CBA News: Heating Up 1/19/2011

[Chimera]

wrong.

VA health benefits are open to all Veterans. Family members may also be eligible to receive benefits. There is no monthly premium for VA care, but there may be a co-pay.

Lifetime VA medical care is for retirees.

[Happy Panther]

I can see both sides

[Carolina Husker]

And if he was doing it he would be spending more time at the proverbial table working out a deal and less time decertifying the union and planning court actions.

The players get on the poo list because they are letting him do it.

And how are the owners not culpable in any of this? The players basically have two legitimate requests:

Show us the books if you're going to claim you're losing money.

Pay us more and expand the rosters if you're going to 18 games.

How is a lockout in the best interest of the players? The thing to do is keep communicating, not be obstinate.

Unless everything we're hearing is wrong, no one wants a lockout more than a handful of owners, principally Jerry Richardson. Just because the NFLPA and Smith won't roll ever doesn't mean they want a lockout.

[Panthro]

Negotiate for better comp and benefits all you want. I'm cool with that. I would tell them to go to hell if they demanded to see the books. It's a privately run company. They are compensated well. . Do that anywhere else and you'd be laughed at all the way to the unemployment line (i can show you where that is if you need to know)

[Carolina Husker]

Not all teams are privately run.

[Panthro]

Is there another team besides the Packers that are not?

[mwright350]

Pretty much everything else aside I simply cannot get on board with any side boasting Demaurice Smith as their figurehead. There's something wrong with that man...did an NFL team owner spit on him as a kid or something?

[kdrh5]

This thread shows how jealous people really are of NFL players. Seriously, why try to make parallels between their jobs and your job?

[rayzor]

Where do you draw the line. Not all players in the NFL get injured severely or even suffer a concussion. Do you give the same benefits to a guy who plays on the practice squad for a year as you do for a 10 year veteran who has started 150 games. I think that players should have medical care and health care but should the NFL pay for it for everyone and for things that happen 20 years later that are unrelated to their football careers. What about guys that get jobs in the private sector that have benefits and insurance. Should the NFl policy just pay for preexisting conditions related to football or the whole burden.

good questions. the truth is all the players are asking for is easier access to the health care benefits. they don't want an increase in benefits. they just want the number of games to qualify for them to go down. considering there is no minimum number of games you have to play to get a concussion(s) that can bring about early onset dementia, it doesn't seem like they are asking too much.

[rayzor]

The league minimum this past year was $325,000 for rookies.

The exp scale is as follows:

1 year $400,000

2 years $475,000

3 years $550,000

4-6 years $635,000

7-9 years $760,000

10+ years $860,000

Remember that's the minimum.

considering that this is likely the most money they will every get paid and the fact that many are having to deal with crippling arthritis at an early age, not to mention the long term effects of brain trauma experienced as a player, they may not have many marketable skills. i just don't know how these guys can be long term contributors to the workforce, even with that, how expensive are their healthcare needs? how expensive is their insurance (that is provided they can even get insured because of the toll the game and conditioning for the game has had on their bodies).

[unicar15]

DeMarice Smith thinks he is some revolutionary leader? Did he say that or are you making that up? Not denying that pro athletes are spoiled, but I don't see any owner's out there picking up bottles off the sides of the street either. Both sides are spoiled.

You got the NFL owners who are asking for:

1. The players to take a pay cut because they say they are losing money

2. 18 game schedule to make more money

3. More money to go into "future expansion"... like the church building fund.

4. Rookie Salary Cap/wage scale

5. Implement new injury rules to protect the players.

You got the players who want:

1. To see the books to see if the NFL teams are truly losing money

2. Extra pay for playing extra games or more players or roster.

3. Make sure the future expansion money is used for future expansion.

4. Don't want rookie salary cap

Right now I'm more on the players side, based off the reluctance of the owners to open up the books. The one team with open books, The Packers are showing making more money. However there needs to be a rookie salary cap. I am also not sure if 18 games are a good idea. I just want less preseason games. If they are worried about injuries adding 2 more high intensity games doesn't make sense to me.

They aren't asking the players to take a pay cut. They are asking the players to take a tentative pay FREEZE. There is a big difference. The only wage CUTS is with the rookie wage scale and if I'm not mistaken, the veteran players are in favor of that because it means more money for established players.

Honestly, I don't care if the owners don't want to open up their books to Demaurice Smith. There are 32 men in the NFL who cut checks and unless there is some atrocity going on involving players not getting paid or something else that is illegal then why should those 32 men show their books to anyone?

The risk that the players take is financially compensated BY THE OWNERS. They need to stop crying, take the money that makes them richer than 99.99999999% of the rest of the western world and play the damn game and stop acting like this is a situation where the world is going to explode if a deal doesn't get done.

As far as healthcare is concerned, I'm pretty damn sure that all the MRIs, CT scans, X rays and studies that active players have don't come out of their pockets. They don't pay a dime for those workups...their owners do. So what they are saying is that once they retire from football, the NFL should STILL have to pay for their healthcare?? Can someone please name me a company that continues to cover its former employees healthcare once said employee retires?? Its called MEDICARE and MEDICAID people...that is one reason that covered workers don't retire until they qualify for it. For the rest of us that have medical bills to pay that do not work for a company that provides coverage it is called SELF PAY. I'm pretty sure that even their 5 year 2 million dollar contracts can pay for that assuming they get a job after the NFL. If they can't get a job after the NFL THENNN I'm sorry that is the risk you took when you signed your measly 5 year 2-3 million dollar contract. Give me a FREAKING BREAK!

[thunderraiden]

Owners have already given the players the publicly available books of the Green Bay Packers which shows they are losing money. Even if they did hand over all their books it wouldn't matter to the players. They would probably solely look at the books of the New York Jets and use that as an arguing point as to why the league is lying.

Or they will do what every other Players Union has done in all other sports when owners hand over the books: Ignore them.

[Snake]

The league minimum this past year was $325,000 for rookies.

The exp scale is as follows:

1 year $400,000

2 years $475,000

3 years $550,000

4-6 years $635,000

7-9 years $760,000

10+ years $860,000

Remember that's the minimum.

LOL I figured someone would look it up so I just low balled the figure. :biggrin:

It still proves my point though. They def make more money then most people and if they didnt study in school then thats there own fault. The NFL is an opportunity not a requirement. No one is making those guy go out there and play for us.

As the saying goes... "You knew this job was dangerous when you took it".

[kdrh5]

How dare those employees try to use facts and the leverage they have to be treated fairly!?!?! Just shut up and do your job!!!