By now we’re all aware that there is currently no 2011 football season – though you can still buy Madden 2012 when it comes out, allowing us to fantasize about what we should be watching on TV. The players claim they’re the victims, the owners say they’ve been victimized, but the fans – the ones really losing out – couldn’t care about either of them. Many of the fans work five days a week for minimum wage so they can watch their favorite football team in HD once a week.
NFL Players’ Association head DeMaurice Smith helped the union decertify after the NFL locked out the players following the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement.
The fans spend half a week’s worth of pay so they can buy their favorite player’s jersey. The fans throw away 17 Sundays a year that they could be spending with their families to tailgate and enjoy a three-hour football game. The fans are the ones who have to suffer and regardless of which side complains that they‘re losing out. The fans are the ones who supply the NFL their $9 billion in revenue that the owners and players are fighting over.
Because of the lockout (and thus the absence of game-by-game checks) players are on edge about their financial situations. New York Jets offensive lineman Matt Slauson, who made $395,000 last season, recently said he had to pick up his family and move back in with his parents until he was sure the lockout was over. His kid’s college tuition could be paid in full with less than half of that paycheck, and he still has roughly $1.4 million remaining on his contract. Oh, how tough times have become for NFL athletes!
The NFL is at its peak. It’s making monstrous amounts of money and skyrocketing in popularity. The past two Super Bowls have been the two most-watched television programs of all time. But the owners don’t care about that; they’re already set for life with a few houses and a couple of yachts with a vacation home on the other side of the globe. Not to mention they’ve still collected the profits made from television broadcasts, even if the games aren’t shown on TV.
Former and current NFL players like Mike Vrabel and Tedy Bruschi are now asking NFL-bound college players to boycott the draft – the moment that any future NFL player looks up to, the chance to get their picture snapped with the commissioner and the smile that comes when they hold up that jersey is now in jeopardy because a few old timers want to make an idiotic point to the owners. Since we may not have football this year, I thought I might get some enjoyment out of attending the NFL draft in April. How awesome it must feel to listen to complete and utter silence as each name is called. The one positive thing fans had going for them this year is now just another void.
The only thing I see is greed. In a time when people are struggling to find a job, or to maintain a mortgage they’re already losing out on, the rich do what they’ve always done: care less. They’re displaying greed at its finest. Perhaps they should try thinking about someone other than themselves. Prove to me that you do care about the fans; don’t just say it, act on it. I’ll believe that the NFL cares when I see an agreement reached.
No comments:
Post a Comment