In spite of the confrontation looming at season’s end no progress towards a resolution of the labor dispute between NFL owners and players seems to be in the offing. Many insiders are resigned to the reality of the first work stoppage in the league since 1987. Football fans are left to wonder if both sides have completely lost touch with reality.
For those interested, Michael Silver’s article “Fans’ guide to NFL labor battle” at Yahoo Sports, offers an excellent overview of the NFL labor dispute. Looking objectively at both sides of the labor issue, from a fan’s standpoint it is actually difficult to generate any real sympathy for either side.
Pro football is a business and money is naturally a part of the deal. Yet it seems that increasingly the NFL has become all about the money and nothing more. Somehow the “game” is no longer part of the equation.
Unsettling Observations During the 2010 NFL Season
During 2010 NFL fans have witnessed many things unprecedented in football at any level. Not just individual players but whole teams have simply quit for a variety of reasons ranging from an acknowledgment that they are no longer in playoff contention to dissatisfaction with the coaching staff or coaching decisions. Football at every level has always been about pride in self and pride in the team. Pride it seems has become an uncommon virtue on many NFL rosters this year.
At least two head coaches, Wade Phillips of the Dallas Cowboys and Brad Childress of the Vikings were fired mid-season when players seemed no longer willing to play for them. Coaching performance issues aside, one has to ask since when did it become the right of the players to decide it is time for a coaching change?
This year the league began cracking down and levying substantial fines against players for initiating head to head contact to curb injuries. Many players were openly critical of the policy. Some threatened to ignore the policy implying the league had no right to tell them how to play the game. A few openly questioned the authority of the policy makers and suggested that they might refuse to pay fines.
In the aftermath of the collapse of the Vikings Metrodome stadium roof and the decision to move the game to TCF Bank Stadium at the University of Minnesota, immediately players from both the Vikings and the Bears began complaining, claiming that the risks of injury to players were too great playing outdoors in freezing conditions. According to a December 17, 2010 Star Tribune.com article, “Friday (Outdoor football and modern NFL players) edition: Wha' Happened?” the Bears seriously considered filing a protest if the game was not moved to a venue players considered more suitable.
Those old enough to remember the 1967 NFL Championship game between the Green Packers and the Dallas Cowboys played at Lambeau Field where at game-time the temperature was 13 degrees below zero likely don’t recall any of the players involved complaining to the media or threatening a protest about playing the game.
There seems to have developed an openly expressed belief on the part of many modern-day NFL players that they have some sort of entitlement to decide where they will play, who they will play for, how they will play and in some cases if they will play with any effort. Somehow it seems some have lost sight of the fact that they are being paid to play football not to make coaching decisions or act as policy makers for the team or league.
The Facts About NFL Player Claims
Repeated again and again is the claim by players that they deserve the salaries they demand. After all, pro football in comparison to other professions is a short-lived career. True enough but in most cases players are paid generously enough to compensate for that.
Median salary for NFL players in 2009, according to the USA Today “ Salaries Database ” was $845,000. In comparison, according to the US Census Bureau’s “Estimated State Median Income for FY 2009” the estimated median income for 4-person American families for the same period was $70,354. The median income for NFL players represents more than 12 years of income for the average American family. Two years earnings from playing in the NFL compares quite favorably to a 25-year career outside pro football.
Facts From a Fan’s Perspective
It seems that both NFL owners and players have lost sight of the fact that professional football represents only one of many options for the American entertainment dollar. With game tickets selling at an average price of $76.47, according to CNN Money.com , few average American families can even afford to attend games as it is.
Implicit in the willingness of NFL owners and players to accept a work stoppage that many believe could cancel the entire 2011 season is the arrogant assumption that the NFL is so important that fans will accept that and eventually return in droves once a new collective bargaining agreement is agreed upon.
Perhaps the time has come for television networks, advertising sponsors and fans to collectively serve notice to the NFL that it is not nearly as important as owners and players have come to believe. Football season will go on with or without the NFL and many fans already have a preference for the college game over the sterile and predicable brand of football “played” by the “professionals.” If the owners cannot regain control of their employees and provide a reliable, quality entertainment product maybe the NFL needs a good dose of reality.
Larry Darter - Larry Darter is a freelance writer and published author with three books to his credit. He is a graduate of the Univ. of Central ...
