Thread: Roger Goodell: 'Not enough communication' in NFL CBA talks

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell continued to bemoan the pace of labor negotiations with the players' union on Tuesday as the NFLPA confirmed it filed a collusion claim against the league.

With the expiration of the current collective bargaining agreement approaching in early March and a potential work stoppage looming, Goodell reiterated his complaint that the two sides aren't talking often enough.

"There is not enough communication," Goodell said. The last formal negotiating session between the league and union occurred prior to Thanksgiving.

The NFLPA filed a collusion claim with special master Stephen Burbank in which it alleged wrongdoing by owners in the most recent free-agent class.

NFL lawyer Bob Batterman said last week that the union was more interested in legal and political avenues to achieve a labor resolution than in negotiating. Goodell said on Tuesday he would not stand for anything other than a deal reached at the bargaining table.

"This is not going to get resolved through litigation," he said. "It will get resolved through negotiation."

full article - http://content.usatoday.com/communit...fl-cba-talks/1

WASHINGTON -- NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and union executive director DeMaurice Smith spoke face to face in New York on Wednesday, while more than a dozen current or former players were on Capitol Hill for face time with lawmakers and congressional staffers.

Union spokesman George Atallah characterized Wednesday's session between Goodell and Smith as "an effort to advance the bargaining," rather than a formal negotiating session toward a new labor contract. Atallah would not discuss the substance of the meeting in any detail.

Before players dropped by his office, Rep. Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican who is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, released a statement making it clear he doesn't think lawmakers should get involved with the NFL labor talks.

"That is a business dispute," the statement said. "The owners and players are both literally and figuratively big boys and do not need Congress to referee every dispute for them."

full article - http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6037260

They'll get it done. He's too smart to allow the NFL to lose BILLIONS in revenue.

Originally Posted by BroncoStud

They'll get it done. He's too smart to allow the NFL to lose BILLIONS in revenue.

But they need to get it done ASAP.

This offseason is too important for Denver and I don't want the team getting screwed because of this crap.

According to PFT this is supposedly part of a scheme by the NFL to force the players to strike instead of the NFL locking them out.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...or-a-surprise/

Last year, lawyer David Cornwell was the first to suggest that the NFL’s plan won’t be to launch a work stoppage. Instead, Cornwell explained that the league will declare an impasse in the talks and impose on the players the terms of the last, best offer made by management. The players, who have been accusing the NFL of trying to take football away from the fans, would then have to decide whether to accept the rules or to go on strike, which would amount to the players taking football away from the fans.

Yay! no football next year!

NFL lawyer Bob Batterman said last week that the union was more interested in legal and political avenues to achieve a labor resolution than in negotiating. Goodell said on Tuesday he would not stand for anything other than a deal reached at the bargaining table.

"This is not going to get resolved through litigation," he said. "It will get resolved through negotiation."

Actually, the players know that the ONLY way this will ever get resolved is through litigation. The owners have ZERO interest in Negotiating anything the players will ever accept. And everybody knows it.

We have a bunch of greedy scumbag BILLIONAIRES complaining about "revenues" while their league revenues shot up once again and the values of teams like the Broncos have increased from less than $80 million when Pat Bowlen bought the team to over $1.1 BILLION today according to Forbes Magazine.

The posturing of the owners and their claims of poverty is rather like Queen Marie Antoinette playing at being a milk-maid in the Petit Trianon at the Versailles Palace.

Before the NFL can implement its last, best, pre-impasse offer, there has to be an impasse. And it’s starting to look like the owners will soon be able to declare that an impasse exists.

But the impasse, if it’s coming, won’t arise from a disagreement as to the substance of the talks. It will arise from the persistent inability of the two sides to agree to engage in meaningful talks on the real issues that need to be resolved.

That’s possibly why NFL General Counsel Jeff Pash spent time at his Tuesday press conference, held in conjunction with the ownership meeting in Atlanta, to talk about the lack of meetings between the NFL and the union.

Though much can happen between now and March 4, the league seems to be doing a nice job of laying the foundation to declare an impasse and to impose on March 4 the exact opposite of a lockout.

In short the league has ZERO interest in actually negotiating a deal. They are simply posturing in order to "prove" that the players are striking, thereby "taking football away from the fans" so a bunch of idiot fans will blame the players instead of the greedy owners.

