The Day the NFL Died??

[VaderFin]

Is today that day? If the Collective Bargaining Agreement doesn't get extended we will have a 2007 uncapped year. Gene Upshaw has said on the record that if they have an uncapped season the Players Union will never again accept a salary cap. Then we are talking strike or lockout...translated football fan hell.

Baseball was the undisputed King of American sports for decades but their greed and strikes, lockouts, and no World Series has crushed the popularity of the sport. Is the NFL doomed to repeat their mistakes?????

[mysticphysh]

I stopped watching baseball years ago just for this very reason. Baseball is run by greed and steriods. If the NFL goes the way of baseball...well, I don't know what I'll do. After a few years, small market teams like Pittsburgh will begin to lose money and won't be able to afford get the big names, and stop being competitive. I hope beyond hope that something happens. That owners and player reps will see what happened to American's former favorite pasttime, baseball, and realize what a mistake they'd be making.

[moochman]

Actually I think baseball has been bringing more revenues than ever. Feelings about how FA, no cap, and guaranteed contracts changing the power structure of baseball aren't totally right. The Yankees historically have always outspent other teams in baseball and had the advantage in player procurment.

Football is different. Teams who have cheapskate owners: Cardinals, Lions, Iggles to name a few, will suffer. The difference is in the revenue sharing. Ticket sales are cream in the NFL. TV contracts are so lucrative that it is the primary source of money. This means that all teams have a very solid financial basis on which to operatre. There are, in essence, no small market teams. It will be up to the team owners to decide if they want to pocket the cash or use it to field the better team.

[xted30]

I stopped watching baseball years ago just for this very reason. Baseball is run by greed and steriods. If the NFL goes the way of baseball...well, I don't know what I'll do. After a few years, small market teams like Pittsburgh will begin to lose money and won't be able to afford get the big names, and stop being competitive. I hope beyond hope that something happens. That owners and player reps will see what happened to American's former favorite pasttime, baseball, and realize what a mistake they'd be making.

While I have not stopped watching baseball, since it is my favorite sport and I will never stop supporting the Reds, I do agree here. The lockouts, greed, etc. have allowed large market teams to completely dominate in baseball based on the lack of a salary cap. I have to think the same thing would happen to the Bengals in future years, and I'm not sure I can go through another 15 years without a trip to the playoffs.

[flotsamnjetsam]

It's true that a lot of people stopped watching baseball when they cancelled the World Series. It's also true that MLB juiced the baseballs after the strike in order to get fans back. My proof is that in the 100+ years of MLB before the strike there were 2 people EVER that hit over 60 HR's in a season (Babe Ruth & Roger Maris). After they juiced the baseballs this happened 6 times between 98-01. Then, after MLB got some of their fans back they stopped juicing the baseballs. Only 3 players have hit 50 HR's since 2002. Combine this with steroids and the ballparks being much smaller nowadays and every record in MLB in meaningless.

I stopped watching baseball way before the strike/cancelled World Series. I stopped watching because the game moves too slow and I find it painfully boring to watch. The fact that they don't have a salary cap and only have 8-10 truly competitive teams is also a reason why I stopped watching.

I don't think this will be the day that the NFL died. The NFL is more popular than MLB ever was. The NFL is far from boring. I think a work stoppage would hurt (of course), but I don't think it would cause any other sport to overtake the NFL in popularity. The NFL wouldn't have to resort to cheating the record books to get the fans back. All they would have to do is start playing football on TV again. Football sells itself and is so exciting to watch that most fans would pick up right where they left off. They would lose some fans but I don't think it would be a lot.

If the NFL decides to head into the future without a salary cap, I think that would hurt more than anything. I heard a joke yesterday that the Kansas City Royals are already mathematically eliminated. It's funny, but partly true. That's the one thing I think could hurt the NFL the most. I still think that it wouldn't hurt the NFL as much as its hurting MLB.

You have to take what each side says with a grain of salt. Everyone is posturing trying to get the upper hand, and trying to make the other look bad in the publics eye. Gene Upshaw saying that the players would never accept a cap again if they go uncapped in 2007 might be true. It's also possible that he's just saying this to try and get the owners to give in. It was rumored that the owners leaked the news early in the week about an agreement about to happen. If true, it was to put pressure on the players to give in and strike a deal.

