I wish I had realized WEEI was actually going to have a total football show on Saturday afternoon.
Blank did mention that David called him the moment he heard about Wayne's contract. Brad calmed him down and told him not to read too much into it as far as his situation is concerned. LOL I know David has been rumored to want a lot more than the Pats would even consider since the 2003 season and SB. The only dig I ever hear, and he's not alone in this, is that BB believes injuries are different than playing hurt - and we have a lot guys lately who can't or won't play if anything hurts. BB is pretty old school in that respect.
I only heard snipets earlier but Blank had the best explanation of what is going on with the CBA that I've heard. He bumped into the Eagles GM at Logan on his way to the combine and they talked for half an hour about what was holding up the CBA and how to get around the poison pills contract structure wise. He also said that clauses may be incorporated into contracts that totally restructure the deal in the event of a new CBA. He said the management council has indicated such clauses would be approved.
According to Blank the deal with the union is essentially done, as we have heard from some reports. The haves have agreed to share the wealth by opening up DGR to Total Revenue. The percentage the union gets has been agreed to. The hangup is the union wants to see how the owners agree to divide that total amongst themselves, and as the Philly GM said it's really none of their damn business.
Brad says the union is now apparently concerned that the haves will not give enough of their excess of expanded revenue to the lower revenue teams to make it easy for them to keep up with expanded salary demands. I guess the union wants true socialism - pool it all and divide it equally. The haves are saying no way we hand more than half of our revenue over and let the underachievers of the league spend our money to beat us and sit back and count the left overs after the players are paid as their newfound unearned windfall profit.
So now it is up to the owners to agree on a formula for revenue sharing that doesn't rape the haves to placate their underachieving billionaire and multi millionaire partners who will then have no incentive to manage or market their franchises any better going forward. And apparently it has to be one that pleases the union too. No wonder this deal isn't getting done.
Blank actually agrees that the hardest working owners shouldn't be penalized for succeeding. He says he's seen how little marketing Bidwell does in AZ - talked about how they set up temporary kiosks on game day that sell like 1 hat and 1 shirt (their two top players), and disassemble them once the game is over. He mentioned all Kraft has done with the web site, PFW, programming, the pro shop, etc. Said he isn't sure why the union should care how the owners share revenue amongst themselves as long as the cap goes up including the cap floor.
It seems to me Upshaw's time would be better spent wagging his finger at the underschievers, or in the mirror. If Upshaw cares so much about parity, his threats of an upcapped future must be pretty hollow. Either that or he's just using the owners disagreement about revenue sharing amongst themselves as a blame cover to get to an uncapped future. Wouldn't be the first time a "players union" killed or permanently disabled the the vehicle that provides for it's members very existence in the quest for unlimited contract potential and then tried to blame ownership for the mess left in it's wake.
Ted did say later that Upshaw has always told them there can never be guaranteed contracts in football because of the physicality. They would bankrupt the league. Ted is scratching his head that just getting more money doesn't seem to be enough to avoid potentially killing this golden goose. He mentioned the same relationship between Tags and Upshaw that Dr. Z questioned this week - guys who have been in bed together for so many moons it is tough to believe they still aren't somehow in this together. Maybe it is somewhat contrived - sure is elevating drama and interest in the NFL at a time of year that is usually the dead zone. If so, I hope they don't take the drama too far and get all caught up in character.
