The worst thing to happen to the NFL was Free Agency

[dmq]

What is going on now w/ the CBA is madness. Everything involving teams and players is money money money. I no longer am a fan of baseball. Being a Pirate fan and seeing the team basically give Barry Bonds to San Fran years back was all I could take. Let me ask you Baseball fans, when do you see the next time the Pirates or Milwaukee for that matter winning a World Series? How about never. So why watch?
Basketball.... Do I really want to watch guys dunking the ball 20 times a game? Yeah, you guys deserve 20 million a year....
Football was my last resort. These guys made good money, but look at the sacrifice they made on their bodies. It is the one sport left that salary didn't seem to bother me. Now we are getting to the point where it is either gonna be no cap (like baseball), or like basketball and rediculous salaries. I can only say that I hope I don't lose the only sport that I have loved since we kicked the Broncos a** in the SuperBowl. It would be a sad day indeed. I love the NFL. I just see this as greed greed greed from a bunch of guys that forgot long ago what it feels like to make a $.50 an hour raise.

 

[CM Duck]

i think free agency,ALONG WITH THE SALARY CAP, were/are good for the NFL.

it allows for a level playing field. in other words, the teams(on the same level as the pirates or brewers are in baseball) in small markets can win a championship just as much as a big market team.

i am confused by your post a little. sounds like you are angry about free agency in baseball, not football...

speaking of baseball and the pirates and bonds...

maybe they let him go because he/they could never get past the BRAVES(my fav BB team)

 

[braw]

Oh so you rather let the owners make Billions of dollars off the bumps and bruises from a bunch of min wage players. The amount of money the average fan will dish out is enormous( tickets, merchandise, and Memorabilia). But the most money comes from Companies( advertise, luxury box, and TV contracts).

And its that money that players shoot for. I remember the face value of Texas Stadium tickets were 40 to 50 dollars, but ticket brokers have run the prices up to 200 to 300 dollars. I don't think thats because of player's salaries.

If your profession was able to make you 20 million a year to do what you do. I doubt you would show up to work at what you earn today.

 

[Jay]

Yeah, I agree with Braw, I don't really see your reasoning.

IMO, football players deserved to be paid more than any other sport.

 

[jcollins28]

Micheal Irvin said this same thing in 1992. Shame no one listened to him.

 

[PacoReloaded]

I don't mind Free Agency so much but I really wish that we didn't have this damn salary cap.

 

[junk]

The players aren't driving this impasse. The owners are.

Compare the popularity of the league now to the pre free agency days. Like it or not, the current NFL system is the model on which all others should be based.

Seriously, compare it to the jokes that are baseball, basketball and hockey.

 

[Juke99]

My biggest gripe with the cap and free agency is that there is way too much player movement and it damages the game because continuity is critical in football.

In addition, the current system robs teams of an identity because players move around too much.

I understand the purpose behind the cap but I think teams should be able to spend more money on their own players without those additional dollars being counted against the cap.

 

[VACowboy]

My biggest gripe with the cap and free agency is that there is way too much player movement and it damages the game because continuity is critical in football.

In addition, the current system robs teams of an identity because players move around too much.

I understand the purpose behind the cap but I think teams should be able to spend more money on their own players without those additional dollars being counted against the cap.

I agree 100%.

 

[Yeagermeister]

Free agency, the cap and expansion have been the worst things to happen to football.

 

[dmq]

I wanted to write a little more on the post last night but had to go. What I loved was when players were drafted by a team and stayed w/ them their entire career. It was always nice to know that if you were a bad team for a couple years in a row, eventually your high draft picks could eventually make you into a dynasty. How would we feel if in the next couple years we lost Witten, Julius Jones maybe even Ware because they went for the big bucks? It seems like you put your heart and souls into training these guys. They turn the corner and boom, they're gone. Bradie James is a perfect example. It just figures the guy turns the corner and now he is probably gonna want some coin. Great for him, sucks for us. We are building a core here that I don't see being kept together if we keep signing these aged veterans. Back before FA we could keep building on these young guys. Now we can look forward to getting picked apart by the have nots when some of these guys are eligible for FA. Look at the team Jimmy built in the 90's. Our team was killed by FA. We had a roster strong enough to win 3 more Super Bowls than we did. So what is so great about FA?

 

[Yeagermeister]

I just hope if we build a good team that down the road a new CBA is approved and we get screwed by a cap.

 

[Juke99]

I agree 100%.

Oh yeah?!

Well I think you're clueless about football and...

Oh, wait, you agree with me?

 

[Yeagermeister]

Oh yeah?!

Well I think you're clueless about football and...

Oh, wait, you agree with me?

In that case he's an idiot

 

[Doomsday101]

Oh so you rather let the owners make Billions of dollars off the bumps and bruises from a bunch of min wage players. The amount of money the average fan will dish out is enormous( tickets, merchandise, and Memorabilia). But the most money comes from Companies( advertise, luxury box, and TV contracts).

And its that money that players shoot for. I remember the face value of Texas Stadium tickets were 40 to 50 dollars, but ticket brokers have run the prices up to 200 to 300 dollars. I don't think thats because of player's salaries.

If your profession was able to make you 20 million a year to do what you do. I doubt you would show up to work at what you earn today.

Players are not forking over 800 million dollar investment to buy a football team either. These guys are paid damn good money to play a game.

 

[Juke99]

In that case he's an idiot

Yeah!

Imagine what you'd be calling him if he agreed with Winicki.

 

[jman]

The players aren't driving this impasse. The owners are.

Compare the popularity of the league now to the pre free agency days. Like it or not, the current NFL system is the model on which all others should be based.

Seriously, compare it to the jokes that are baseball, basketball and hockey.

Half right...it isn’t the players or the owners. Its Gene Upshaw...He won't budge from 60% of the revenue.

And that's what the players have to deal with for having a poor union and poor union leadership in Upshaw. He has sold the players, particularly the retired veterans, down the river for way too long.

 

[junk]

Half right...it isn’t the players or the owners. Its Gene Upshaw...He won't budge from 60% of the revenue.

And that's what the players have to deal with for having a poor union and poor union leadership in Upshaw. He has sold the players, particularly the retired veterans, down the river for way too long.

If you read and listen in to it, thats not the issue at all. Most reports say that the little impasse between the NFL and NFLPA could be resolved rather quickly.

Its the impasse over revenue sharing with the owners that is causing issues. In other words, Jerry, Kraft and Snyder not wanting to throw in more of their local revenue.

So, 100% right.

 

[Clove]

Half right...it isn’t the players or the owners. Its Gene Upshaw...He won't budge from 60% of the revenue.

And that's what the players have to deal with for having a poor union and poor union leadership in Upshaw. He has sold the players, particularly the retired veterans, down the river for way too long.

You're talking about 300 million dollars for the players, and how is that bad for the players to split 300 million.

I guess you wouldn't want your union from your work, to help to make you more money, since your owner is raking it in, and you're doing all the dirty work.

 

[braw]

Players are not forking over 800 million dollar investment to buy a football team either. These guys are paid damn good money to play a game.

The reason they now pay that kind of money because the investment potential is great hardly any risk involved. I believe the Rooneys bought the Steelers for around 14,000 now worth 850 million great investment.

And Its not one person buying the team its usually a group of investors that buy in to a club that happens to reside in the city. Where the people are taxed to help pay for the new stadium. Where the owner now makes money on, not only from football games.

Also let me know which owner has ever lost all his investment in the NFL. If there is none then the investment is not a risk investment.