Locked Out Denver Bronco Football Addict
by lobouno on Sep 2, 2010 3:44 AM MDT
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PrintI am primarily an Denver Bronco FOOTBALL ADDICT. I spend hours searching for and reading all that I can find about my mountain mustangs. I keep stats on my favorite players. My weekly NFL television time catches everything the standard TV channels broadcast. Have thought about signing up to get all the games on the NFL Channel. I wear my "colors" if I go to a local sports bar to catch the Sunday action. I use to own three season tickets in the nose bleed zone in the North stands at the old Mile High Stadium. Almost died when I lost them around a divorce. I repeat, I AM AN DENVER BRONCO FOOTBALL ADDICT.
Sounds like an open confession from one of those anonymous substance abuse groups. But, like any junkie, I put my self in a place of subservience to my supplier. In this case the NFL.
What's the point you ask? Here are a number of them:
1. Will the NFL lockout the players next year and produce a season manned by second class ability players and force myself and my fellow NFL addicts to accept a "fix" that has been "stepped on" but with the fix still carrying a full "pure" product price?
2. With this year being free of salary cap rules,you would have expected rich teams to go on a spending spree to bring in free agents and nail down their existing premium players. For the most part it didn't happen.
3. If regular players are financially squeezed by a non payday lockout 2011 season, they might just be tempted to jump out of the NFLPA and bargain individually with the teams to play for a pittance of a re-negotiated salary just to keep the roof over their families heads.
4. Next year, will the NFL blame the players union for a "hard nosed" attitude in negotiations as reason for the lock out season? And will that be the precursor to a NFL team united front to "break" the NFLPA and thus increasing their "bottom line" through payment of lower player benefits,pensions, and salaries across the board? And in an inflationary time like now, the owners profits will multiply while applying a financial headlock on the players.
As a DENVER BRONCO ADDICT I understand that the owners and management sit at the top of and currently control the issue. I also understand that the owners would not be where they are WITHOUT the class players who have put them there over the many seasons. Class players equaled a first class football product over the years. Who paid for it? I did, and all my fellow pro-football addicts.
I hope the gloomy scenario doesn't happen, but if it does, please support those that make the game we love possible; the players. Help support the NFLPA financially next year and boycott the games as a message to the owners to be open to a fair sharing of the profits and openness in negotiations. Bronco addicts are you with me on this issue?
This is a Fan-Created Comment on MileHighReport.com. The opinion here is not necessarily shared by the editorial staff of MHR
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You are not an addict
To be an addict, there has to be a problem. There is no problem with loving the Broncos.
Now if you were a Chiefs fan, that would be different.
:)
Last Name: Ever, First Name: Greatest
Nobody Runs On The Denver Broncos
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by Nick Cast on Sep 2, 2010 4:54 AM MDT reply actions 1 recs
You are not.............
Yeah, I am a Bronco addict. It would cause great discomfort, a problem, if I had to watch a bunch of pick up sandlot players masquerading as my magnificent Mountain Mustangs during a lockout/strike year. Like having Postum instead of a hearty cup of java! Yuck!
But you are correct about KC……and Da Bolts and especially the Punky Patch over the Eye pretend team from the East Bay!
Your first point...
I’m not following you. What are talking about in regards to a "fix "? And that “fix” being “stepped on” while still having to pay the “pure” product price? Are you referring to something else? Could you please elaborate?
What a drag it is getting old. - Mick
Your first point.....
Drug culture talk! Addicts NEED a drug fix. Football addicts NEED more football.
The process of diluting and the cutting down of PURE drugs to make more drugs is called being “stepped on” which reduces the original drugs potency. If scab players habit the NFL during the lockout our PURE high quality player game has been “stepped on” with the use of second class players. Comprende amigo?
For what it is worth….
1) This is not an inflationary time. There is little room to push iterest rates down, imports remain high, and high unemployment rates are pushing wages and labor costs down. the real problem is likely deflatio*the owners will make out like bandits eoither way. High ticket demand, stadium subsidies, revenue sharing and locked-in contracts on tv, merchandising and concessions mean that they are effectively insulated from risk.
