Hillenmeyer admits to "PR move"

[Mr. Scot]

That's speculation at best, and your summation seeks to oversimplify it.

The players wanted near full financial disclosure, the owners offered them partial disclosure at the VERY END of the mediation, had they accepted, the public would have perceived the players got one of their key demands and therefore would likely have felt as though they were at fault for an agreement not being reached. Who's to say that the owners attempt at giving them financial information wasn't a PR stunt as well?

You could speculate, in the same way you have, that the owners gave the players partial disclosure, knowing that it wasn't enough for them to have an informed understanding of the NFL's finances and breakdown, just so they could claim to the media they gave them what they wanted and the mediation still broke down.

PR is being played on both sides, and you can make assumptions all you want but this has been mostly private for a reason. Both sides are filthy rich and don't want anyone to know the true extent of their finances.

You'd have to admit though that what they asked for was ridiculous given the time frame.

Fran Tarkenton made a good point on the "financial disclosure" thing. If I'm the owner of say, the Cowboys, I don't want the Eagles, Redskins and Giants being able to see my books.

I think full disclosure is too much to ask, and I think the NFLPA knows that.

[top dawg]

What they asked for was impossible to produce inthe time frame given.

I've begun to believe that De Smith wanted this to go to court all along. Lawyers tend to think that's how you best settle things.

They're counting on the courts giving them a better settlement than then NFL would have. They may be right, but they may not.

Impossible? The NFL has known that the NFLPA wanted this information from them forever. The NFL is reluctant to give it up because they know that there will probably be a backlash against them from the media, advertisers, fans, and local governments once they all know how the league is doing greater than anyone could have imagined.

[Highlandfire]

Just a hearing, no decision on the 6th. They say up to 2 weeks for a decision. I feel there is more than enough proof the owners wanted to stay at the table and the NFLPA had no intention at all of negotiating and wanted to go to court this entire time.

I feel she will rule the decertification is a sham.

[Darth Biscuit]

I too think that the players were angling for going to court the whole time as well... we'll see what happens next week I guess.

[Highlandfire]

Let them, I'm sure we could find 32 old rich greedy white men to fills their spots.

No they wouldn't, not under these conditions. Other Billionaires are Billionaires because they know how to run a business. they won't take over a pro franchise if the players are allowed to run the thing and get their way.

[Highlandfire]

Here's a scenario:

Suppose the courts give the players an unbelievably favorable settlement, one the owners look at and say "there's no way we can make that work".

What's to stop them from, as a group, saying "we're getting out of this business because it would be impossible to turn a profit under these conditions".

They all have other business concerns, and you can't force somebody to run a particular business.

That's obviously a pretty extreme scenario, but is it conceivable? I wonder...

Mr. Scot, I have said for quite a while now I have a feeling if the NFLPA gets their way, the owners will close up shop for one year and they will reopen business in a new model that will allow them to set up labor rules like the 'rest of us' have to follow. They may lose a couple teams in the process but I can't see the billionaires cowing down to the employees.

[Mr. Scot]

Impossible? The NFL has known that the NFLPA wanted this information from them forever. The NFL is reluctant to give it up because they know that there will probably be a backlash against them from the media, advertisers, fans, and local governments once they all know how the league is doing greater than anyone could have imagined.

Impossible in the time frame given, yeah. They wanted ten years of audited records in a matter of hours.

One guy said he couldn't have given them one month of records in that time frame.

[csx]

there will probably be a backlash against them from the media, advertisers, fans, and local governments once they all know how the league is doing greater than anyone could have imagined.

Why would there be backlash agains them for being sucessful? Why the hell would local governments not want extremely sucessful busineses? That makes no sense at all.

[blackcatgrowl]

Wow honestly didn't a few people on the huddle say this was a PR thing from the start and for this exact reason?

:yesnod:

The players are making some massive errors in this process. They are going to come away with much less than was offered to them if they don't get their asses back to the negotiation table and drop this court-media circus act.

[blackcatgrowl]

PFT: Players refused financial info for PR reasons

In other words, "we asked for financial info, and when they gave it to us we turned it down just to try and make them look bad" :nonod:

Florio's analysis is that the info offered wouldn't have been good enough anyway. Still, I think this makes the players look bad (and there's been a lot of that lately).

You've got my complete agreement on this issue Mr. Scot.

:cheers2:

[Mr. Scot]

People have said that it's much easier to keep a PR reign on 32 guys than it is several hundred, and I'll admit that's a valid point.

Hillenmeyer is a pretty smart guy, as are others (our own Muhsin Muihammad for one) on the players side. But then you have someone like Adrian Peterson shoot his mouth off and other guys sign on, and it's off to the races.

Lord knows the owners have their idiots and whack jobs (Al Davis and Dan Snyder are prime examples) but as a group, they're doing a decent job of muzzling their morons. Or at least a better job than the players are doing.

[Highlandfire]

:yesnod:

The players are making some massive errors in this process. They are going to come away with much less than was offered to them if they don't get their asses back to the negotiation table and drop this court-media circus act.

Correct sir.