Sharpton: No Cake For Rush Limbaugh

Al Sharpton joins with NFLPA Exec Director DeMaurice Smith in opposing Rush Limbaugh’s bid for partial ownership of the St. Louis Rams.  Not particularly relevant to the CBA, but a good excuse to use this picture:

Filed under: DeMaurice Smith, Al Sharpton, Rush Limbaugh, St. Louis Rams

The NFLPA Refrain: Open The Books

DeMaurice Smith takes to the media again (USA Today this time) with a plea for the NFL to make its first proposal and to justify its claims that NFL teams are losing money:

“The time was ripe two months ago,” Smith said of the minimal progress on CBA talks during an hour-long interview at union headquarters. “We’re still waiting for the first proposal from the NFL.”

…

“It takes two people to negotiate. I’m hoping they will respect the process and begin negotiating. I’m willing and able to meet anytime.”

Smith, who has spent extensive time visiting players across the league since taking office . . . said he is seeking to understand why league owners opted out of the CBA. He points to the $8 billion in league revenue last year and contentions that no NFL teams are losing money as reasons the deal works. When owners opted out, several cited rising costs as an overriding factor, including capital for new stadiums

“Saying that stadium costs means that we need to change the CBA ignores the fact that the players have been a part of the stadium growth over the last decade,” Smith said.

“And if there is an economic reason to change the CBA, why not turn over the audited financial statements and we’ll find out if the owners are hurting?”

…

“The league is making a determination of how much information I need,” said Smith, who had lunch with Goodell last week. “Philosophically, that starts off in a bizarre place.”

…

“If the information the league provides is so detailed and complete, how much did all of the teams make in profit last year?” Smith said. “Is it a question of whether the players need to give back? Or is it that the owners need to make more money?

“Which is it?”

Filed under: DeMaurice Smith, NFL revenue, Roger Goodell, stadium financing

DeMaurice Smith Fires Back at Goodell

NFL Fanhouse caught up with the NFLPA executive director as he was leaving a meeting with NY Giants players. Needless to say, DeMaurice Smith is not pleased with Goodell’s recent media blitz.  Some strong words:

“When they’re ready to give us a proposal, and they’re ready to sit down and negotiate, we’ll do it,” Smith said. “I’ve been ready to do that since the day I was elected. I was at the last negotiating meeting and he wasn’t. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy watching a man read a memo. But why don’t we get to the point where we’re actually negotiating instead of just talking in the press?”

Read the whole piece.

Filed under: DeMaurice Smith

Goodell’s National Media Meeting

The league office convened several national NFL reporters yesterday to discuss the state of the CBA negotiations, as well as issues as varied as Vick’s suspension and the Cowboy’s goofy video boards.  The big news was the commissioner’s statements that there will likely be no CBA in place before the salary cap disappears in 2010.  The Associated Press breaks it down:

”I told De, ‘Let’s start negotiating,”’ Goodell said, ”and that’s our intent.”

But there is no timetable for beginning significant talks, and the union says the onus is on the owners to present an offer.

According to league figures, the players have received about 75 percent of revenues since 2006, while the other 25 percent has gone to costs, plus another 6 percent over that which owners have absorbed because of rising costs.

The union disputes those numbers.

”The CBA explicitly restricts player costs to just under 60 percent,” NFLPA spokesman George Atallah told The Associated Press. ”That is fixed. They’d have to provide relevant information to support that wild claim, because we certainly don’t have it.”

So, the questions coming out of this:

1. Was it the owners’ intent to get rid of the salary cap figure in the first place?  They have made no proposal for a new agreement since opting out.  This seems to me to be a media offensive to shift the blame, a poor offensive though the “national media” at the event ate it up.
2. What does the union have in terms of numbers?  Has the league acknowledged the Forbes numbers?  The 75% number was put forward by NFL general counsel Jeff Pash — is there supporting documentation?
3. This negotiation is clearly going to take place in the media.  I think it is the responsibility of the media to ascertain whether these numbers are right.   It is not enough for any of them to swallow either the NFL’s or the NFLPA’s claims outright.  If there aren’t public facts to back it up, demand it.  Did any of the “national media” ask for background facts besides Goodell’s word?  We’ll do our best to get what we can.

George Atallah, the NFLPA’s external affairs guy, shares that the union will respond:

Mr. Goodell and Mr. Pash hosted a group of reporters. Interesting to see what they shared. We will respond.

Filed under: DeMaurice Smith, NFL revenue, salary cap, George Atallah, Jeff Pash