Well, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is at it again.

One day after the conclusion of the 2010 regular season, the Commish sent out an
email to some five million diehard fans in which he said that a new collective
bargaining agreement (CBA) was close at hand.

For those of you lucky enough to be summoned from on high, congratulations! I
guess the rest of us common folk will have to settle for googling his
proclamation.

There were three major themes to this piece of propaganda, I mean email.

First, Commissioner Goodell said that in these tough economic times we all need
to tighten our belts, and both players and owners are going to need to make
sacrifices.

That seems fair and reasonable, doesn’t it?

Sure it does. I mean, who hasn’t felt the squeeze of these tough economic
times?

The NFL, that’s who.

The league is an $8 billion (a year!) monopoly. And it seems to me that the
league fat cats want to continue walking around in elastic waist pants while the
players–the guys who actually play the games–are the ones left doing all the
belt tightening.

Let’s get real. Goodell’s “share the pain” message is nothing more than a poorly
disguised threat: either the players capitulate or else.

This is the same league that refuses to open its books to the players so they
can see how much money they’re making for everyone. And it’s a lot of money,
especially with the new revenue streams generated from the growth of the
internet and an ever-burgeoning television contract that will pay the league
even in the event of a lockout in 2011.

From a player perspective, it’s hard to tighten your belt when you don’t know
the size of your waist.

I know what many of you capitalists are thinking–my boss doesn’t show me the
company books. Besides, the owners are taking all the risk, especially when they
invest in rookies, so why should they open their books to the players?

It’s a good question with a good answer: because the United States government is
allowing the NFL to operate a monopoly. And with that right comes a certain
amount of responsibility to their workers and to the American people.

Second, the commissioner talked about the importance of a rookie wage scale.
Make them earn it!

I admit that the amount of money paid to unproven players is absurd. Many of
these players will have “bust” firmly attached to their names forevermore. And
bags full of cash as their parting gift.

At first blush this makes perfect sense and the Commish is right–make them earn
it. Quit awarding unproven players multi-million dollar contracts.

He had me right up to the second part of the equation. You know, right up to the
point where he starts to lie.

Not familiar with part two of that equation? Allow me to educate you, cuz I know
you’ve heard it.

Part 1: We need a rookie wage scale…

Part 2: …so that we can distribute that money to the veteran players and to
player programs.

STOP WITH THAT GARBAGE!

The NFL did not become an $8 billion a year industry by giving away money. As a
matter of fact, this very discussion already occurred at the bargaining table
and you know what? The NFL laughed at the notion of distributing the money saved
by a rookie wage scale to it’s veteran players.

That’s because this is the NFL–where common sense isn’t so common and is always
spelled common cents.

The final point of Goodell’s missive concerned the schedule. It’s hard to know
where to begin.

Normally I’d start by pointing out the hypocrisy of claiming all season that
player health and safety is the league’s top priority and then suggesting
tacking on two more games, but it’s so obvious I’m sure you’ve already figured
it out.

The league would have you believe that under the new proposal we’re still
playing a 20-game schedule, but now it’s simply two pre-season games and 18
regular season ones.

Although the math adds up the logic doesn’t. That because from a player
perspective there’s a huge difference between a two and four game pre-season
schedule.

For starters, veterans are going to have to play in both pre-season games to get
ready for the regular season. This means that the 18-game season is really a
20-game marathon. Don’t be surprised if your favorite players continue to get
injured at a record pace.

Because the vets are hogging all of the playing time in the slimmed down
pre-season, young players won’t get vital reps. So when they are called upon in
the regular season because of injury, their performance won’t be what it could
be and the team and the product will suffer.

Think about this.

Arian Foster was the league’s leading rusher. He’s an undrafted free agent. What
a great story! What are the odds of another Cinderella story if a young man
can’t show off his talent in some of those “meaningless preseason games?”

They may be meaningless to Roger Goodell, but they mean everything to a young
man trying to realize his childhood dream.

As if that isn’t bad enough, the owners continue to insult the intelligence of
the consumer by acting as if–all of the sudden–they’ve become this altruistic
organization that cares so much about your hard earned money they want to change
the preseason so you don’t have to spend your dough watching backups.

Here’s an idea: quit charging regular season prices for preseason games.

Are we that stupid people? This is about making money, nothing more, end of
story.

I’ll tip my hat to the commissioner, though, for putting a good spin on a bad
threat.

Nothing is ever as simple as it appears and the last time I checked fans don’t
come to the games to watch the owners sit on their asses in their luxury boxes.

The fans come to watch the players battle. They’re the ones making everyone rich
and shouldn’t be the only ones tightening their belts.