The New York Daily News reported Sunday that the NFL wants to convert two meaningless exhibition games and convert them to two regular-season games, a move that is expected to raise the ire of the NFL Players Association.
By the 2010 season, the NFL is likely to drop two of the dreadful preseason games that makes the league look so bad and increase the regular season to 18 games. But before that can happen, Roger Goodell and the NFLPA must resolve a difficult economic difference: Should the players get what they play for? The players get 60% of the league's revenue put into the salary cap. Goodell says whether the season is broken down into four preseason games and 16 regular season games or two preseason games and 18 regular season games, the players will still get 60% of the revenue.
Thus, he says, even though they are playing two more regular season games, they should not get an automatic raise where their base salary would be 18 times their per-game pay instead of 16. If a player is making a $1.6 million base salary, which is $100,000 a game, the NFLPA will argue the salary should jump to $1.8 million, while Goodell says any extra money will come as a function of the salary cap system.
"If there is more revenue, you get a piece of that," Goodell said.
The NFL is not changing the structure of the season simply because the preseason games stink and too many players are getting hurt. Those are factors, of course, but more regular season inventory certainly means more television revenue. The ticket revenue wouldn't change because teams are already charging regular season prices for the preseason games, which are barely more than rookie scrimmages. If the league gives the networks more regular season games, the anticipation is the money they pay to show the games would increase. And 60% would then be turned over to the players.
Richard Berthelsen, the interim executive director of the NFLPA until Gene Upshaw's to-be-determined permanent replacement takes over in March, says the players will never go for that approach because it won't impact players with long-term deals.
"It doesn't help a player who signed a five-year contract," he said. "He is playing more games, but his contract is based on 16 games. If they increase to 17 or 18 games, their salary has to be increased. Divide their salary by 16, that is the per game pay. Whatever the number of games, add to that amount. That is our position."
They play 20 games total a year and playoffs if they make it. They make as much as any other athlete except for maybe baseball players like A-rod and Manny. They have no reason to bitch. I think baseball is very boring, but those guys play 9x the gamest he NFL does and they do it from April thru Sept. I think the NFL primadonnas can handle 2 regular season games extra a year. What do they work, July through December and then January if they make the playoff? Not a bad deal.
\m/ (-_-) \m/