I suppose there are plenty of morons dumb enough to believe them too, so it'll probably work.

The legal question then will be whether the NFLPA will be able to de-certify quickly enough to prevent the NFL from declaring an impasse and unilaterally imposing a new (much lower) salary cap and an 18 game season and then seek a quick injunction in court.

It's looking more and more like the league is going to write off the 2011 season. No Super-bowl in 2012. Either that or they'll try and play all the games with Arena League and Canadian Football League rejects.

So, instead of Tebow, we get to see some scrub nobody ever heard of at QB for the Broncos? And we're supposed to be fine with that?

The owners just think they should be getting more profit then what they are. They are seeing the sport grow substantially while making minimal profits. While league revenues are increasing, so are player salaries, so are coaching salaries, so is maintenance to fund more and more expensive equipment. Hell stadium costs are continuing to increase significantly on a year to year basis. The owners are making multi millions and spending multi millions to fund operations.

So all the owners are "greedy scumbags" for wanting to profit from THEIR investments...While rookie prospects getting mega millions in guarantees, when they haven't even worked one day for their new boss. BS...

If I'm going to go out and buy a business..Any business at that...I EXPECT to collect my fair profit, since I have invested SOOOO much into it.. If my greedy employees don't like it, they can do 3 things...

1- agree they are getting paid fairly, shut the f-up, and keep coming to work for the contract and salary they signed for.

2 - Find new jobs if they don't like me (the owners) and the contract they signed.

3 - Go on strike, lose all of your pay, and watch me (the owner) still get paid with or without them.


Players and NFLPA...When you can afford to break the bank and buy an NFL team of your own...With all the costs and salaries you have to distribute, then you will know how ridiculous this is.


Im tired of all these young DUMB rich athletes, still wanting more and more money...

Originally Posted by Benetto

So all the owners are "greedy scumbags" for wanting to profit from THEIR investments...While rookie prospects getting mega millions in guarantees, when they haven't even worked one day for their new boss. BS...

If I'm going to go out and buy a business..Any business at that...I EXPECT to collect my fair profit, since I have invested SOOOO much into it.. If my greedy employees don't like it, they can do 3 things...

1- agree they are getting paid fairly, shut the f-up, and keep coming to work for the contract and salary they signed for.

2 - Find new jobs if they don't like me (the owners) and the contract they signed.

3 - Go on strike, lose all of your pay, and still watch me (the owner) still get paid with or without them.


Players and NFLPA...When you can afford to break the bank and buy an NFL team of your own...With all the costs and salaries you have to distribute, then will ANY of you actually know how ridiculous this is.


Im tired of all these young DUMB rich athletes, still wanting more and more money...

Exactly. When things go wrong, or bad decisions are made, or a fabric of continuity comes out of hand, the organization, and the owners are the ones that lose money and suffer the consequences. Not that players.

Tags did a bad deal last time around. Everyone knows it. That is why the union doesn't want a single change.

Anybody interested should check out this article from forbes:
http://blogs.forbes.com/sportsmoney/...t-unwarranted/

It breaks down what we know about NFL revenues and makes a pretty good case that the owners are full of BS.

It also shows this nifty breakdown:

Have rookie wages grown?

Actually, the amount of rookie share of the salary cap has decreased since 1994:

* 1994 (first capped year) – 6.86%
* 1999 – 5.41%
* 2003 – 4.94%
* 2009 (last capped year) – 3.71%.

Originally Posted by MadMax

Anybody interested should check out this article from forbes:
http://blogs.forbes.com/sportsmoney/...t-unwarranted/

It breaks down what we know about NFL revenues and makes a pretty good case that the owners are full of BS.

It also shows this nifty breakdown:

Okay..Let me get this straight...

So since the NFL is making more money, and the owners are profiting from their investments....They should give bigger, and more inflated salaries and benefits?


Owners earned their money, and bought a business....Just because the business is growing with success they should throw around their profits to the players...Who already have lucrative CONTRACTS...

Yeah, the owners are full of BS for depositing THEIR earnings into THEIR bank accounts, instead of being "generous" and paying already rich employees, more money for doing their JOBBBB!

The players need to remember that they don't get paid unless there are games and revenue. The owners, for the most part, are close to BILLIONAIRES, the players, not quite.

Attrition. Salaries are out of control.