Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Boycotting the NFL Draft
I am a huge NFL fan. I watch about 100 live NFL games every year, plus innumerable hours watching older games and reading or writing about the league. From September through January, football occupies most of my waking life. Even during the offseason, I do things like compiling lists of the greatest kick returners ever or the best postseason quarterbacks. I love pro football, and I have covered the NFL draft every season since 2003.
I skipped this year's draft.
I didn't watch on television. I didn't read about it. I don't even know who was picked after the first round, though I'm sure I'll learn if the league ever admits that there should be games this year. Joe Posnanski wrote a post last week that largely echoes my feelings on this matter:
"The owners, under Goodell's leadership, decided to go for broke as they try to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement. They did this at a time when the NFL is, by far, the most successful sports league in America, perhaps the world. They did this at a time when the league is a $9 billion entity, when television networks are sending flowers and chocolate, and when reports are coming out constantly about the horrible damage football does to its players. Goodell, in representing the owners, had the gall to cry poor, to demand a billion more right off the top for their billionaire owners, to say that the game could not possibly continue like this, to take money away from players who seem to be dying young and suffering terribly in later years, to actually demand expanding the season."
As Posnanski pointed out, during labor conflicts, most sports fans reflexively side against the players. But there is a clear bad guy this time, and it's not the players or the union. It's the league and the owners. If you're blaming the players for the possibility that there might not be NFL games in 2011, you don't understand what's going on. Or maybe you're racist, and feel more comfortable with billionaire white owners than millionaire black players. Maybe you're racist and you don't understand what's going on.
What's going on is that the owners want more money. The poorest NFL owner has more money than Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, and Ray Lewis combined. According to the 2009 team evaluations by Forbes, the least valuable franchise, the Oakland Raiders, is worth about $800 million. Most teams are worth over $1 billion, and all of the owners have substantial assets outside of football. These guys don't need more money. But they're fighting with players who risk their health every time they step onto the field. Players want improved post-career medical coverage, and they don't want longer seasons that would increase injuries and shorten their careers.
This isn't about greedy players trying to add another Lamborghini to their garages. It's about Darryl Stingley. It's about Mike Webster and Kevin Everett and Cedric Killings. It's about Ted Johnson and Mike Utley and Dave Duerson. It's about owners who would rather not have any football games than share their profits with the men who actually play them.
I love the NFL. The league recently suffered a significant legal defeat in its efforts to cancel the 2011 season, and if there are games this September, I'll watch them and write about them. But for now, the league is locking out the players with one hand and promoting its annual draft with the other. It's hypocrisy. It's not football, and it's not fun. Call me in September, Commissioner Goodell.