2) The players will get payouts from the strike fund in the event of a lock-out. That should reduce/eliminate the need to scab.
by Chibronx on Sep 2, 2010 6:37 AM MDT via mobile reply actions
It's probably better that the owners remain economically strong,
even if its at the detriment of the NFLPA. A financially strong NFL is good for us fans right now and let’s face it, the NFLPA’s share of the pie is a bit large. Sure the players play the game, but without the owners and the teams the players wouldn’t have a lucrative game to play. I believe an agreement closer to 50-50 is fair and balanced, though Godell’s offer of a .5 billion dollar pie increase to add two more games in 2012 might just be the bribe needed to get this thing signed. We all know both the NFL and NFLPA only really care about one thing, cash money. Who gets what and how much…if both sides see their collective pies jump 10-15%, they’ll get a deal done.
Verbose in style, dispersion of thought, procrastination in life.
The guy formerly known as ZAPPA
Here’s the thing, Zappa — how do you know that the NFL does not remain economically strong? The owners have offered no evidence of real financial hardship. The latest Forbest rankings had Jacksonville — the poster-child for a low-value NFL team — worth less than Liverpool FC. More than half of the most highly valued sports franchises in the world are NFL franchises.
In part, I think there’s a fallacy-of-composition issue here. The economy is doing poorly, but but that doesn’t mean that the NFL is. Where do you think they’ve taken a hit? I look at their main revenue sources and I see locked-in contracts (concessions, taxes, apparel, TV, radio) that insulate them from lots of risk. Games still sell out. ticket prices haven’t gone down. Maybe you know something I don’t. I really would like to know where the league has taken a hit.
Why is a 50-50 distribution of revenues fair? The NFL is a labor-intensive industry. Owners don’t have substantial machinery costs. Their capital investments are subsidized by the public. “People” are the product. The same goes for universities (where I believe you work). Labor is the main cost. Should compensation be ratcheted down until it’s 50% of revenues? And do you think that revenue in capital-intensive industries like warehousing — lots of machines, few workers — should be split 50-50 between owners and labor? I sure don’t. That’s a terrible fit for the industry. It would be an insane arrangement.
If the league were really suffering, I’d be fine with the players and management both taking a hit. But all we’ve heard so far are assertions. It makes me incredibly uncomfortable that the owners can just say “everyone’s hurting, let’s lock out the players” without actually, you know, documenting that they’re hurting.
Does this make sense? We know what the players make, and we know what the NFLPA’s finances are. We know nothing about the owners’ finances. There are thriving, recession-proof industries out there, and everything we know about the NFL suggests it’s one of them.
If you have evidence to the contrary, I will change my mind. Do you have anything to share?
Not True
There are public records of the Green Bay Packers that revealed that they made a profit of about $10 million last year. Most CEOs would get fired for that small of a profit for a company woth a billion dollars. The books are also available to the NFLPA for al the revenues subject to the CBA so they can audit the income and confirm that they are gettnig their proper percentage. Otherwise, the owners never have and never will “open their books” like the unions always ask. It won’t and shouldn’t happen. It is none of hte union’s business. If the owners open their books entirely to the union, then they are letting the union determine what is a “reasonable” profit for each team. I guarantee you that the union and owners will not agree n that concept, especially given DeMaurice Smith’s background.
by ocbroncomaniac on Sep 2, 2010 8:55 AM MDT up reply actions
The Packers are a fan-owned team run as a not-for-profit. And they still cleared $10MM. That’s a terrible example.
You do know that the NFLPA has to open its books — to the owners, the Feds and the public? This fight is being waged through public opinion. We know everything there is to know about one side. The other side, we take their word for it. If you’re not skeptical about that…. I’d love to play poker with you sometime. Or sell you some real estate. It isn’t really weird to want the people pleading economic hardship, to show economic hardship.
The Packers are a perfectly legit example
I could care less if the NFLPA has to open its books. They are ancillary to the discussion. A classic Red Herring. If you are from Chicago, I understand your union leanings as I grew up in Chitown.
The Packers still have to show all of their revenues and expenses. If the NFLPA can’t figure it out with the Packers’ books then they need to hire new people.
I will support management on a CBA, but I usually will support the individual players on their contracts since they are only one way and it is based on the true value of the individual (per their risk/reward).
