C'mon Robo. I can agree that Ralph Wilson didn't understand the deal but the argument that the owners as a whole didn't understand what was in a deal they were making involving billions and billions of dollars doesn't hold water. You honestly believe that the owners didn't know what they were doing? I don't. I believe the problem has always been between the owners and big and small markets, and that what has happened here is that the owners, after signing the last deal, realized they could build up financial security the players could never match and then opt out to crush them as a union and reap huge rewards in future TV deals that the players wouldn't share in.
Firm and cordial negotiations could have accomplished a new deal while operating under the 2010 rules and continuing to talk, but the owners refused that. Why? Because a fair deal was never what thre owners wanted, huge profits the players wouldn't share was, and the only way to accomplish that is by locking the players out, getting the players to crumble as a group, and forcing a deal they don't want down their throats, which is what is going on here.
I'm all for negotiations and a fair deal that benefits all, and have outlined one that involves mostly player concessions in another post, and I am completely opposed to the players allowing their counsel to destroy the structure of the game as it is and have said so repeatedly, but i think anyone who thinks the owners are conducting themselves fairly or decently is really kidding themselves.
I do agree that D. Smith is not looking out for the players best interests and may well be more interested in agent interests, and would rather see someone who cares about the game and players interests leading the players, but Upshaw is dead and the players have yet to remove Smith, which may be necessary to get a good deal done.
