this, we can then finalize negotiations on those issues and hopefully certify the deal. At this time, we’ve come to agreements on everything we can until that happens and as a result, the owners have taken their vote on everything we discussed and ratified their half of the deal. Now I need to inform your player reps about the terms of it all and they will in turn inform you the players, then we will take a vote. If the majority agree, we will spend the next few days reconstituting the union and then we can wrap up the last few issues, certify it, and if we get that all done by next Tuesday, you can actually show up at your team facilities and get back to work.”
If he said this, rather than making it sound like the owners were playing hardball PR with an ultimatum, the players would be onboard and done by now.
PGAWife
July 22nd, 2011
10:42 am
“$42,000 for a secretary?”
I am one of those and I make way more than that. I am that good and I am not sleeping with anybody in the office. Just the hubby at home.
Pete
July 22nd, 2011
10:48 am
Spoiled out of touch players just got their work load cut in half, no 18 game sched. allowed, contracts for more money than the ‘average Joe’ earns in TWO lifetimes, and they’re still whining………….not satisfied, while the rest of America is at 21% unemployment.
Talk about greed.
If most of these dunces didn’t play football they would be parking cars, selling dope, or taking tickets at the Regal Cinema Theater.
I wish the owners would pull the plug on these prima donnas, close the NFL for a year, and start over with a sane……….NON UNION structure using players who love football NOT celebrity.
It’s now totally out of hand with screwball fans paying 4 times what a ticket is actually worth to watch a 3 hour mistake ridden kids game.
Talk about a gullible public !!!!!!
PMC
July 22nd, 2011
10:50 am
This is just sort of the way it works in football. It’s annoying to me but provided they get this done in the next week I’m pretty happy we aren’t missing games.
The players deserve time take the next week if you want to make sure that this is an ok deal. I agonize over decisions that affect the next 10 years of my life they should too.
It’s going to take them a while to re certify and do all the procedural things they need to do. This deal gets done and I will ultimately be happy to have pro football back.
Every Sunday is like the old New Years Day as far as watching football to me. College Football has ruined that and it will never return. With the NFL, it’s every week.
PMC
July 22nd, 2011
10:52 am
Secretaries are the people that actually know how to do everything and physically do the work in virtually every office in America. I’m not knocking 42K for one. They are basically responsible for the excecutives quality of life too. Let’s lay off the executive assistants.
drmaryb (*_-)
July 22nd, 2011
10:54 am
Tick-tock, you BEEFCAKES! Sign on that dotted line already, and we’ll be oh so GRATEFUL, right, ladies?
gbal
July 22nd, 2011
11:11 am
Id say let the players walk and put a “Hiring” sign on the door. They will all be filling out applications in a week.
heartofdarkness
July 22nd, 2011
11:17 am
Nostalgic for the days when what happened in the arena was at least as important as all the hullabaloo and rotomontade from the corps of narcissists that infest professional and semi-professional sports in modern America.
security dawg
July 22nd, 2011
11:22 am
this is the best thing way I have heard it explained and it’s in a nut shell cause I’m only a Hundredaires///……When Billionaires fight Millionaires, who loses? The Thousandaires and Hundredaires.
Fanshafted
July 22nd, 2011
11:24 am
Bring on the scabs and play some football.
PMC
July 22nd, 2011
11:30 am
no one is losing in this deal. We don’t have to buy season tickets or watch football.
blazer
July 22nd, 2011
11:37 am
if the season had not been played, the players could still have lived pretty good for years!
ken
July 22nd, 2011
12:02 pm
Like anyother job, the company offers, and this is their saliery, you counter a bit, the company has a cap on bucks and bennies to pay you, they offer you their max, you consider your minimum, if no aggreement, you take a walk, and someone else is offered. The process continues untill all are satisfied. I can watch collegant ball (record a few for Sunday) and all is good… PLAYERS… get over yourselves, the money comes from the owners successes in life. They just need to find the players who will play for their deal… and they are out there… SCABB FOOTBALL
A Conservative Voice
July 22nd, 2011
12:08 pm
@Shultszy – the NFL lockout finally will be over.
