It's been over six years since the NFL had to deal with a work stoppage of any sort, and unfortunately for the league, that's a streak that could be coming to an end soon, according to DeMaurice Smith.
Smith, who serves as the executive director of the NFLPA, believes there's going to be a work stoppage after the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) expires following the 2020 season.
"I think the likelihood of either a strike or a lockout in [2021] is almost a virtual certainty," Smith said this week during an interview with MMQB.com.
The last time the NFL had to cancel games due to a work stoppage came in 1987. This time around, Smith isn't quite sure yet if a work stoppage would lead to any canceled games, but he didn't sound optimistic.
"I don't know. Let's look at our history," Smith said.
The problem with negotiating a new CBA is that it sounds like the players don't really trust the owners right now.
"The owners do a deal in 2006 and opt out in 2008. We do a deal in 2011 with no opt outs because we like the benefits under the current deal and we didn't want to give the owners an opportunity to opt out and take back the games that we currently have," Smith said. "If there was no renegotiating of the collective bargaining agreement and we reach 2021, there is no uncapped year. The last time we went through it, we found out that the owners lied and cheated about the uncapped year, so why would I do that again?"
The seeds for the 2011 lockout were planted in 2008 when the NFL's 32 owners voted to opt out of a CBA that was supposed to run through 2012. When the league opted out, that meant an early end to the 2006 CBA agreement and left the league with an uncapped salary year in 2010.
According to Smith, the owners "colluded with each other" so that the players wouldn't be able to take advantage of the uncapped year.
"All the mutual benefits that were supposed to happened as result of the opt out didn't happen last time," Smith said. "Owners colluded with each other and we found out that they colluded with each other. All of the bad things that went to the players happened and none of the bad things that went to the owners happened. So we have a new deal that if it doesn't get fixed, you go into a certain Armageddon."
What this all means is that Smith is ready to take the NFLPA to battle with the NFL over the new CBA. The NFLPA is taking the possibility of a work stoppage so seriously that it warned players in May to start saving money.
If a work stoppage does happen, it wouldn't start for at least four more seasons. The current CBA runs through the 2020 season, which means any potential work stoppage wouldn't take place until the 2021 season. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mecca:
That isn't what they want though, they want more teams because that is more games.
Also the NFLPA is gonna love this because that is a ton more jobs, I expect expanded roster sizes at some point to to help with that too.
NFL already has the most teams in any American League. And at least 10 of those can’t get support. It would severely damage the product adding more teams.
Only 1/3 of the teams now are truly competitive. Lot of boring games nobody will watch.
You don’t need to add teams to get more revenue.
Make the pro bowl a fun skills challenge and have more fan attendance, move a struggling team to Canada, add more games in Europe, add a 2nd combine for lesser prospects in March (people will watch) and for gods sake quit having shit teams in prime time. Move the limit of 6 prime time games per team to 7.
More Cowboys and more Mahomes on primetime=more eyes watching=$$$ [Reply]
Originally Posted by RunKC:
NFL already has the most teams in any American League. And at least 10 of those can’t get support. It would severely damage the product adding more teams.
Only 1/3 of the teams now are truly competitive. Lot of boring games nobody will watch.
You don’t need to add teams to get more revenue.
Make the pro bowl a fun skills challenge and have more fan attendance, move a struggling team to Canada, add more games in Europe, add a 2nd combine for lesser prospects in March (people will watch) and for gods sake quit having shit teams in prime time. Move the limit of 6 prime time games per team to 7.
More Cowboys and more Mahomes on primetime=more eyes watching=$$$
You're missing the point, the more games that are on TV the more the tv contracts become worth at that point. The NFL isn't in the game of trying to have some ultra competitive league they are in the business of making money.
More and more sports are about tv not live attendance why do you think stadiums are being built smaller now? [Reply]
There are now multiple NFL teams waiting to make roster moves based on the potential of a new CBA. If a new CBA is approved in the days to come, a flurry of roster moves will follow.
There are now multiple NFL teams waiting to make roster moves based on the potential of a new CBA. If a new CBA is approved in the days to come, a flurry of roster moves will follow.
Originally Posted by Mecca:
8 cities that can support NFL teams, now remember newer are building smaller stadiums as this is a TV product.
1. Toronto
2. San Antonio/Austin both of these cities are huge so pick one
3. Portland
4. Oklahoma City
5. San Diego
6. St Louis
7. Albuquerque
8. Louisville
Those bottom 2 are longer shots but I left off places like London, Mexico City, Vancouver and even Salt Lake, there are a lot of options. Hell Columbus Ohio is massive but the Buckeyes are there so....
