Goodell & Smith are "goofballs"

[SCP]

Decertification was failing strategy by NFLPA

“Look at it this way: If the union loses a decertification lawsuit, then it has gone and shot everything it has,” said Michael Cramer, director of the University of Texas Sports and Media program, who went through labor disputes in baseball and hockey. “You drew a 13 at the blackjack table and now you’ve got to go back to the negotiating table with nothing. Who would have bet they’d win a decertification lawsuit? You just don’t do it.”

Cramer, who was part of a group that looked seriously at buying at least two NFL teams in recent years, is amazed the labor situation has gone this far – shaking his head at the actions of both players and owners who are fronted by leaders so desperate to establish their dominance.

“This is so unbelievably easy to solve – that would be if there was leadership on either side,” Cramer said. “This is a contract that should be agreed to tomorrow. That these two goofballs [smith and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell] are waiting around for the courts to tell them what to do to get this solved is crazy.”

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=Atd2RA5ZniKd7JY19j0ktAFDubYF?slug=lc-carpenter_decertification_strategy_was_bad_move_for_union_052511

[CarolinaNut]

seems about right.

[pantherfan81]

:piggy: :smash:

[Verge]

1. Play by 2010 rules

2. Each side still makes billions

3. Stop being douche nozzles

4. ????

5. Profit

[Lords0fPain]

More info on what is going on...can you "dig it?"...

For the league, the Packers’ financial results support its contention that it has to reduce what its teams pay their players. “There’s a strong sense that the current agreement went too far to the players and that it was one-sided,” Murphy said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/sports/football/28packers.html

That’s the trend the Packers have pointed to as unsustainable – declining operating profits, which reduce club incentives to make investments necessary to grow the game – and is the key issue in the league’s ongoing negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement with the players’ union.

http://www.packers.com/news-and-events/article-1/Finances-Show-Profit-But-Troubling-Trends-Remain/131dac2e-ce57-4798-aade-384c565d01fb

Murphy said the Packers actually might be in better financial shape than other teams carrying significant debt service on new stadiums. He does not expect other teams to open up their books.

"The players have all the information," Murphy said. "They have audit rights to all of our revenue. They have everything they need to reach an agreement. [Late former union head] Gene Upshaw never had access to the owners' books and was able to negotiate several extensions."

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5379673

The team attributed their rapidly rising operating costs to player salaries. The Packers said that all other expenses, minus player salaries, fell during the fiscal year from $89 to $87 million. The overall operating costs still rose to record levels. In a statement issued by the CEO of the Packers, Mark Murphy, it was reported that since the collective bargaining agreement had been signed, the team’s income grew by $132 million; of that total, $123 million went to the Packers’ players.

http://blogs.bettor.com/National-Football-League-Green-Bay-Packers-release-financial-report-a16862

Mark Murphy, chief executive of the National Football League’s only publicly traded franchise, said that despite a record $258 million in revenue, operating profit declined by more than half, to $9.8 million from $20.1 million. That’s driven by the player costs that have prompted owners in the U.S.’s most-watched television sport to seek a new labor contract.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-14/green-bay-packers-net-income-rises-30-in-annual-report-amid-labor-talks.html

[OchoNueve]

1. Play by 2010 rules

2. Each side still makes billions

3. Stop being douche nozzles

4. ????

5. Profit

Owners can't keep rolling over to the players. Tagliabue let the owners roll over and take it up the rear last negotiations just to save his face and allow football to go on while he stepped down as commish and let someone else be the face of the dispute the next time around. He was too scared to be the figurehead of a lockout. Now Goodell is trying to correct what should have been negotiated the last time around.

If the players get their way, both sides make their billions next year and possibly the following, but at the rate player's salaries are increasing... it won't continue to be as profitable for the owners while players keep raking it in.

Players are the ones putting the sport in jeopary... IMO

[Delhommey]

De Smith. Roger Goodell. Jerry Richardson.

Lock those guys in an empty room with a gun with two bullets and shoot the guy that makes it out.

Labor situtation: SOLVED.

[DaCityKats]

lmao thats what some of us been saying. it's both guys fault that something cant get done.

[d-run]

In other news..

[rayzor]

i thought about starting a new thread about this, but there's too many threads anyway....

i've seen a couple articles that talk about how players and agents are getting a little anxious about what is going on and don't sound to be completely happy or trusting of smith. they don't know what his strategy completely, or what his plan B is, if he even has one.

first is by andrew brandt...

Since the ruling a week ago tonight, I have heard from more agents and players in a week than I have for a while. They are reaching out to survey what is ahead. I ask about answers from NFLPA leadership. Some say they don’t know whom to ask, some say their player representatives (reps) are not sure, as they have no relationship with the lawyers who are representing them in Brady v. NFL.

I am also getting questions about NFLPA leader DeMaurice Smith, who will come into focus more and more in coming weeks as the face of the Players and, hopefully, as the person able and willing to negotiate a new CBA.

I have spent time with Smith and find him to be likeable and passionate about representing the players. We both grew up in Washington, D.C. as fans of the Redskins and I admire his passion. My sense is that his support from players is solid but about to be tested. I have empathized with his role, as I refer to him "playing goalie" in trying to protect the status quo for the Players while the Owners seek a rollback.

Smith is not liked by NFL owners and executives. I have heard many of them say that Smith “digs litigation” which is – pardon the pun – a personal dig at Smith.

Leader as litigator

In March of 2009, the NFLPA elected Smith to become their Executive Director in a surprising unanimous victory over former players Troy Vincent and Trace Armstrong. Smith, an unknown at the time, took the audience by storm.