And that’s a crying shame…..the owners did it again, they caved…….let a bunch of union bullies beat ‘em. I’ll say it again, “fire ‘em all” and get replacement players.
Ralph
July 22nd, 2011
12:09 pm
Negotiations will start again in 9 years, and will go past the deadline into the exhibition season when BOTH sides will start losing gate and TV receipts which will spur actual negotiation. If one side thinks it has an advantage to take it even further, part of the season will be lost. It is just the way it is.
Hiesenberg
July 22nd, 2011
1:28 pm
So what wll get done first? NFL labor agreement? Or a deal on raising the debt ceiling? No need to ask what people care about more. We know the answer to that.
Hit A Single
July 22nd, 2011
1:52 pm
I agree, let’s have tryouts and find out who wants to play. I hope you people that want colleges players paid see what it could lead to. They would want more and more. I say to the owners and fans let’s have tryouts. Everyone wants to know what the owners and players have to say. Nobody cares about what the fans say.
Ted Striker
July 22nd, 2011
1:59 pm
Jeff — You’re right. The situation isn’t worthy of celebration. However have you ever once found me lacking a reason — any reason at all — to open a bottle of some adult beverage to “celebrate” something?
Hiesenberg
July 22nd, 2011
2:03 pm
Ted I do seem to recall you have a “drinking problem”. So do not open anything expensive and pour it on your shirt.
what of it?
July 22nd, 2011
4:12 pm
Jeff,
I think you’re confusing the CBA with the settlement agreement which has been tabled. The owners want re-certification, so that the anti-trust lawsuits disappear (reason for decertifying in the first place) without a union those can continue to be a thorn in their side. In order to collectively bargain, there has to be a union per NRLB rules.
The owners didn’t want to settle the anti-trust suit or the $320 million they skimmed at the end of last year. Hence the desire to ram this down players throats or make them look like the villains. If this is all it took from owners why did they wait until the first game was cancelled to table the offer? It’s classice time-pressure negotiating and completely disingenuous to act as though it’s in good faith
Jesus
July 22nd, 2011
4:22 pm
@Real American
Apparently, YOU don’t know about the word of God ( the Bible, dummy)
In my book, I said a camel could pass through the eye of a needle before a rich man enters the kingdom of God. I said to give all your possessions away to the poor. I spoke on behalf of the poor, for their health, for their hunger, and most importantly their souls. It’s not too late for YOU to redeem yourself, ask forgiveness and live according to my word.
JASon
July 22nd, 2011
10:12 pm
“People lost jobs, or paychecks.”
Cry me a river. Make nothing of how inflated their checks must have been in recent years. Did you realize that a lot of people have lost their jobs, so stop trying to act all high and mighty with your populist stance.
Big Ray
July 23rd, 2011
7:02 am
Jeff,
Ain’t that the truth.
Falcons' Dimitroff can do without NFL's CBA mess | Jeff Schultz
July 23rd, 2011
2:04 pm
[...] caused damage and frustration. We touched the other day on the league and club employees who’ve paid the price – with salary cuts or even layoffs – while owners and players figure out how to divide their roomful of gold bars. The fun of [...]
Julie
July 23rd, 2011
3:13 pm
Love, exciting and new……Come aboard, we’re expecting you…..The NFL players and ooowwwnners are getting ready to screw you, the fans, again….The NFL will make you pay for their big contracts…
Blank will repay Falcons' employees for payroll cuts | Jeff Schultz
July 25th, 2011
5:45 pm
[...] I referenced the furloughs last week when NFL owners passed a resolution to approve the CBA. For what it’s worth, I’ve been told by more than a few Falcons employees they were glad the news of the cuts was brought to light. When I asked Blank at the NFL owners meetings if he had plans to pay back employees for lost wages, he said only: “Well, that’s a personal thing for me and our associates.” [...]