NFL Negotiations Break Down: So What?
As suspected, the negotiations between NFL players and owners broke off Friday. The players union "de-certified" itself (there is no longer a players' union) so that they could sue the owners. You can't sue when you're involved in collective bargaining, but there's no collective bargaining possible now, by definition, because there's no union for the owners to bargain with.
So what?
Don't get me wrong. I like NFL football - sometimes. It's good sport and good entertainments - sometimes. But really, in a world suffering through hard times, with millions unemployed, millions of home owners in foreclosure- well, you know the drill - this is a dispute between multi-millionaires over who makes more money.
I could be wrong, but I think the American sports fanatics out there who apparently love the NFL so much that the league has been gushing money - $9.3 billion last year alone - need to find new forms of recreation. Do we really need to contribute out hard-earned pay - those of us who get pay these days - too keep these folks rich just so we can watch football on certain Sundays, Monday and Thursday nights. Will the world end if there's never another "Super-bowl Sunday"?
Hey, maybe we'll all go back to church and start praying and being kind to one another and generally living healthier, happier, more spiritually rich lives. You never know.
On the other hand, even if next season is completely grounded, the probability is that for a year or two NFL revenue will go down, then people will flock back to the stadiums and spend their hard-earned money on all sorts of products endorsed by the NFL and billions will start flowing like the old days.
Meanwhile, two of our local pro teams, the NBA Knicks (basketball) and NHL Rangers (hockey) just announced higher ticket prices for next season. Get this: a 47% hike for the Knicks; a 23% hike for the Rangers! I guess the Fed's fight against deflation is working, eh?
So when one of my sons recently asked me if I wanted to get Yankee tickets for a game or two this season (I still haven't been to the new Yankee stadium), I passed. Even the legendary cheap bleacher seats (where I don't particularly want to sit) have gotten pricey.
Who buys this stuff? People tell me "corporations" buy a lot of seats. But that's not right. The same people that belly-ache about how they don't have any money, and how times are getting tough buy this stuff. They don't have any savings - no money "in the bank" and they go and spend what they have so they spend time in a sports arena watching millionaire - some are even now apparently billionaire - athletes "compete" (that is, if they bother to put out a serious effort that day). Are they ever going to learn? What will it take? An even worse economic crisis than we've already had? I fear that's just what it would take. And you never know, that very well may be in the cards.
All I know is this sort of behavior - obsessing on the negotiations of millionaire owners and players, spending your substance on expensive sporting events when you don't have any savings in the bank - is kind of nuts, don't you think?
So what?
Don't get me wrong. I like NFL football - sometimes. It's good sport and good entertainments - sometimes. But really, in a world suffering through hard times, with millions unemployed, millions of home owners in foreclosure- well, you know the drill - this is a dispute between multi-millionaires over who makes more money.
I could be wrong, but I think the American sports fanatics out there who apparently love the NFL so much that the league has been gushing money - $9.3 billion last year alone - need to find new forms of recreation. Do we really need to contribute out hard-earned pay - those of us who get pay these days - too keep these folks rich just so we can watch football on certain Sundays, Monday and Thursday nights. Will the world end if there's never another "Super-bowl Sunday"?
Hey, maybe we'll all go back to church and start praying and being kind to one another and generally living healthier, happier, more spiritually rich lives. You never know.
On the other hand, even if next season is completely grounded, the probability is that for a year or two NFL revenue will go down, then people will flock back to the stadiums and spend their hard-earned money on all sorts of products endorsed by the NFL and billions will start flowing like the old days.
Meanwhile, two of our local pro teams, the NBA Knicks (basketball) and NHL Rangers (hockey) just announced higher ticket prices for next season. Get this: a 47% hike for the Knicks; a 23% hike for the Rangers! I guess the Fed's fight against deflation is working, eh?
So when one of my sons recently asked me if I wanted to get Yankee tickets for a game or two this season (I still haven't been to the new Yankee stadium), I passed. Even the legendary cheap bleacher seats (where I don't particularly want to sit) have gotten pricey.
Who buys this stuff? People tell me "corporations" buy a lot of seats. But that's not right. The same people that belly-ache about how they don't have any money, and how times are getting tough buy this stuff. They don't have any savings - no money "in the bank" and they go and spend what they have so they spend time in a sports arena watching millionaire - some are even now apparently billionaire - athletes "compete" (that is, if they bother to put out a serious effort that day). Are they ever going to learn? What will it take? An even worse economic crisis than we've already had? I fear that's just what it would take. And you never know, that very well may be in the cards.
All I know is this sort of behavior - obsessing on the negotiations of millionaire owners and players, spending your substance on expensive sporting events when you don't have any savings in the bank - is kind of nuts, don't you think?
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