NFL Lockout 2011: NFLPA Knows How To Lose Fan Support in Just 48 Hours

When you consider what is going on around the world right now, a dispute between NFL owners and players regarding how $9 billion will be shared doesn't seem like the biggest deal. People are dying, losing their homes in Japan and now face the fears of radiation.  More are dying in the Middle East and this nation has its own issues to deal with.

With so much going on, the last thing people want to hear is millionaires bickering with millionaires. But that is the reality of the situation going on in the NFL. 

When the fans that are helping these owners and players accumulate massive amounts of money are already irked, it's especially important to be careful of any action taken or any word that is spoken publicly. 

Both the owners and players have tried to tiptoe this line for months, trying to convince fans they are right and the opposition is wrong. Because fans have a natural inclination to side with the players in these kind of disputes,the NFLPA had the advantage here, portraying themselves as the victims as the evil owners were trying to be well...evil and take money away from the players.

However the goodwill the players had with the fans is mostly, if not totally gone after a series of unbelievably poor decisions and comments have come from the NFLPA and its members this week.

A report surfaced this week that the NFLPA is trying to persuade the 2011 rookie class into boycotting the upcoming draft. 

ESPN's Adam Schefter, as well as a host of other reporters told us. According to Schefter's story, "The NFL Players Association is putting into place a plan that would prevent each top college prospect from attending next month's draft in New York, according to multiple league sources. The NFLPA already has contacted 17 top prospects who ordinarily would have received an invitation to attend the draft and informed them not to go."

In addition to this, you had a gem of an interview with Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, who compared the situation he NFLPA is going through to slavery. The story came from an interview on Yahoo Sports.

The fact is, Peterson's comment was taken out of context by a lot of people, as he makes no direct comparison to playing in the NFL and slavery. (You can judge for yourself here: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Adrian-Peterson-gives-readers-a-8220-Double-Ta?urn=nfl-wp206#slavery). 

However, merely saying that word is just asking for trouble, and now radio hosts and reporters nationwide have taken off with the story.

Because of these actions by the NFLPA, the opinion of their position has already begun to sour and here is why. 

First of all, the last thing any fan wants to hear is any comparison of the "plight" of an NFL player and slavery. 

When there are people in this world scratching and clawing to make ends meet in this economy, fans don't want to hear someone making tens of millions of dollars say what they're going through is "modern day slavery." There are those in this world that would literally give up a limb to make the money that Peterson and dozens of other NFL players make.

The much more ill-advised move however, is the fact that there are those in the NFLPA trying to tell rookies not to attend the draft. As NFL fans, there are few things we can get excited about right now since there is no free agency, no coaches being hired or voluntary camps. The only thing between now and the summer that is a known fact is there will be a draft at the end of April.

When the NFLPA starts to threaten to take away the only NFL-related event fans can get excited about, that doesn't sit well with fans, and rightfully so. This doesn't even go into the fact that the association is trying to drag rookies, who are trying to enjoy this time in their life, into a labor dispute they're not even a part of.

The players association has backtracked on this threat, and Adrian Peterson's agent is frantically trying to tell people his client is being misquoted. They have quickly realized these actions could quickly turn the tide of public support against them. 

If there is one certainty, it's that this labor dispute does not appear to be going away any time soon. 

With both sides getting in their trenches, every word and every action is going to be dissected ad nauseum. The NFLPA has already done damage to their public image this week. They need to learn these lessons fast, because if they don't they will see fans turn on them in an instant and hope the owners put the players through the ringer.

The fact is, while fans might have this natural sense to side with the worker, the one thing they want most of all is to see football on the field come Labor Day. If it comes to a point they feel the owners' position on this matter will solve the labor dispute quicker, they'll throw their support to the owners. The last thing the NFLPA needs to do is to kick them in that direction.