NFL Lock Out Letter to the Editor

As March 4^th approaches, it is becoming more evident that College Football may be the only football next September. March 4, 2011 will be the final day of the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL owner’s and the NFL Players Association, and if no deal is made by the fourth it is probable that there will be no football next year.

This ongoing banter between the two sides is sickening. The NFL owners and leader Roger Goodell should be ashamed of themselves; their sport is at an all time high having surpassed Major League Baseball in television ratings, and in yearly earnings and it’s the owners who are demanding more money. The NFL owners want a bigger portion of the 9 billion dollar revenue sharing the league has, they want the players to play two more regular season games, and they want to take away a part of retired players benefits. What a way to treat your employees, your employees that go out their every Sunday and put their health on the line to make their owner money. This year alone there were over 100 concussions to players and the owners are responding to this by asking them to go out there and play two more games. This coming after a season where the commissioner preached safety and delivered more fines on illegal hits than ever before. It has become laughable to hear the league talk of safety concerns for players and retired players but still want them to play a few more games and have their benefits cut when they retire. Lets make no mistake the NFL players are making a tremendous amount of money each year for playing a game but there comes a point when flat out greed just sets in. The NFL owners have just become too greedy, many are already multi-millionaires and some are even billionaires. Roger Goodell has been quoted lately talking about how his salary for next year will drop to a dollar if there is no football and he went on to talk about how his wife and family does not want to see that happen, what he forgot to mention is that he made 10 million dollars this year alone, somehow I don’t feel bad for him. 

It’s about time the owners realize that a few million dollars will change nothing in their lifestyles and realize how many hard working Americans look forward to watching football on Sunday’s. It’s time for the NFL owners to step back and realize what they are really doing, they are pushing away the fans that have made them so successful and they are trying to take away something that Americans have come to love and look forward to.