More lock-out babble

Topdawg13 · May 19, 2011

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"Do we care enough about who we are and who we want to be?" Smith said. "The decision to pursue and if necessary fight for what is fair was a decision those players made two years ago. And I've got to tell you, it's vastly different from something as simple as 'shut up and play.' That's not the decision that we made. We made the decision to fight for who we were going to be and who we are."

"We believe as a group that it is important to fight for fairness," he said. "And I'm proud of the players who have stepped up to be leaders."
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John Mara, Giants CEO and president, wrote an essay that was recently posted on the Giants' website and NFL.com. As a member of the NFL owners' negotiating team for collective bargaining with the players, Mara explains his take on what's going on.

There was no reason for the situation to come to this. The NFL’s business model needs to be fixed. Of that, there is no doubt. The 2006 collective bargaining agreement was not balanced. Players have readily acknowledged they "got a great deal." Then the economy went south, adding to the problem. A fair adjustment must be negotiated in a new CBA.

The solution lies at the bargaining table. Everyone should realize what is at stake, especially in this economy. Right now, fans are caught in the middle listening to rhetoric and legalese they don’t want to hear. That is why, as ownership and players, we must recognize our shared responsibility as stewards of the game to compromise and reach a fair agreement -- one that highly compensates players, protects their health and safety, ensures the on-field competitiveness of 32 teams, helps retired players, and improves the fan experience and fan value. The best way to get there is to let both sides exercise their labor law rights.

The current ball of confusion needs to become a football season, pronto; the kind of football season that NFL fans have grown to love and that has made our sport so popular.
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Goodell said Thursday he leans on the Ford family, which owns the Detroit Lions, to draw on their labor relations experience in the automobile industry.

"I speak to them frequently to take their experience and whatever they can offer to help us," Goodell said on a conference call with Lions season ticket-holders.

Goodell said the key to reaching an agreement will be through collective bargaining, not litigation, as he has said numerous times in similar conference calls with ticket-holders for about half of the NFL's teams.

Lions defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch, though, said there's no reason to do that yet.

"Really, mediation is kind of pointless until the appeals process is over," Vanden Bosch said.
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james6253 · May 20, 2011

I'd hate to think there will be no football in 2011. This lack of free agency is seriously annoying already .

Is it only me, or does it seem like no one cares about the fans. The media seems to cover the players and the owners. It's always owners this, players that. What about the fans?

If not for us, their business would not exist. We all know this but still we, the fans, have no voice in this situation. I'm sick and tired of this. Fans should voice their opinion and prove that it's our dollars that fuel this sport. Maybe someone will listen then. I found this simple way to do it online http://www.fanswantfootball.org

It's interesting what fans of other teams and fans of football in general have to say. Anyway, I hope they can fix this situation soon.

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