NFL Is Playing a Game of Chicken with Football Fans

As negotiations continue between NFL owners and players, the damage to the NFL brand grows.  Revelations that NFL owners were prepared to wait out the process with a “war chest” from television contracts has worsened the owners’ image. Both sides argue this is about fairness and playing the game of football. 

Regardless of what either side will claim, the fact remains this is about the money. It always has been about the money, and it always will.  Lockout or not, the NFL is playing with fire in the eyes of America.

The NFL is a $9 billion industry. The NFL is the sweetheart of American sports-fans.  No sport in America garners as much attention from fans and the media as the National Football League.  ESPN has made a fortune covering the NFL both inside and outside the lines.  The NFL even has its own channel to provide 24/7 coverage of training camp, combine and even older NFL films to appease the hungry fan base.  The NFL is deeply embedded in American life.

Ironing out the expired CBA was always going to be a brutal process for the league.  The problem is that the current state of the American economy only hurts the league’s image.  Unemployment is at 8.9 percent nationwide. The last thing they want to hear about is millionaire players vs. billionaire owners. Make no mistake there are players who do not make millions every year.  Yet these players still are earning more than the average American household. 

The only party more despised in this argument is the NFL owners.  The current CBA holds that the NFL owners skim the first billion off the top to disperse amongst the league. This current agreement amounts to roughly $8 billion split between the owners and players.  This split falls 60 percent to the players, and the remaining 40 to the owners. 

The owners are demanding an additional $1 billion skimmed off the top before this split.  The Players’ Union has asked to see the owners’ financial books to substantiate this. The owners have refused to open the books to Union representatives, further complicating matters. The $4 billion “war chest” from renegotiated network contracts has been made public.  The owners are drowning in the eyes of the American public.

What matters to fans is that football remains on tap for the 2011 season.  A lockout could prove to be a fatal blow to the NFL.  Sports have always provided an escape for the working public. An NFL lockout will leave a permanent black eye on the sport.  The fact is that the NFL needs America, more than America needs the NFL.  This $9 billion dollar business would experience great losses both financially and professionally.  A lockout would also cause job losses and damage many local economies that rely on league games for business.  Many stadiums would see layoffs.

A lockout would be a disaster for the league and fans.  The American sports fan will ultimately survive, but the NFL is a business and any business can fold. 

The NFL is playing chicken with the American sports fan. Someone has to blink.