1: Canadians aren't going to be happy about an American league team even if it's in Canada. Not gonna work.
2 & 4: Jerry Jones isn't going to divvy up his franchise's reach any more than it currently is between the Texans and Saints. Not happening.
3: Someone's gonna pony up a billion for the franchise rights AND self-fund a stadium since an uber-left city like Portland isn't gonna allow for a taxpayer funded football stadium? lol nope.
5: Even in a new, downsized stadium the local populace won't care and it'll be partially filled with fans of the visiting team. But sure if some billionaire wants to do it: go for it.
6: St. Louis is a baseball and hockey town, AND there are three if not four franchises that aren't going to want to cede marketshare. Not happening.
7: See #3, except less lefty.
8: See #6 except that the fact there's no pro competition (beyond AAA baseball) is traded off by the fact it's smaller and much less wealthy than St. Louis. Not gonna happen. [Reply]
Originally Posted by RunKC:
For gods sake quit having shit teams in prime time. Move the limit of 6 prime time games per team to 7.
The limit of six games is fine. If the same team or teams are playing in Prime Time 41% of the time, the networks will lose viewers due to sheer boredom, if not hate.
Who wants to see Tom Brady & Bill Belichick seven times in Prime Time along with their allotted national morning and afternoon games?
Also, it's really, really difficult for the league to consistently schedule the "best" teams and games in Prime Time because there's so much movement in Free Agency, along with injuries that just derail seasons.
The Networks don't pay an equal amount for each package, they bid on the rights to broadcast the AFC, NFC, MNF, SNF & TNF. So the last thing that CBS or Fox wants to do is give up that awesome morning or afternoon game to NBC or ESPN due to "flexing" because it affects their bottom line and their revenues as well.
While it seems like there's been a recent rash of bad Prime Time games, I really don't want to see it go back to what it was in the 70's, 80's and most of the 90's, in which we see the same teams every Sunday afternoon or in Prime Time: The NY Giants, Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, Miami Dolphins, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys, all because they were the "winningest" teams but more importantly to the networks, the cities with the largest population and fan bases.
At least there's Sunday Ticket today but back then, it was either watch the games on broadcast TV or turn off the TV on Sunday afternoon or Monday night.
I don't think anyone wants a repeat of those days. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Discuss Thrower:
1: Canadians aren't going to be happy about an American league team even if it's in Canada. Not gonna work.
More Canadians are watching the NFL than the CFL (including me), so I'm not sure I follow on this one.
There's no doubt that such a franchise would be successful with as much money as there is in Toronto right now, but I would think the real reasons that the NFL doesn't want to expand there is because they're not adding a US television market by doing so (incredibly important to the major network network television partners who call the shots) and they've already got a built-in fanbase throughout the city/country with everyone already watching their own respective teams. If international expansion is going to happen any time soon, I think it will be elsewhere. [Reply]
We’re, Portland not worthy of any pro teams besides the basketball.
Heck, the NBA won’t even allow an ALL STAR game here cause they say there’s not enough motels to support, lol.
It’s either at least 3-4 more years of Sammy or he’s gone.
I would have hoped to draft a day 2 wr and then let him play behind Watkins to learn the playbook for a year, then take over the following year? [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud:
The limit of six games is fine. If the same team or teams are playing in Prime Time 41% of the time, the networks will lose viewers due to sheer boredom, if not hate.
Who wants to see Tom Brady & Bill Belichick seven times in Prime Time along with their allotted national morning and afternoon games?
Also, it's really, really difficult for the league to consistently schedule the "best" teams and games in Prime Time because there's so much movement in Free Agency, along with injuries that just derail seasons.
The Networks don't pay an equal amount for each package, they bid on the rights to broadcast the AFC, NFC, MNF, SNF & TNF. So the last thing that CBS or Fox wants to do is give up that awesome morning or afternoon game to NBC or ESPN due to "flexing" because it affects their bottom line and their revenues as well.
While it seems like there's been a recent rash of bad Prime Time games, I really don't want to see it go back to what it was in the 70's, 80's and most of the 90's, in which we see the same teams every Sunday afternoon or in Prime Time: The NY Giants, Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, Miami Dolphins, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys, all because they were the "winningest" teams but more importantly to the networks, the cities with the largest population and fan bases.
At least there's Sunday Ticket today but back then, it was either watch the games on broadcast TV or turn off the TV on Sunday afternoon or Monday night.
I don't think anyone wants a repeat of those days.
it's called NFL Game Pass you old fuck :-) [Reply]
