Owners Care More Than Players

[slats]

Owners care more than players about preseason revenue

Posted by Mike Florio on July 22, 2011, 10:23 PM EDT

In theory, the players should have no leverage at this point in the practice. Each lost week of the preseason results in a shared forfeiture of roughly $200 million. Under the proposed labor deal, that’s roughly $96 million for the players, and roughly $104 million for the owners.

In practice, it doesn’t matter because the owners care much more about the preseason revenue than the players do. For many players, their compensation for 2011 already is fixed; it doesn’t matter if the pot that funds the salary cap adds another $96 million or $192 million or $288 million or $384 million. For the owners, $104 million in lost revenue per week roughly equates (setting aside for these purposes revenue disparities) to $3.25 million per team, per week. Which increases to $13 million per team if the full preseason is lost.

What’s $13 million per team? For some, that’s most if not all of the profit margin for the entire year.

That said, the absence of preseason games would also result in reduced expenses for the owners. But with game checks not paid until the regular season, the expenses are a lot less during the preseason.

Then there’s the fact that, if a full preseason is played, some veterans (including possibly members of the Executive Committee and/or board of player representatives) could end up making zero percent of their 2011 salaries, if the full preseason gives a younger player enough time to persuade the coach that it’s time to cut the veteran. So why not skip a couple of weeks of preseason revenue and increase dramatically the chances of getting 17 weeks of regular-season pay?

[Larz]

and in related news, it's going to be hot today

[slats]

Basically, if the owners have tried to pull a fast one here, and insert things into the new CBA that the players won't like - it probably wants that bright of a move.

I mentioned this weeks ago, that the owners would be much more hard-pressed to get a deal done to get a full preseason in because the players don't start getting paid until the regular season begins. Sure, lost revenue this year may lower the overall cap next year - but for most players already under contract, what do they care?

The fact that the preseason is where UDFA's take jobs away from veterans probably doesn't encourage the lower rung vets to report to camp anytime soon, either.

Could be the players turn to get last minute concessions.

[jason423]

This all depends on the revenue sharing model in year 1 and year 2. If adjustments are made based on projected reveneue versus actual revenue the players would lose money in 2012 based off lost preseason games. If not then Florio is likely correct. One of the outstanding issues right now surrounding workout bonus money is how lost money will be earned. The proposal was performing their duties in camp would see it paid. The league did not agree to that yet. If they lose a preseason the owners will never agree to fund that money. For the Jets its close to 4 million.

[Bleedin Green]

While I do get the point and agree to it to an extent, if the players really think they can manage to eliminate the entire preseason and see it have absolutely no affect on the regular season schedule (and thus their own pay), then they are even dumber than we ever thought before. The players can try to pull off whatever they want, but the longer this goes on it's just the more and more likely that the owners will insist on chopping off early weeks of the season and replacing them with at least a couple of preseason games. Not to mention, for all of the endless talk of player safety, they worst possible thing for that would be less preparation time for the players with a lack of training camp and preseason. You're just asking to see the worst, out-of-shape football imaginable with the highest injury rate in history. At this point, unless there is something else they're really trying to negotiate into this deal, what possible benefit is there other than pure laziness? I don't disagree that they could still potentially have some leverage at this particular moment, but I just don't know why it really matters. In a few weeks that will be gone and you'll have some really pissed off ownership to deal with, which won't be good for anyone involved in this process.

[slats]

While I do get the point and agree to it to an extent, if the players really think they can manage to eliminate the entire preseason and see it have absolutely no affect on the regular season schedule (and thus their own pay), then they are even dumber than we ever thought before. The players can try to pull off whatever they want, but the longer this goes on it's just the more and more likely that the owners will insist on chopping off early weeks of the season and replacing them with at least a couple of preseason games. Not to mention, for all of the endless talk of player safety, they worst possible thing for that would be less preparation time for the players with a lack of training camp and preseason. You're just asking to see the worst, out-of-shape football imaginable with the highest injury rate in history.

Haha! Not a chance in hell that happens. Can you imagine the backlash from the fans if the regular season is shortened, but they still have to pay for preseason games? I suspect that straw would break more than a few backs.

