NFL Offseason Thread: March 3, 2011. A date which will live in infamy.

[Tyche]

Exception being Miami, who can't sell out a game without the other teams fans coming in and buying half the tickets.

[Demosthenes11]

Exception being Miami, who can't sell out a game without the other teams fans coming in and buying half the tickets.

pick a better team

[Valisk]

Bad analogy

You using the GM tax refund was a bad analogy, I was just using what you gave me. The tax refund doesn't take away from the employee's share nor does GE have am allowed "monopoly" over a US industry.

[Tyche]

pick a better team

Can't now, emotionally invested. It's easier to pick new friends or a new dog than it is to pick a new NFL team. sad but true.

[Melena]

Melena, they weren't going to actively negotiate mid season. The reasons for that are obvious enough, but Smith sure as hell started his campaign to sit down and talk long before the season was up.

Also, attendance ain't dropping. The NFL is a fucking cash cow. They miss a game, fans will be lined up for the next. Hell, they'll probably have the tents out front from the week before.

Mid season this year = 2 previous off seasons of crickets chirping? I know things got fubar'd for a few months due to Upshaw's death, but still. The whole point is it should have never gotten to the point where the public is pissed at both sides. Both sides are taking a huge pr hit. And the only reason at least right now you haven't seen a drop in season ticket holders is people are still hoping they get there heads out of their asses so they don't lose there seniority. But if there's any sort of major outage, people won't be lined up to sell out immediately. Attendance was down even when the owners gave up on the replacement players and got a new contract up in the 80's. No one sport is immune to attendance losses. Bad economy + pissed off fans who see rich players and richer owners unable to figure out how to divvy up 9 billion dollars will equal a backlash.

[Conrad]

dont worry boys, once a legislator, any one member of congress, gets more involved i will be able to show you all how i puts it down.

ARLEN SPECTER

You using the GM tax refund was a bad analogy, I was just using what you gave me. The tax refund doesn't take away from the employee's share nor does GE have am allowed "monopoly" over a US industry.

It was about a large private corporation being told to open its books, not the refund. Take that part completely out of the sentence and the point I'm making is exactly the same. Plus saying "U DID IT FURST" doesn't vindicate you at all.

[Conrad]

Tyven it's good to see that America's legislators are worried about what's really important in this country, like making sure the NFL is operating normally

FOOTBALL

[Tyche]

Again, you should tell that to the owners who weren't willing to get to the bargaining table until they lost their bargaining chip. The TV revenue.

Also, still not buying the attendance loss. NFL in the 80s isn't what it is today.

[tyven]

only rockefeller from wv had talked about it at all last i saw. maybe some of you fags should start calling your congressman

[Tyche]

Tyven it's good to see that America's legislators are worried about what's really important in this country, like making sure the NFL is operating normally

FOOTBALL

THe NFL isn't just about keeping 32 players worth of people employed. It employs tens of thousands of people. I hate the argument that "oh, well looks like congress has time for bullshit", as if they don't spend 3/4ths of their time now with their thumbs in their asses. It's the same rehashed bullshit with people who complain about the president attending sporting events, or taking a few minutes to fill out a brackets. Except, this would actually benefit a hell of a lot of people, and a significant chunk of the top 5% of wealth distribution.

[Conrad]

THe NFL isn't just about keeping 32 players worth of people employed. It employs tens of thousands of people. I hate the argument that "oh, well looks like congress has time for bullshit", as if they don't spend 3/4ths of their time now with their thumbs in their asses. It's the same rehashed bullshit with people who complain about the president attending sporting events, or taking a few minutes to fill out a brackets. Except, this would actually benefit a hell of a lot of people, and a significant chunk of the top 5% of wealth distribution.

I know how Congress works, I studied it for years as a hobby and then as my major in college, and I know how (in)effective they can be. I think it's fully reasonable for me to bitch that they'd even make football a priority, because I give as much of a fuck about their in-fighting as I do about the other corporations in this country whining about how much they're losing in profits despite getting incredible tax breaks anyway.

