I've got your number: 16 regular-season games and two exhibitions

    I've tried to stay close to the negotiations between the NFL's owners and players. Nobody I've talked to, or heard talk, is optimistic about a resolution -- with the exception of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

     Owners are asking players to give back money they won during the last round of negotiations. To prevent a labor impasse, owners gave away too much. They didn't want to send retiring commissioner Paul Tagliabue out with a lockout on his resume.

     Owners could set an interesting precedent if they, too, would give something back.

     Instead of expanding the schedule to 18 games, contract the exhibition schedule to two games.

     I don't want an 18-game schedule. Bodies weren't designed to take all those hits, some of them helmet to helmet, and bounce off the turf, not 18 games a season.

     Sixteen is perfect. The number is to professional football what a 64-team tournament is to NCAA basketball.

     Two also is perfect. Teams play four preseason games. Get rid of two. Owners will protest; that's easy money. Season-ticket holders have to buy tickets to the two home exhibitions as part of the package.

    Nobody needs four. General managers and coaches can find other means to evaulate their players. And even football junkies struggle to generate interest in all but the third exhibition, the one that serves as a dress rehearsal.

    Back to the negotiations: Fans that see the owner-player conflict as a testament to greed are missing the point. It's not about the money per se. It's about percentages, and who gets what, and how much is reasonable.

    Nothing about the negotiations has been reasonable so far. The union is doing almost all the talking, and much of it feels like performance art.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Onsitecom]

Tom it is always about the money. That's what the percentages is about. More money for someone. That it will be worked out is not in questions. It's when it will be worked out that is. It this point I really don't care on way or another if a millionaire gets more or if a billionaire keeps more. I'm getting to the point where it's not important to me. If they play I'll watch. If not I won't. That simple.

[John]

I don't know if nothing has been reasonable. For example the owners want a rookie cap. The players made a reasonable sounding offer. The owners rejected it with no counter offer.

The owners want more. More money, more games. They don't want to give. And what kills me is the working class people that will get on here and take the owners side. If the owners were paying their salaries they'd be looking for a way to cut them as well.