I keep coming back to a few comments from Kraft over the years that never sat well with me and all the more so now.
From 2010, when work was starting on the new collective bargaining agreement: "It's in the best interest of everyone if ownership goes out and takes risks to grow revenue and it's shared appropriately," Kraft told the radio program. "Right now, we made a mistake [with the last CBA]. People make errors, people make mistakes. The deal doesn't work for both sides. What I'm talking about is
a deal where we’ll have competitive balance."
Kraft's biggest fear from a new deal is losing the NFL's competitive balance, not just on the field but financially too. He pointed out the success of the Super Bowl between Indianapolis and New Orleans, two teams from relatively small markets.
Kraft acknowledges the NFL's successes under the expiring CBA.
"I just think since we bought the team, I think the salary cap was like $34 [million], and now with fringe benefits it's $150 [million]," Kraft said. "So in 16 years, income has gone up 500 percent."
But Kraft considers the deal too one-sided."
http://nesn.com/2010/03/robert-kraft-ready-to-work-toward-new-collective-bargaining-agreement/
As of 2014, the estimated value of the Patriots team was $2.6 billion and he paid about $172 million for the team in 1994. So Kraft conveniently leaves out that the value of his team has increased 1,400 percent over a similar 20 year period. Please talk some more about fringe benefits, Bob. In 1995, league revenues were projected at $1.62 billion and players received 63 percent. As of 2010, the year Kraft made those remarks, league revenues were projected at $8 billion, which actually outpaced the rate of growth of player salaries. The biggest difference is that in 1995, players made 63 percent of revenues. After the newly ratified CBA, the player's share must average 47 percent over the 10 year deal (not counting certain "fringe benefits").
And from just before the Super Bowl earlier this year, in a short joust with the ever-verbose Richard Sherman:
Richard Sherman: "Will they be punished? Probably not. Not as long as Roger Goodell and Robert Kraft are still taking pictures at their respective homes. I think it was just at Kraft's house last week before the AFC Championship, you know. Talk about conflict of interest."
Kraft's retort: "I think Richard Sherman is a very smart marketing whiz," Kraft said. "If you go into the facts of what he said, the NFL always used to pay for a big party for the AFC Championship Game. We've been privileged to own the team for 21 years, and this was our 10th championship game. When the league stopped giving the parties, we started doing it. This is our third one.
"I think Mr. Sherman understood that
he's the biggest beneficiary, because they get over 50 percent of the revenues. So he didn't go to Harvard, but Stanford must be pretty good because he figured it out," Kraft said.
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on...raft-strikes-back-at-seahawks-richard-sherman
It's always been about money for Bob. That, and "competitive balance".