I do understand economics, and that in addition to the billionaire owners and millionaire players losing their jobs if the NFL shuts down, there's also the coaches, trainers, concession workers, janitors, attendance workers, parking attendants, lobbyists, bookies, bettors, casinos, fantasy team moguls, sports bloggers, sports writers, newspapers, airlines, airline workers, train companies, gasoline companies, shoe companies, merchandisers, merchandise distributors, sporting good & department store workers, cotton/polyester manufacturers, and migrant workers losing work as well. That's not what this argument is about. I make roughly the median American income working two jobs, and I couldn't care less that a mega-corporation is squabbling with its workers union over $10 billion. I just want to see some cot damn football every week from September to February and not feel like I, as a fan, am being shat upon because of said squabbling.

[archibaldcrane]

Personally I don't care if the owners or players get fucked or if a fair deal is struck.

I just want two things:

A 16-game regular season

and

Football this year.

In that order. I'll take a year off if it means no 18-game bullshit.

[Tyche]

Your post is confusing. My undergrad at UofL was polysci, but I don't think you need to have any experience in the field to understand that having congressional mediation isn't frivolous or wasting. Well, except that it's republican (pro-business) at the moment.

[Conrad]

Actually if Congress is pro-business then it would be frivolous and wasteful, since it's interfering with capitalists from... well, capitalizing. Unions are inherently socialist in nature; to cooperate with them would be abetting anticapitalism. But I'm just arguing for the sake of arguing now, so I'll stop.

[Mertron]

I fuckin' love football but I could rely entirely on asking coworkers if the Eagles won on Mondays if it came down to that point.

you're dead to me, can-opener

[Valisk]

It was about a large private corporation being told to open its books, not the refund. Take that part completely out of the sentence and the point I'm making is exactly the same. Plus saying "U DID IT FURST" doesn't vindicate you at all.

You're being selective. You can't say something about opening books, give a bad example, then say oh it was only about the books part. You're ignoring the reason for opening the books and the fact that the emplyees have to AGREE to the terms the corporation asking for before the corporation proceeds to operate. For the employees to agree to a financial decision, it's reasonable to want some proof. This applies to this circumstance because both sides have to agree before the business continues. Not like at a regular job were an office of telecommunicators wants to see why they have to take a 5% pay cut.

And lol at the last sentence. You're mad because I used the same shitty analogy, that you used, against you. Now you're trying to call me out because I said I was using the analogy you threw out there.

Bad analogy because the NFL isn't simply asking for more money, they're just asking for a larger share of the money they already have. The NFL & NFLPA need to decide how to split up an 11-figure pie

Isn't asking for a larger share asking for... more money? They (the NFL owners) are asking for more money to be allocated to the owners. It's a $9 billion pie that the owners, under the old agreement, got the first $1 billion off the top. One of the new proposals for the new CBA is that they get the first $2 billion off the top essentially increasing the size of the "owners slice" and cutting into the other slices making them smaller. How is that not asking for more money? It's a $9 billion industry but the NFL is representing the owners. The NFL industry isn't asking for more money, but the NFL owners are. What are you confused about?

[Melena]

Anyone got details on this gif? Put a smile on my face but no news on it, was just a random digg link I found.

http://cdn1.diggstatic.com/story/oh_omg/o.png

[Mizango]

Luckily I love the ol pitch and watching futbol, so I know all about that story That chick is a female reporter in Germany, her name is Jessica Kastrop. She was doing typical pregame shit then PLOP! The rest is history. This happened about a year or so ago iirc and saw it originally posted on Cesc Fabregas' twitter account lol.

[Melena]

I figured the picture fit since it's probably the closest we will see football this year

[Rhinox]

I fuckin' love football but I could rely entirely on asking coworkers if the Eagles won on Mondays if it came down to that point. I at least have the Phillies for half the NFL season.

lol