They don't get guaranteed contracts, they get suspended for things NBA and MLB wouldn't get suspended for. They bring in the most money and they have shortest careers, but they seem to get screwed more than the other leagues.
The players strike in 1987. It backfired on them when the season went on without them and they then crossed the picket line in droves.
1st round picks in the NFL still make boatloads of money compared to 1st round picks in the NBA because of ridiculous signing bonuses.
Baseball's union "won" its strike, the NFL players lost theirs. Basketball and baseball are incredibly star driven sports. The NFL, while benefiting from stars, has become a "team sport" in terms of fan appeal.
The big issue right now is expanding the regular season by 1 or 2 games. The players union said they would only back it if salaries were increased by 1/16 or 1/8th respectively because right now players get paid per regular season game. It makes sense. They are not on the line as much in preseason games and the big stars don't even play in the 4th game.
I'm not too concerned about the top level players that make millions upon millions. Its the middle to low level guys that play for 3-5 years, destroy their body, then have their disability claims for medical denied by a league that has billions.
league minimum is still around 600k per year. Most of these guys mismanage their money, but I agree the league (like any large corporation) does its best to squeeze every dollar they can. After the lawsuit against the league failed by the former players, they turned drastic and I think their latest move included suing John Madden because the Madden video games have used their likenesses without compensation (Very disputable, since Madden has never put names into their game that weren't signed on with the NFLPA)
I never understood this. I'm not very knowledegable when it comes to the inter-dwellings of the NFL, but to pay someone $30+ million that has yet to prove their worth... confuses me.
a top NFL draft pick is a high-risk investment just like most top picks. You sign a top pick to lets say a 5 year deal for 60 million. 30 million of that is guaranteed. If he pans out and turns into a super star, you have him at a good pay rate until the 6th year when he hits free agency. If he's worth top dollar but won't negotiate a new deal... You can apply the franchise tag on him and keep him on the roster no matter what. He can still refuse to play but it would be unwise to hold out for an entire season (Joey Galloway held out in Seattle after his rookie deal expired and didn't play the entire season because they wouldn't give him a new deal, he was traded Dallas next offseason)
The most messed thing about the league is the ability to cut/fire someone after they are injured and not pay them the remainder of their contract. What other sport or occupation is like that?
yea. .. their contracts are the most one-sided toward the Owners Rocket River Baseball maybe the most one-sided toward the Athletes
Disagree as to baseball...franchises define the league, as they do in the NFL. Much closer fan association to franchise than to star players.
Dont NFL players get a pension from though when they retire? To be honest I think the NFL system is just about spot on, although I think if a team wants to cut a player they should have to buy out a large part of the remainder of his contract.
its messed up but the owners can't give guaranteed contracts in a league where so many injuries happen. in the nba you have the ocassional houston, grant hill, or whomever, but in the nfl, careers are ended on a regular basis.
Not sure, but it would be nice if they would actually pay for retired player's football related illnesses and injuries
This is certainly true on an individual basis. But being able to cut players also frees up more money for performing players. So the NFL still distributes all the money to players, but it requires the players to perform to do it (and yes, this unfortunately includes injury complications). The NFL player's union *seems* weak, but they've also managed to create a system that's caused the NFL to have massively high revenues which then trickles back to the players. Baseball recently caught up to them in revenues, but that's with the built in advantages of having a global market and having ten times as many games. I think the NFL player's union may look weak, but they have actually created a great situation for themselves - they have the healthiest sport and get a pretty high percentage of it's total revenues.
It's mind-boggling that a long-term NFL contract can be ripped up by the owner when the player (literally) breaks his back for the team, leaving him penniless, but if that same player breaks out and has a great year, the contract he signed for as a journeyman is as good as ironclad. Best I can tell, the reason that NFL contracts are signed on tissue paper, and the NFLPA union is so weak, is because Gene Upshaw was the Jimmy Hoffa of professional sports union bosses. For a critic organizing money for former NFL players, something that should have been Upshaw's domain, per ESPN: Upshaw responded: ESPN: Upshaw, before passing, ran the players' union for two decades plus, and seemed to often side with management / the owners over his own dues-payers. Upshaw's and the NFL's denial of the long-term repercussions of concussions, and the players' claims they denied, for example, should be considered downright criminal. I see what you're saying, but the NFL players union shouldn't be out to make the game, and only the game, prosper. It should foremost concern itself with bettering the union members, the players' health and well-being. By that rationale, horse racing has the healthiest bottom line; whenever Barbaro comes up lame, they just take him in the back and shoot him, and keep the money for themselves. As is, with the live horses they're only out of pocket for the oats and stable fees. Guaranteed contracts are a must for professional sports. Watching Raef LaFrentz make 12 million a year on the bench in the NBA kinda sucks as a fan, but the NBA players' association did its job. It's a shame LaFrentz nearly died from that stroke, or McGrady blew out his knee, but they're collecting on the contracts they worked for, signed, and earned. The NBA players union has no right to take their money and give it to Blake Griffin, just because he seems healthy right now.
Gene Upshaw was often called the NFL owner's house you-know-what... terrible term, but thats how it was expressed.
^^ Gene Upshaw was extremely well-compensated for controlling his fiefdom, to the tune of $6.7 million a year. He made more than many of the star players, and never had to worry about watching it all go away with the next MCL tear. So the guys who actually do/did their jobs well, and looked out for their players, make a pittance compared to the money Upshaw voted in for himself.
That's what I get for half-remembering that Upshaw's pay was out of whack, and skimming a Google hit for the figure only. From the same link as above: The NY Daily News was essentially calling out Upshaw for an explicit quid pro quo: massively inflated pay for looking the other way during negotiations, and greasing the owners' pockets. For a major daily paper, not much hedging about the issue.
