Greed and the NFL

There are new labor negotiations in the National Football League. The threat of a lock out in 2011 leaves most fans disgusted. They are tired of hearing billionaires and millionaires argue about issues including extending the schedule and paying veteran players more than rookies.  The 2010 number one overall pick in the draft, Sam Bradford, received a 6 year, $78 million contract, with $50 million guaranteed.  http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5425041

How can these issues exist when the NFL is the most popular it has ever been in its existence?  NFL ratings destroy every other sport broadcasted in the country.  Baseball is almost inexistent when week one of the NFL starts.  So why are these owners wanting to expand the schedule to produce more revenue, and put the health of the players in jeopardy?  The only real answer I can think of is greed.

Half of the owners of NFL teams are billionaires.  The one with the most money in his pocket is Seattle Seahawks owner Paul Allen.  Allen is the cofounder of Microsoft and is worth approximately $32.9 billion.  Stephen Ross is the co-owner of the Miami Dolphins, and is worth $3.1 billion.  Ross is a real estate developer.  Arthur Blank, owner of the Atlanta Falcons, is a Home Depot co-founder and is also worth over a billion.  Maybe the most interesting owner worth over a billion is Robert McNair of the Houston Texans.  He sold his company, Cogen Industries, to Enron just before its collapse.  http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ys-forbesnflbillionaires100110

Most of these owners don’t care about having a winning ball club.  These owners only care about how to get more cash in their wallet.  There some exceptions to the rule however.  Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys and Dan Snyder of the Washington Redskins are just a few owners who will open up their own pocketbook for the benefit of the team.  The Green Bay Packers have no majority owner and the team is owned by shareholders who mostly consist of people from Wisconsin.

The bottom line of the labor negotiations is the owners want more money, and the players don’t want to do more work without getting more money themselves.  These arguments will get settled and there will not be a lock out in 2011.  This problem isn’t big enough where there will be no football played, then everybody loses.

On a lighter note, here is a link for some football bloopers for your enjoyment. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibEXYHUfJBM&feature=related

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