Smith strategically finds talking points that reverberate with his audience – as he has recently done speaking of the late Dave Duerson – and did that day with an impressive Powerpoint presentation playing up connections in Washington, up to and including President Obama. As on player rep told me: “Guys were all looking at each other and saying, ‘We want that guy!’”

Smith advocated an aggressive posture towards management, a clear departure from Upshaw’ s personal relationships with Paul Tagliabue, Dan Rooney and Jerry Richardson, and stayed true to his word. He also presented the legal strategy of decertification and litigation, formulated along with lead counsel Jeffrey Kessler. And with the emphatic ruling by Judge Susan Nelson in April, the plan was thriving.

Change of plan

Last week’s Court ruling put a dent in the strategy and may cause a different plan. As the eminent philosopher and negotiator Mike Tyson once said “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.”

With the Court’s resounding rebuke of Judge Nelson, it is expected that the 2-1 majority view is unlikely to change their opinion of Nelson’s handling of the case.

The response from the NFLPA was “The NFL’s request for a stay of the lockout that was granted today means no football.” Pointing the finger at the other side has been a trademark of this dispute, with both the NFL and NLFPA playing the “it’s their fault” game.

Smith even accused the NFL of “suing to stop football”, although he is named counsel for the plaintiffs bringing the lawsuit in Brady v. NFL.

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Let me say this: I completely understand the NFLPA's strategy of decertification and litigation. History has shown that NFL players have made more gains through the threat of antitrust litigation than through collective bargaining. Negotiations are about leverage, and NFL players gain more leverage from the threat of antitrust litigation than from bargaining.

However, unlike what occurred twenty years ago, the NFL made it a priority to avoid paying players while simultaneously being sued by them. And now the Court has allowed that strategy -- the lockout -- to stay in place, perhaps indefinitely.

Thus, if there is no end to the lockout in sight and no checks being written, another plan must ensue.

http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Whats-the-Plan.html

the next has to do with comments made by an agent who represents a lot of players. he's got some good questions and actually a good idea...

As an agent who represents 45 National Football League players, Joe Linta offers the current negotiators for both sides his services on two fronts.

One, give him the offer the owners made in negotiations last week and he will present it to his clients to get their opinion.

Two, why not take advantage of the talents of those who negotiate for a living, agents?

First, that most recent offer the NFL owners presented last week. Why, Linta would like to know, hasn’t any of it leaked? Maybe, he said, if his players saw it they might want to accept it.

“I’d like to see it myself so when I talk to my 45 guys, I can show them what it is – since there is no union,’’ Linta said, referring to the decertification of the NFL Players Association as a union March 11. “I would like Mr. Rooney to forward the offer to me. I represent two percent of the union, I’m not insignificant. Let me ask you something, who has the players’ back more, the players union or the player’s agent? Why can’t I get copy of this and disseminate it to my players?”

The agents have been virtually left out in the cold through the whole negotiation process, which directly affects their clients. Linta, a Beaver County native who has long lived in Connecticut, believes that a majority of players might even go for the latest deal presented by the owners if given the chance.

“You take 10 or 15 agents and you’re talking half of the league” they represent, Linta said. “Why is it that all these smart guys who are agents are being kept out of the loop? I don’t know of any agent privy to any information.

“They’re trying to negotiate a deal and what do agents do for a living? They negotiate deals.”

http://plus.sites.post-gazette.com/index.php/pro-sports/steelers/110009-ed-agent-wants-his-players-to-see-latest-offer

so why aren't the players being seen the latest offer? wouldn't it make sense for people who negotiate for a living play a role in getting something done rather than someone who lives, eats, and breathes litigation??

is smith actually interested in working with the NFL to negotiate a deal or have his own way.

unfortunately, the players and the fans are caught in the middle. i think the players got caught up in a speech given by smith during the elections, but what they are getting is doing more harm than good.

there will be a couple good party liners like brees with a ton of money to live on while the lockout is going on who have been sucked into smith's message and blindly accept whatever he does. then there will be a growing number of players who don't have near the money that brees has who are going to be struggling and just want to see something worked out. you'll see players who look at the bigger picture and the impact that not working something out is going to have on the fans.

hopefully the number of players who question smith and just want a deal made will start growing and become more vocal. smith said that solidarity is not an issue for the players but that could mean one of two things. 1) he's oblivious to the reality that a growing number of players are falling off the wagon or 2) solidarity isn't an issue because he could care less what players think. he's going to fight this thing his way and the only acceptable outcome is what he wants.

i'm inclined to think it's #2.

[blackcatgrowl]

OP article is right on target.

[blackcatgrowl]

is smith actually interested in working with the NFL to negotiate a deal or have his own way.

Smith is a lawyer. He is treating this process like a case to win. Negotiations were never sincere, he participated because he had to negotiate or his legal strategy would have failed.

Not only that, he's in deep with politics. In case anyone has forgotten, Washington D.C. is club made up of corruption and confusion to an unbelivable level these days, and Dumbass Smith is a card carrying member.

I'll say it again... even if the players win in court, they will still lose. The Owners of these franchises control the destiny of this league. It's their house, and ultimately they will set the rules. If the players try to strong arm them legally, they will fuging shut the bitch down and the NFL will dissolve. And then what? These players can kiss their fugin diamond watches, 500HP cars and 20 room mansions good bye.

Oh... and we'll lose too. We'll lose the greatness the NFL has become. What remains after the owners pull the self-destruct, will not be what it is now.

[Snake]

Both Goodell and Smith should be fired after this. Start new and fresh on both sides.

[DaveThePanther2008]

Why haven't the players seen the offer? Because the "UNION" says no. Someone is blocking this. Why don't the players insist on seeing it. Because they are still part of a Union.

Like Being in a Gang, You can say you quit the gang but doesn't mean you really did. This is a Union and everyday things seem to happen that prove it over and over again.