Why the NFL has more holdouts than any other pro league

Bobhaze said:
Who has more power on the money side? Owners or players?
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Well sure, but that’s true in any industry/business. Do you think Ford employees have more power or money than the Board of Directors or large shareholders?
 
The problem could easily be rectified by guaranteeing all contracts. However, then the amounts would have to go down drastically. Both sides would have to quit lying and talking stupid about lack of profits and lack of respect. The whole thing has become Jerry Springer meets Honeybooboo. Put integrity and truth back in the negotiation and take out extreme greed, selfishness, and envy.

Yeah, I'm sure they're getting right on that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
bandfan said:
You just can't equate finances with injury potential. You are basically saying that players should base the risk of losing their lives on how much they get paid. You just can't look at it that way. They are just separate issues plain and simple. The owners take the financial risks so they reap the majority of the reward. And BTW, if Zeke doesn't have financial security at this point it is no one's fault but his own....
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I agree. ALL sides can make a good case. THAT said, they can absolutely hash out a better CBA. There will be inevitably someone that's not happy. But as you know, that's life. Can't please everyone...there is no Utopia type deal. IN my opinion...they can close the gap if they introduced a better healthcare plan for the players for during their career and afterwards. It makes sense. Plus we got to have a wage scale for vets. The NBA and MLB doesn't really have that, so what you have is players dictating to the owners wage scale...its the tail wagging the dog. Just cant sustain a business model like that for very long.
 
GenoT said:
Lowest average career-span and lowest average per-season salaries in Big 4 sports, along with multi-year contracts which aren’t fully guaranteed, plus greater health risks than in all other major league sports, add up to more holdouts.
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What I can't truly understand is why any athlete would pick football over baseball/basketball. I think Murray should be taking ground balls right now w/ his million dollar signing bonus in the bank. (I hv no idea how much he'd have gotten!!!).
 
Rayman70 said:
I agree. ALL sides can make a good case. THAT said, they can absolutely hash out a better CBA. There will be inevitably someone that's not happy. But as you know, that's life. Can't please everyone...there is no Utopia type deal. IN my opinion...they can close the gap if they introduced a better healthcare plan for the players for during their career and afterwards. It makes sense. Plus we got to have a wage scale for vets. The NBA and MLB doesn't really have that, so what you have is players dictating to the owners wage scale...its the tail wagging the dog. Just cant sustain a business model like that for very long.
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I think that health care is already provided.
 
Bobhaze said:
Holdouts by players seeking a better contracts have driven fans crazy for years. The first one I remember as a fan was my first favorite Cowboy- Bob Hayes’ holdout in 1970 when the future HOFer was asking to be paid an annual salary of $40k to become one of the highest paid WRs in the league! Lol!

Here’s something to remember about the NFL: It’s the only one of the four major sports leagues (NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL) to not have guaranteed player contracts. The owners’ powerful “NFL Management Council” which negotiates the CBA with the NFL Players Association, has long negotiated labor agreements that do not allow players guaranteed contracts. NFL players have the least amount of financial security.

This is why so many more “holdouts” happen in the NFL as opposed to other sports leagues. Here are some other reasons for so many NFL player holdouts:
  • NFL contracts do have some “guaranteed money” but it’s usually tied up in the bonus. After that “guarantee”, teams can cut a player at any time as opposed the other leagues where players have fully guaranteed contracts.
  • NFL players’ careers are shorter on average, and have a much higher risk for injury. To have a higher risk for injury coupled with no guaranteed contracts make NFL players far less financially secure.
  • NFL owners make exponentially more money than other leagues’ owners. The NFL’s net profits that go straight to the owners has approached $20 billion in recent years while NFL players share much less of the financial pie than other leagues’ players, yet have the most risk to their health.
  • NFL players have had the least attractive health insurance and retirement packages than the other leagues.
  • Zeke is of course under contract, but he’s also nearing a crossroads for his financial future. Going into this season, he probably has more leverage than he’s ever had. (The Cowboys don’t exactly have a solid backup behind Zeke currently)
Look, I’m not a big fan of player holdouts, especially when they have the time left on their contracts like Zeke does. But until the owners start being less cut throat about how contracts are done, we are going to continue seeing these type of situations with players like Zeke.

Holdouts suck. But IMO, the owners have the greatest responsibility in causing them and have the greatest opportunity in the next CBA to rectify this problem.
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I'm not sure guaranteeing contracts will stop hold outs or even lower them much.

If a player is offered a 5yr 100m with 50m guaranteed, if contracts were all guaranteed making it 100m guaranteed, The owners would lower their offers.

Plus, a lot of hold outs are while they still have contracts. Zeke still has 2 years, Thomas still has a year. Do you think guarantee contracts would stop players from holding out because they think they're under paid because someone or someone's have signed deals worth more that aren't as good as them?

