NFL lockout. Whose side are you on?
 

This article points out the main sticking points:

The NFL lockout is officially on. There won't be any free agency, no training camp and forget pre-season if players and owners can't come to an agreement soon. The collective bargaining agreement ran out at 11:59 p.m. ET March 11, 2011, and the players filed a lawsuit against the owners. Then the owners locked out the players from practicing and working out.

The sides were far apart on several issues, but it all revolves around money. Here is a look at five major issues both sides bicker about through mediators and lawsuits.

Season Length

Owners want an 18-game season so they can sell more tickets, make more money and increase television revenue. Players feel like two more games will increase injuries without increasing their pay. If the owners wanted to make more money by having more games, they would have to compensate players by giving them a bigger share of revenue.

Salaries

The salary cap has always been an issue with players and teams. Players want more money, owners don't want exorbitant salaries. The salary cap is a way to make the playing field more even for the league's 32 teams. In 2010 there was no cap as owner's invoked their option to extend the collective bargaining agreement for an extra year. Now the issue of how much salaries can increase or decrease per team will come up again.

Revenue Sharing

Revenue sharing between players and the league has always been an issue. Recent reports were puzzling as to why the two sides quibbled with minutiae as players seemed to ask for the same amount of revenue percentage as before. Splitting up $9 billion is hard to do.

Financial Information

One reason the players are mad at the owners is they believe the team owners have not been forthright regarding how much money they really make. The players want to see the past 10 years of accounting reports to which the owners responded with an emphatic "no."

Rookie Salaries

One thing the owners actually found common ground with the players was rookie salaries. The league and players agreed to limit rookie salaries as they had gotten out of hand. Signing bonuses, holdouts and megamillions for untested players were issues for owners who didn't want to pay as much money. In the end, the sides agreed to a sliding scale of contracts based upon the round in which players were drafted.

The recent breakdown of negotiations is an indication it may be a long summer before the two sides work out their issues.


My thoughts are that the owners are just that... the owners. They take all the risk in their business venture that is their football team.

The players get paid paid millions to play a game for a living. They're not forced to do it. They're not slaves, as Adrian Petersen said they were.

If the players don't like the salary offer the owners present, they are free to go and find another line of work.

Gotta go with the Players on this one.

Not knowing anything about it other than some brief reading.

The NFL is a business, and is run as such. The owners pay their employees a salary, and they make the profit. Just like any other business, you don't share ****ing revenue. Nor do they have to disclose diddly shit to the players.

I'm on the side of the owners here. They (players) are all already grossly overpaid. I'm sick of this union BS.

I'm on the side of getting back to football. All sides are being greedy but the owners have more saved up and can weather this storm. The players are all living hand to mouth for the most part.

For the non informed, the already billionaire owners agreed to the previous CBA and decided 2 years ago that the players were making too much money. The owners are the reason for the lockout b/c they wanted to opt of the current contract. All this is all about money which makes the world go around, but I'm with the players on this one

Haven't picked a side yet, but I'm subscribed.

Fans side! Both parties are being Childish and selfish! By the time this is all said and done we the fans will be paying the biggest price, higher tickets,higher cable cost,etc....

It is ridiculous for the NFL to be here with one the highest rated super bowls and the league generating 9billion dollars. The game is at one of it's highest points of all time and this only hurting the game right now. The sad part is if there is no football at all this year, it's not only the players out of work. It's the people who work the stadiums, parking lots, management and marketing staffs for every team, ball boys, team chefs, trainers etc who are also out of work and will just add to the 9% unemployment this country is already going through.
The players also lose all benefits I.e., health insurance, life insurance, etc...

Jenk, a firm out of NY did a report on the effect of a lockout and for just the 2011 season it was 12 BILLION dollars..... From parking lot attendants, to fantasy football company's all the way up to Budweiser and CBS, not to mention Direct TV and all the money they make on there $300 per house Sunday Ticket package.... Can't wait until the Government steps in ;)