The owners always play divide and conquer in their CBA talks. In 2011, they successfully turned veteran players against players on their rookie contracts. Basically slotting rookie deals and preventing extensions before the end of third accrued year etc. Of course, the law of unintended consequences set in for the veterans as younger talent got so much cheaper than veteran talent that the league is growing increasingly younger and careers are getting shorter. Something tells me the owners weren’t surprised by this at all.
If I was DeMaurice Smith, I would line up a couple of billion dollar line of credit to keep players afloat in the event of a strike. The owners would be told that the line of credit would be repaid out of their share of the revenues in the event of a strike and that a non-negotiable part of any settlement would be that every player under contract at the end of the previous season must be paid the greater of their salary of the proceeding year or their negotiated salary of the strike year when the strike ends. Plus, the roster would increase to a number that would accommodate all of those players plus 12 drafted or undrafted rookies per team.
My negotiation goals would be to: 1. increase the player’s share of revenues to 50.1%. 2. In exchange for another bye week, larger rosters, more flexible roster rules, and no Thursday games not proceeded by a bye, agree to a 18 game season with two thirds of the additional revenue going into the player’s share. 3. The franchise tag would carry a salary of the average of the ten highest salaries overall and not the 10 highest of the position. 4. Marijuana would be removed from the drug list. 5. Roger Goodell must immediately step down as Commissioner.
If I was DeMaurice Smith, I would line up a couple of billion dollar line of credit to keep players afloat in the event of a strike. The owners would be told that the line of credit would be repaid out of their share of the revenues in the event of a strike and that a non-negotiable part of any settlement would be that every player under contract at the end of the previous season must be paid the greater of their salary of the proceeding year or their negotiated salary of the strike year when the strike ends. Plus, the roster would increase to a number that would accommodate all of those players plus 12 drafted or undrafted rookies per team.
My negotiation goals would be to: 1. increase the player’s share of revenues to 50.1%. 2. In exchange for another bye week, larger rosters, more flexible roster rules, and no Thursday games not proceeded by a bye, agree to a 18 game season with two thirds of the additional revenue going into the player’s share. 3. The franchise tag would carry a salary of the average of the ten highest salaries overall and not the 10 highest of the position. 4. Marijuana would be removed from the drug list. 5. Roger Goodell must immediately step down as Commissioner.