It works in mlb because they have no cap and the amount of games they play. Their top player makes 234,000 per game. Wilson makes 2m per game. There is a lot greater chance that wilson could have an injury than the mlb guy. Its harder to gurantee that money in a contact sport like the nfl. Thats why i said, if they make the contracts guarantee, a 100m contract with 50m gurantee would be closer to 50m than 100m. It works in the nba because they have a soft cap and max deals built in the system. I'm not 100% familiar with the nba so I won't get too much into it but personally, I wouldnt won't the mlb or the nba system in the NFL. If I had to choose it would be no cap at all but that still doesn't fix the hold outs. They had them before the cap. They didn't have as many because they didn't have true FA but if you have no cap with FA like they do now, it wouldn't change the hold outs, imo.
 
kskboys said:
I think that health care is already provided.
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it is...your correct.But I think that's one area where the 2 sides can agree to infuse some of that money into the healthcare program and improve upon it longterm. Rather than nutty contract terms that essentially kill a teams chances at competing...I say revisit healthcare and make that the best healthcare in the world. THAT...and they need to unmuddy the waters on wage scale parameters for vets and tenured players. Right now its out of whack. Look at Zeke...if he knew absolutely that what he was doing right now would do him no good..he wouldn't be doing it. A SCALE FOR TENURED PLAYERS IS A MUST.
 
Oz-of-Cowboy-Country said:
The NFL has more players per team than any of the other sports. More players more holdouts. Heck I wish I could tell the job I'm not coming to work until I get a raise.
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You're free to go negotiate a better deal (if you can) with one of your employer's competitors in the same field. NFL players aren't.
 
JD_KaPow said:
Personally, I'm a fan of a free market, but hey, that's just me, comrade.

(For the record, I also believe in unions and collective bargaining).
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I too believe in free market. But in the NFL..you must have a wage scale. ALL BUSINESS operate under those basic assumptions. Players think its powerball lol...they haven't any clue how business works. Got to have give and take.
 
Little Jr said:
I'm not sure guaranteeing contracts will stop hold outs or even lower them much.

If a player is offered a 5yr 100m with 50m guaranteed, if contracts were all guaranteed making it 100m guaranteed, The owners would lower their offers.

Plus, a lot of hold outs are while they still have contracts. Zeke still has 2 years, Thomas still has a year. Do you think guarantee contracts would stop players from holding out because they think they're under paid because someone or someone's have signed deals worth more that aren't as good as them?

It works in mlb because they have no cap and the amount of games they play. Their top player makes 234,000 per game. Wilson makes 2m per game. There is a lot greater chance that wilson could have an injury than the mlb guy. Its harder to gurantee that money in a contact sport like the nfl. Thats why i said, if they make the contracts guarantee, a 100m contract with 50m gurantee would be closer to 50m than 100m. It works in the nba because they have a soft cap and max deals built in the system. I'm not 100% familiar with the nba so I won't get too much into it but personally, I wouldnt won't the mlb or the nba system in the NFL. If I had to choose it would be no cap at all but that still doesn't fix the hold outs. They had them before the cap. They didn't have as many because they didn't have true FA but if you have no cap with FA like they do now, it wouldn't change the hold outs, imo.
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It's true, pitchers never lose entire seasons to injury.
 
Oz-of-Cowboy-Country said:
The NFL has more players per team than any of the other sports. More players more holdouts. Heck I wish I could tell the job I'm not coming to work until I get a raise.
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well said. Or like Peter on the movie Office Space..."ah yeah...I decided to not come in today Bob...lol...not until my demands are met. Yeah....."
 
Rayman70 said:
I too believe in free market. But in the NFL..you must have a wage scale. ALL BUSINESS operate under those basic assumptions. Players think its powerball lol...they haven't any clue how business works. Got to have give and take.
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To rephrase what you said: "I believe in a free market but the NFL can't have a free market." No other business in the US operates the way sports leagues do. There's no "wage scale" for highly skilled employees: just look at Silicon Valley, where people routinely get lured away from one company for better offers from another. You're the one who seems to have no clue how business works.
 
Guarantee the contracts and limit the years and bonus money...make it crystal clear for each team. THEN the hold outs will be far less. Give the player the option to walk after a certain time frame..a bit like the NBA...then you will see less problems. Owners may not fully like that idea..but as I said earlier, give and take.
 
JD_KaPow said:
To rephrase what you said: "I believe in a free market but the NFL can't have a free market." No other business in the US operates the way sports leagues do. There's no "wage scale" for highly skilled employees: just look at Silicon Valley, where people routinely get lured away from one company for better offers from another. You're the one who seems to have no clue how business works.
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really..ok, do this...see what happens in the next CBA then we can revisit this debate. Have a nice day.
 
JD_KaPow said:
You're free to go negotiate a better deal (if you can) with one of your employer's competitors in the same field. NFL players aren't.
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Not necessarily. There are many fields where that is not allowed, especially the really high paid ones.
 
JD_KaPow said:
To rephrase what you said: "I believe in a free market but the NFL can't have a free market." No other business in the US operates the way sports leagues do. There's no "wage scale" for highly skilled employees: just look at Silicon Valley, where people routinely get lured away from one company for better offers from another. You're the one who seems to have no clue how business works.
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No business is even close to professional sports. It's different any way you look at it.
 
some think the NFL player is the red headed step child and being mistreated...that's a crazy way to view things. THEY KNOW THE RISK. They knew what they were signing during the last CBA and in their current contracts.
 
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