Why I’m Rooting for the Players
For a while I’ve been on the fence about who really deserves to come out on top of the whole lockout. Ideally and in an utopian world it should be the fans of the NFL. But, ever since the NFL started making rules in the 60’s that started pulling power away from the fans (why Green Bay is and always will be the only publicly owned team) the fans are forever stuck in the middle and the ultimate losers – sort of like the red headed one legged step child of the family. But as of today, I’m pulling for the players to come out on top.
You know, “Greed is good” may have become a pretty bad ass phrase back in the late 80’s. The NFL owners of that time must have thought the movie Wall Street was speaking directly to them leading up to the players strike in ’87 and not much has changed since. What I think they don’t understand is that eventually greed will choke the free market, and when that happens, the fans start to notice. And, when the long arm of greed goes a little further, fans start to care.
The year 2011 is littered with governors and state legislatures crying ‘fiscal emergency!’ Never mind that these ‘wolves’ consist of bloated budgets, pet projects and misallocated funds created in large part by the leaders themselves. The reality is states are broke and can’t pay for key programs or the tax breaks that everyone so desires. So what will fix all of this? Build a new stadium. Duh.
Ziggy Wilf, even tough he probably owns a Lexus, must drive around with a set of those steel pair of balls hanging from the tailgate. At a time when the state of Minnesota is 5 billion dollars in debt, Ziggy is demanding a new stadium be built for his mediocre football team or his taking the next private jet out of town to LA. He wants to build a stadium that will have a final price tag of 20% of what the state owes. And all the Minnesotans have to do is give over their soul – consisting of $300 million from the state ($2 for every $1 Ziggy will pay), an additional $350 million from Ramsey county, receive no rent and no revenues from the stadium (including parking, signage and naming rights), lose $1.5 million in operating expenses and lose out on any sales tax from the building materials. What a deal.
Ziggy’s Palace – From startribune.com
Roger Goodell – aka the owner’s playboy – has visited the site located in Arden Hills and is trying to help push a deal through. The icing on the cake of this deal is that a recent poll shows that the majority of Minnesotans are opposed to using public funds to pay for a new stadium. The results of the poll even breaks political lines with the majority of Republicans, Democrats and Independents alike opposing the bill that would allocate the money. In fact, most said that the current home of the Metrodome is just fine.
So at a time when the average football fan’s wallet is reeling in debt or simply strapped to pay for even the simplest amenities of life, Ziggy Wilf and Rodger Goodell want to stick it to them more with higher taxes or pack up the moving truck to LA. So let’s review the score:
The Owners:
– 1 Billion more in revenue sharing to cover ‘costs.’
– Refuse to open the books to prove they need the extra revenue
– 18 instead of 16 games for more money
– Cheating the players out of negotiated TV money
– Stealing tips from waiters and vendors
– Being cheap when it comes to ex-player healthcare
The Players:
– Keep the owners extra $1 billion in the total revenue pot
– Keep 16 game format
– Better ex-player healthcare
– Owners to open their books
– Pretty much keep things the way they were
After the past 3 months of seeing how the owners have behaved, knowing that they sit quietly grinning from ear to ear about the recent ruling on the stay of the lockout and one in particular holding the football fans of Minnesota hostage, I can no longer see things from their perspective. I can no longer become tolerant of their greed that is constantly sticking it to the fans. Their greed knows no bounds and will only continue to get worse. I can’t root for that kind of greed. But what I can root for are the men on the field getting paid to take the hits and make big plays. The ones who really deserve the credit and the payouts.