The end of another great NFL season is nearly upon us. We had better enjoy it because there might not be any football next season as the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement expires in 2010. For those of you who don't know this is a process if voluntary negotiations between NFL team owners and NFL players association. The Bargaining Agreement sets wage scale, work conditions, work hours, training, health and safety etc. As of right now both sides are so far from reaching an agreement that player reps have advised players to save their last four game checks in preparation for next season's lockout.
Both sides can make a case for why they are right but in the end it is the fans who pay the ultimate price. Owners pay player outrageous sums of money and to cover the cost they merely jack up ticket and concession prices. Are you kidding me? These are grown men being paid outrageously to play a game. When you really think about it the whole concept is ridiculous. It's not like these guys are curing Aids or cancer. The players want more money, the owners want to play them less money and that is what it all boils down to. Seriously, why in the world are there so many preseason games? Because owners realized it was just another way of generating income. Still fans pay close to regular season ticket prices for meaningless games. I would never do it. Now the owners want to add two more games to the regular season schedule, to generate more income. Even in this economy they are trying to suck the fans dry and it's a cry in shame. Of course the players see this and they want more money as well which further strengthens my opinion that it all boils down to money.
Then there is this NFL Direct Ticket. For yet even more money you can watch all the NFL games on Sunday. If you can't afford or just don't want to pay you can watch the matchup scheduled for your local channel. In my case I live in the south eastern region and I'm forced to watch the hapless Carolina Panthers week in and week out. I shouldn't be forced to watch then play and I'm certainly not paying for NFL ticket, it's just not worth it for me.
Both sides have valid points but the fans are the ones who suffer. if there is indeed a lockout and I certainly believe a lockout is eminent a season won't be all both sides lose. I think that the fans will have had enough and many of us won't come back to the game of football. If they think that attendance in many stadiums are down now then wait until they try and come back after a lockout. We the fans deserve more then what the owners and players are giving us. If they really cared about the fans both sides will put their own self interest aside and do what's best for the fans. Otherwise there may not be many fans to come back to. What needs to happen is for a new and rigid pay scale be set into place. Salary caps remain relatively the same but the extra money the franchise earns through attendance and sales is evenly distributed to each of that team's players. It ensures that every player gives maximum effort and it allows for more competitive games. As supposed to paying one single player so much money that you can't afford to keep any surrounding talent. This also allows for the franchise to ease the ticket prices for the fans. Times are tough and the last thing we need is for our favorite teams to screw us over.
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