Quote:
Originally posted by ThurgreedMarshall
Oh, stop. Don't put it on the players. If it was simply a matter of redistribution of player salaries, the owners wouldn't mind if the cba was copied straight up from MLB. Are you arguing that NFL players are in as favorable a position relative to owners as MLB players? I doubt it.
I believe that part of what makes the NFL so successful is the parody. And one of the reasons why they can have that parody is because teams can cut players and void their contracts. Teams often sign players to long contracts who have huge potential, giving them little guaranteed money. There is very little risk for the team, since if they perform to their potential, you've most likely got them locked in to a bargain, long-term contract. If they perform below potential, but are still workable players, you tell them to restructure. If they get injured or perform below what you can replace them with at a discount, you simply cut them.
If that player exceeds expectations, he is expected to honor the contract. Please explain to me how this makes sense for anyone but the owners. It's great for teams, because they have minimal risk. But it's a disaster for a great deal of players who come into the league, get injured and are thrown away. Demanding insurance is a red herring because it's simply a matter of assigning the cost of insurance. Either you ask for more money and do it yourself or it comes out of your salary and the team does it for you.
True value for the players would be giving them a better bargaining position w/r/t their contracts. And the NFL doesn't want that.
TM
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I can't tell whether TM is serious or whether he's writing a parity.
eta: Anyhoo, Burger's point is that (from an economic perspective) the players are going to demand the same share of overall revenue, whether contracts are guaranteed or not. TM's point is that NFL players incur a lot of risk that players in other sports do not. You're both right. If contracts in the NFL were guaranteed, you'd have players who cannot perform because of injury collecting money. So everyone would make a little less. The interesting question, IMHO, is whether NFL players prefer to roll the dice and accept larger, riskier contracts, or whether the lack of guaranteed contracts is something of a historical accident that evolved into a norm.