This won't be the day that the NFL died. It might be the day that the NFL got slightly injured. I think they will come to an agreement eventually. There's just too much money involved for them not to.

[Wizzle]

If it somehow manages to die then we'll all be playing Arena League Fantasy Football.

[mysticphysh]

The fact that they don't have a salary cap and only have 8-10 truly competitive teams is also a reason why I stopped watching.

This is the reason I stopped watching. After the Pirates last competitive season (91 or 92)...it just got boring to watch. I get sick of seeing Atlanta and the Yanks going year after year because they can afford to pay players. Besides years like when Flordia bankrupted themselves to buy a championship, or Arizona...it's all the same.

I don't think this will ever happen in the NFL...at least I hope not. But by the way Upshaw is talking, it could. He says if the salary cap goes away for just one season, it'll never be back. That's just plain greed on the players side to go along with the greed on the Owners side.

[Dan Lambskin]

Actually I think baseball has been bringing more revenues than ever. Feelings about how FA, no cap, and guaranteed contracts changing the power structure of baseball aren't totally right. The Yankees historically have always outspent other teams in baseball and had the advantage in player procurment.

Football is different. Teams who have cheapskate owners: Cardinals, Lions, Iggles to name a few, will suffer. The difference is in the revenue sharing. Ticket sales are cream in the NFL. TV contracts are so lucrative that it is the primary source of money. This means that all teams have a very solid financial basis on which to operatre. There are, in essence, no small market teams. It will be up to the team owners to decide if they want to pocket the cash or use it to field the better team.

i always see you calling the Fords cheap, but what are you basing that on? they just built a new stadium, usually pay players fairly (they dont overspend and end up in cap hell like some teams), paid $25 mil for a coach and axed him halfway through, pay Millen a hefty salary

they might be incompetent as far as running a football team (or a car company), but i never get the impression they dont want to spend money on the team

[steelerfan513]

The fact that they don't have a salary cap and only have 8-10 truly competitive teams is also a reason why I stopped watching.

This is the reason I stopped watching. After the Pirates last competitive season (91 or 92)...it just got boring to watch. I get sick of seeing Atlanta and the Yanks going year after year because they can afford to pay players. Besides years like when Flordia bankrupted themselves to buy a championship, or Arizona...it's all the same.

I don't think this will ever happen in the NFL...at least I hope not. But by the way Upshaw is talking, it could. He says if the salary cap goes away for just one season, it'll never be back. That's just plain greed on the players side to go along with the greed on the Owners side.

i think the players are smart enough to not let that happen, especially those that arent on the top 5 revenue teams in the league. at least i hope.

also, the steelers arent near the bottom, but theyre in the middle somewhere, and, like you said, in baseball there are only about 10 competitive teams, so the steelers would be out of that.

[Dystopia]

I've been reading PFT.com about this subject and I've come across with a few interesting things from all of this -

-Currently (allegedly), there are five teams blocking the enhanced revenue sharing that goes to the heart of the CBA mess and the salary cap in particular, since the added revenue sharing would directly relate to the salary cap. Those teams are the Cowboys, the Redskins, the Eagles, the Buccaneers, and the Patriots (more to the point, the owners of the teams). However, if the other 27 teams vote for this the five listed here would be outvoted.

-Assuming that 2007 is uncapped, this means that there is no minimum amount that owners can pay players as well. This would screw over the vast majority of players out there.

-Only players with six years in the NFL are set to become UFA (unrestricted free agents) in 2007. Everyone else becomes RFAs in that year, including people like Chris Simms and Javon Walker who would normally become UFAs due to their contracts expiring in 2007.

-The final four teams in the playoffs from 2006 would only be allowed to sign their own unrestricted free agents and not any other players on the market. There is an exception that would allow teams to sign other teams' UFAs if that teams loses one of its UFAs to the market.

Just some random stuff I find interesting. In another note, the CBA extention would be the last note of Paul Tagliabue's legacy, and he has a lot of incentive to get this deal done. I would be surprised if this does not happen, regardless of the apocalyptic talk coming out of Gene Upshaw. That, and he would probably be fired if this thing did not get done, as most players lose big-time with no salary cap (they would also lose their health benefits, as these are provided under the CBA). My $.02, for what it's worth.