As for the potential injuries, no player thinks he's going to be that guy, so that's not a factor in negotiations. And neither side is worried about sloppiness. They know the fans have already paid for their seats and/or will be tuning in anyway.

At this point, unless there is something else they're really trying to negotiate into this deal, what possible benefit is there other than pure laziness? I don't disagree that they could still potentially have some leverage at this particular moment, but I just don't know why it really matters. In a few weeks that will be gone and you'll have some really pissed off ownership to deal with, which won't be good for anyone involved in this process.

Could be laziness on the part of the guys with roster security, but it's a lot more than that for the lower rung guys who have to fend off low draft picks and UDFA's every year. The lack of a preseason gives those rookies less of a chance to steal a job from a vet. Guys making a nice living as a backup/special teamer aren't looking to enter the real world workplace anytime soon. A shortened preseason could preserve their jobs.

[T0mShane]

This all depends on the revenue sharing model in year 1 and year 2. If adjustments are made based on projected reveneue versus actual revenue the players would lose money in 2012 based off lost preseason games. If not then Florio is likely correct. One of the outstanding issues right now surrounding workout bonus money is how lost money will be earned. The proposal was performing their duties in camp would see it paid. The league did not agree to that yet. If they lose a preseason the owners will never agree to fund that money. For the Jets its close to 4 million.

I read a while ago that the players could reasonably file suit to get those workout repaid, but I believe part of signing off on this CBA is that they waive all prior claims (with Brady v. NFL). Then I read a rumor that the workout bonuses would be honored. I guess that never materialized as yet?

[Bleedin Green]

Haha! Not a chance in hell that happens. Can you imagine the backlash from the fans if the regular season is shortened, but they still have to pay for preseason games? I suspect that straw would break more than a few backs.

As for the potential injuries, no player thinks he's going to be that guy, so that's not a factor in negotiations. And neither side is worried about sloppiness. They know the fans have already paid for their seats and/or will be tuning in anyway.

Could be laziness on the part of the guys with roster security, but it's a lot more than that for the lower rung guys who have to fend off low draft picks and UDFA's every year. The lack of a preseason gives those rookies less of a chance to steal a job from a vet. Guys making a nice living as a backup/special teamer aren't looking to enter the real world workplace anytime soon. A shortened preseason could preserve their jobs.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think they'll push a full preseason schedule if games get missed, but you can't jump into a regular season without any preseason simply for logistical reasons. Teams need to set their rosters, battle out starting spots, install new elements of their playbooks, and that's not even considering the number of teams who are coming into the year with whole new coaching staffs. I can't see any way that an NFL season can legitimately take place without at least some sort of reasonable amount of time for a training camp and at least abridged preseason. And as far as the owners are concerned, from here on out any issues that come up in regards to games played or missed can be blamed entirely on the players (regardless of that's really accurate, you know that's how it will be portrayed).

[slats]

Don't get me wrong, I don't think they'll push a full preseason schedule if games get missed, but you can't jump into a regular season without any preseason simply for logistical reasons. Teams need to set their rosters, battle out starting spots, install new elements of their playbooks, and that's not even considering the number of teams who are coming into the year with whole new coaching staffs. I can't see any way that an NFL season can legitimately take place without at least some sort of reasonable amount of time for a training camp and at least abridged preseason. And as far as the owners are concerned, from here on out any issues that come up in regards to games played or missed can be blamed entirely on the players (regardless of that's really accurate, you know that's how it will be portrayed).

The bottom line is that there's a bottom line. The NFL is a business, and there's just no way they'll give up on regular season games just to have preseason games. Think of the season ticket holders, the TV networks. There will be a massive revolt if they cut the regular season short when they don't really have to. The owners don't care about sloppy, unprepared football at the end of the day. What they care about is packed houses and national TV. It doesn't matter who they could blame. Once there's a deal, no one will be blaming anyone for anything, anyway, they'll all be on the same page looking to get all the fans back and watching. If the lockout lasts that long (and I don't think it will) they'll jump right into the regular season ASAP with every team facing the same disadvantage of no preseason, and that'll be that.