With each passing day, it appears the rift between the NFL and the former Players Association is growing larger.
Commissioner Roger Goodell has written two letters — one to the fans, and one to the players — in the last week. Adding fuel to an already-raging fire, Goodell’s comments drew the ire of several players around the league, and now they’re fighting back.
Per NFLLockout.com, the NFLPA responded to Goodell with a four-page letter on Saturday, claiming they’re “troubled” by him and dubbed his statements as “false.”
Given that you have repeatedly admitted that your clubs are not losing money, the billions of dollars in givebacks you proposed would have gone directly into the owners’ pockets. We understand why the owners would want to keep 100% of this additional money, but trying to sell it as a fair deal to the players is not truthful.
Your proposal would have resulted in a league-wide giveback by the players of 576M in 2011 increasing to 1.2 BILLION in 2014, for a total of more than 3.6 BILLION for just the first four years. Even if revenues increased at a slower rate of only 5%, the players would still have lost over 2 BILLION over the next four years. These amounts would be even higher if your stadium deductions apply to the first four years (your proposal did not note any such limits on these deductions).
You continued to ask for an 18 game season, offering to delay it for only one more year (you earlier said it could not be implemented in 2011 no matter what due to logistical issues). This was so even though the players and our medical experts warned you many times that increasing the season would increase the risk of player injury and shorten careers.
The relationship between both sides is damaged, if not broken completely — at least for the time being. Nothing is going to be agreed to, or even likely negotiated, until after the April 6 injunction hearing; now it may turn into a game of one-upmanship, especially in the public eye.
Neither party appears close to budging on their respective positions, so it’d be a miracle if an agreement is reached before the draft. Unfortunately for us, this situation isn’t going away anytime soon.
