NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is not afraid to take a page out of the NFLPA's playbook. He's setting the tone for the next round of collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiations in public, and it seems fans are rallying to his side.
At a question and answer session at the Chautauqua Institute, Goodell referred to rookie salaries as "ridiculous". He noted that "[rookie salary] is not going to players that are performing." His comments were met with strong applause from the audience, according to ESPN.
blahhblah $30M guaranteed even before his first drive-crushing holding penalty
Goodell is taking an interesting approach to this round of CBA negotiations. He is simultaneously appealing to the fans and to the veteran players, including those who have leadership positions within the NFLPA. Veteran players reacted strongly to the deals signed by Matt Ryan and Jake Long, especially the guaranteed money given. Back in May, NFLPA President Kevin Mawae (C-Titans) said, "As a guy who has been in the league for 14 now going on 15 years and being around other veteran guys, for a young guy to get paid that kind of money and [he] never steps foot on an NFL football field, it's a little disheartening to think of". John Lynch and Jay Feely have both publicly spoken in favor of a rookie salary system.
This puts Gene Upshaw in a very difficult position. He is vehemently opposed to any changes to the rookie salary system, citing concessions already made. A contingency in his union, including many well-respected veterans, are absolutely in favor of a rookie salary cap. The owners, who believe high rookie salaries cause salary inflation in general, are absolutely in favor of a rookie salary cap. Roger Goodell, who represents the interests of the owners, is charismatic, well-liked and is absolutely in favor of a rookie salary cap. That leaves Upshaw and a fractured portion of the union on his side.
blahblahblah Goodell filled Tags' shoes and added an ass-kicking steel toeUpshaw's position has merit. He argues that a tight rookie salary cap potentially prices veterans out of a job. This makes sense, in that a six-year veteran who must make three times what a rookie replacement must make is in trouble of losing his job. This explains, in part, why many of the veterans most in favor of a rookie cap are those least at risk of losing their jobs to a lower-round draft pick. On the other hand, the veteran minimum salary elevates after the player has already played the four "credited" seasons necessary to secure a pension. In that way, the union has done its job for players who are not talented enough to maintain their position in the league due to rookie competition.
This is but one issue on the table for the 2009 CBA negotiations, but it appears the one Goodell wants to drive the hardest. He knows that the issue fractures the NFLPA, and obviously that plays to his advantage in getting other concessions from Upshaw and the union. Just as importantly, he knows that the issue has traction with fans who wouldn't much like entry-level college grads nabbing the same salaries they make despite experience. Also, this distracts from the quite damaging images of prematurely disabled retired players. In that respect, everyone wins...except the disabled retired players.
This entire labor negotiation is going to be the major football issue of early 2009, whether you like it or not. Keep an eye here as we'll analyze the developments as they occur.
17 Responses:
Hey, I love the picture of Long. A better choice might have been him doing something wrong to go along with the whole undeserving angle but since you probably couldn't find one of that, go ahead and use the one of him graduating from one of the finest academic institutions. Also, it is nice to see that there are still legit banners hanging in Crisler Arena.
I have no criticisms of Jake Long. He seems to be a smart, nice guy. He has done absolutely nothing wrong here.
And, please, this is for all Michigan grads: Michigan is one of the best PUBLIC academic institutions. It's not even in the top 20 overall, and it's behind UCLA, Cal, and UVA. (Source)
You guys really do earn your reputation as the most delirious student body in the country.
J-Red, please. Tied with UCLA, not behind. And I'm not ashamed to be behind Cal and UVA, two great, great institutions, especially UVA.
Also, #25 in the country is nothing to scoff at. However, a better argument is that those rankings are crap and a schools rep is really based on the grad programs and faculty research, not the quality of undergraduate education.
Also, Long was rarely called for holding.
Nice list j-red, but I would like to see something about the education you recieve at the school. (HS class rank, alumni donations, SAT scores just don't do it for me when ranking a school)
Still, 25th out of all the colleges in the country is pretty damn good.
I did note that UCLA and Michigan were tied at 25, but since UCLA is in California and Michigan is in, well, Michigan, the tie was clearly broken in UCLA's favor.
Grad programs are a different ranking system. The rankings I quoted are undergraduate.
Big Tuna, us state school grads had better not start pushing for them to rank schools based on the quality of education. There's no way to sell 100-person chemistry and calculus lecture hall classes as a "better education" than what small private schools provide. Sure, you might have better professors at a big state school, but until you're a junior none of them will know who you are.
I have to admit, I'm genuinely amazed that Maryland is ranked after the University of Miami (FL) and tied with Pepperdine.
Well, that is true. Why don't we just base it on how impressed potential employers are. That is all that really matters.
As a Dolphins fan, I am eagerly awaiting Long's first "drive crushing holding penalty." Good times are on the way.
The rankings themselves have a lot of influence on "how impressed potential employers are", along with how many of the school's graduates they've heard running around talking about the school like it's a top 10 school.
I'm certainly not doing any hiring, but I don't think Michigan is thought of as highly on the East Coast as it is in the Mid-West. I think most people think of it as on par with Maryland and Virginia Tech in these parts.
With the exception of the top 5, its all regional anyway. Even though Wash U is #12, anyone out here would hire someone from UC San Diego over them. My degree from USC is gold on the west coast, but when I was in Washington DC, everyone thought I was from South Carolina.
j-red, you sound pretty ignorant there.
In my experience, Michigan has a very good reputation. It's not Cal Tech, GT or MIT (don't remember if Cal Tech or MIT are private), but it's just as good as or better than anyone else in undergrad engineering. Maryland and VT also have very good reputations in engineering.
When I was looking at undergrad honors programs at state schools, Michigan was near the top of the list.
Michigan kept sending me crap. Even the prospectus was cold and had ugly chicks.
Maybe I'm out of touch, but I always considered Michigan and Wisconsin kind of in the same group of decent state schools (i.e. - not Penn State).
Yeah, I've never heard anything about Wisconsin academics. So I'm going with the out-of-touch answer.
Wisconsin is actually considered a great graduate school. It's ranked 38th overall according to the U.S. News and World Report rankings.
I think they're the rare state school that excels in the B.A. fields, which will definitely keep it off the radar of those of us who had real majors. (No offense, Jeremy)
Had a chance to look at Wisconsin's rankings. It's apparently another school whose reputation exceeds its actual offering. Maybe it's a Midwestern thing.
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