I wouldn’t want to buy real estate from you since you appear to have a warped sense of value. Poker, I’ll play. Easy money.
by ocbroncomaniac on Sep 7, 2010 4:00 PM MDT up reply actions
Well said Chibronx!
If the owners dominate in this round of labor negotiations and if the NFLPA gets broken, then the players will become wage slaves just like the rest of us being beholden to the “boss” for a little annual raise while the managers take millions in bonuses. Just like what is happening in the financial industry today.
Funny
Wage slaves. LOL. This is a battle of billionaires and millionaires. Next thing you know you will advocate nationalizing the NFL.
by ocbroncomaniac on Sep 7, 2010 4:03 PM MDT up reply actions
For what it is worth.....
1. …..not an inflationary time.
When an ounce of gold goes from $284 in 2003 to a recent spot price of over $1200, that my friend is inflation! From 300% to 400% inflation.
2. Who has the DEEPER POCKETS; combined NFL team ownership or the piddling strike fund? No comparison. It has also been a trend since the off shoring of so much industry in the USA for ownership to bust up labor unions starting with the Air Traffic Controllers in the 80’s.
If the players union gets busted, then there is NO WAY the players will EVER even come close to a 50/50 sharing of the games profits.
1. The Consumer Price Index was negative last year, for the first time in decades. I don’t know about gold, but I do know that falling wages and home prices and rising imports from China portend negative inflation.
2. Please, you’re preaching to the choir. Strike funds run out. People who were born millionaires, then bought billion-dollar football teams…. those guys can wait out a storm. But at least the strike fund equalizes the fight a little bit.
Gold is a hedge for a lot of things
And yes, inflation is one of them.
But it is by far a hedge against uncertain times Iobouno. That’s why it’s currently at $1250/oz and climbing.
I don’t want to get into an economics discussion here. Just wanted to dispel the idea of this being a time of inflation. One of the US’s greatest fear at the present time is deflation. On of the markets greatest fears at the moment is that the fed will print money to avoid it at all costs. If they could drop interest rates any further they would have by now.
Anyway, carry on…
"Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space."
"It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes" Douglas Adams
by orange&blue_aussie on Sep 3, 2010 4:34 AM MDT up reply actions
Gold is a hedge......
Stagflation! As long as the FED CONTINUES its’ decades long practice of printing more currency to pay for previous debt, then we will ALWAYS have inflation. As long as foreign countries hold US Dollars as their currency reserve, the FED will continue playing that game at the expense of creditor nations. China is getting antsy about carrying all that funny money US debt and if they pull that plug the US Dollar might collapse causing a domino effect around the world.
And money is a huge issue in the NFLPA/owner negotiations, long term and short. Plenty of motivation for the owners to want to break the players association.
As you were,soldier!
Also
Huzzah! Staying away from scab games is not just right, it’s fun! Why throw ka-ching to the owners for xfl-quality play?
by Chibronx on Sep 2, 2010 6:40 AM MDT via mobile reply actions
Just reminiscing
This reminds me of the year Dan Reeves’ scabs played 3-0 and helped us to the SB. The man was a good organizer. No surprise he out-paced the league in this endeavor.
I don’t think there will be any extensive work stoppage in the NFL. Too many of us love it.
Am I missing something?
Am I actually missing something? Do the players not take 60% of the revenue. What other employer in the world gives its workers 60%? Rookies making 50 Million without playing a down? If there is a lock out I will watch my Broncos and root just as hard? I love my team first not the other way around. If there is a lock out bring on the replacements!!! At least they wont take there Job for granted like Ben, Plaxeco and many other current players.
Labor is the main product and the main cost. Plenty of industries work this way. If you’re in the hotel business and people pay for nice views and cushy beds, then you invest in expensive property and build fancy facilities on it. If you’re in the football business and people come to see players, and you don’t have to pay for your stadium or your manufacturing equipment, then players account for a large share of revenue.
If you’ve ever hired a consultant or a contractor, labor is the main cost you’re paying for. Should everybody working for accenture take a 50% pay cut to get labor costs below some arbitrary number? Why? It wouldn’t mean you’d pay less for consulting, just like cutting the NFLPA share to an arbitrary number won’t result in lower ticket prices.
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