Sources: Panthers owner disses Manning, Brees

[MILK]

Oh and I forgot to say "FUCK CRYBABY MANNING" I will giving the Carolina Panthers some support this year! LOL

[mstng86]

Of course they don't! They want that money, they're entitled to it! Let's not forget, this cut that they think they are entitled to, is OUTSIDE of their contracts. They shouldn't be entitled to any of it!

Sure, they really aren't entitled to money outside of their contracts, but why do the owners think they are entitled to a billion dollars they gave to the players in the previews agreement? The other problem with that is the owners say "the money would go toward reinvestment in the game to help grow the overall amount of money that is shared". If I was the players, I would't trust anything the owners are saying. Thats like the government asking us to pay more taxes to fix the roads, and we still end up hitting the same potholes everyday on our way to work.

Because any time a player so much as looks in his direction, he gets to call his own penalties! Manning hasn't been hit, EVER, like some of his predecessors were subject to on every single down. If Manning gets his way, sneezing on the QB will be a penalty and ejection from the game. It's absurd. That's not football, folks.

True, Manning hasn't had the misfortune of being knocked the fuck out. But 90% of that isn't because he is favored by the refs. He has just had one damn good offensive line his whole career.


Richardson played in an era where the players made a minute fraction of what they are making now. And they didn't have all these rules catering to the pussies of the league, either. They made jack shit back then. He rose above it, went on to open his own franchise restaurant, and became a CEO of a large corporation. THEN moved on to own his own NFL team.

This is true in my opinion. Players back then didn't make enough to support a family. They worked everyday jobs in the offseason and sometimes after practice. In todays environment though, being a football player, a star at that, is a full time job. You are constantly being pulled in different directions to meet contractual agreements with the team and sponsors. The amount of money they have to spend on personal body guards in some instances, and other personel can add up really fast. It's expensive to be a professional athlete. Everyone is taking money from you.


The player's contention is oh, health this, health that, safety this, blah blah blah. They've all become entitled, and think they don't make enough money. Their whole basis for the argument is "Look at these guys that played in the 60s, they are broke now". Well, first off, they made jack shit in the 60s. And if they are broke now, it's their own damn fault for bad financial planning. Look at Richardson. He rose above it. He's not broke. If the rest of those guys had a brain worth a shit, they'd be in similar situations. Why should it be the owner's fault these guys go broke, when NFL players are making more than they ever have? Why is it the owners' fault they can't plan for shit? It's not.
The owners aren't obligated to make sure these guys live wealthy for the rest of their lives. Thats just a fact. It is up to the players to make their own financial decisions. I think the NFL does try to teach these guys how to handle their money, so I don't fault the NFL when these guys end up broke

Players are greedy and entitled. Plain and simple. I hate to be the brash asshole to point it out, but come on guys. Get real for a fucking minute.

Players AND the Owners are greedy and entitled. They both need to learn their lesson and see how it feels to really not be making money. Then they will realize how lucky they really are.

[Zfan]

Players are over paid but the owners are making huge money so they want their fair share I guess. This shit will never end, the fans will be the only ones taking it in the butt!

[mstng86]

Letters galore about NFL labor negotiations
By HOWARD FENDRICH, AP Pro Football Writer
Feb 15, 9:19 pm EST


WASHINGTON (AP)—Both sides in the NFL’s labor talks are trying to spread the word by putting their positions in writing, and everyone’s getting in on the act—from Hall of Fame players Jack Youngblood and Bruce Smith, to Commissioner Roger Goodell, to mayors of league cities.

In a letter obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday, Youngblood and Smith asked NFL owners to promise not to lock out players even if a new collective bargaining agreement isn’t reached by the time the current one expires at the end of the day March 3.

Youngblood was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2001, Smith in 2009. Their letter was addressed to “Owners of the National Football League” and sent Jan. 31 to Goodell at league headquarters in New York.

“As former players, it is crystal clear that the vast popularity and financial success of football means that a lock out cannot be in the interest of anybody involved, particularly the fans who support the game,” Youngblood and Smith wrote. “We understand the need for both sides to create pressure, but also know that at times it is important to decrease tenor and tone in order for the right deal to be made in a non-emotional atmosphere.”

They noted that the players’ union already “pledged to not strike.”

“By making the parallel commitment,” they wrote, “the owners would create the breathing room for a deal to be struck.”

That exact wording also was used in a Feb. 7 letter from Kansas City, Mo., Mayor Mark Funkhouser to Clark Hunt, the owner and chief executive officer of that city’s NFL team, the Chiefs. Indeed, Funkhouser’s two-paragraph letter to Hunt uses phrases throughout that echo the letter to Goodell from Youngblood and Smith.

Mayors or city officials from at least five sites of NFL teams have written letters to the league or a club official to argue against a lockout.

Goodell, meanwhile, indicated in an op-ed piece that the 2011 regular season could be in jeopardy if the league and union don’t start “serious negotiations” toward a new CBA soon.

“The hard work to secure the next NFL season must now accelerate in earnest,” Goodell wrote in the piece, which has been run by more than 30 newspapers or websites since last week and was posted Tuesday on NFLlabor.com.

He said he “cannot emphasize enough the importance of reaching agreement by” the expiration of the old CBA.

Goodell also said owners need more money to offset “costs of financing, building, maintaining and operating stadiums.” He added: “We need new stadiums in Los Angeles, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Oakland and San Diego.”

And in yet another letter, the advocacy group Sports Fan Coalition wrote Tuesday to the NFL and union, asking that its leadership be allowed to listen in on bargaining sessions between the sides.

“We are not asking for a seat at the negotiating table—although we believe fans deserve one—but merely to be present in the room,” the letter said, “so that we may inform fans across the country about the state of ongoing negotiations and ensure that progress is being made towards an agreement that ensures a central consideration of fans.”

The biggest issue separating the owners and players is how to divide about $9 billion in annual revenues. Under the old deal, the owners receive $1 billion off the top, and they want to increase that to $2 billion before players get their share.

Among the other significant points in negotiations: the owners’ push to expand the regular season from 16 games to 18 while reducing the preseason by two games; a rookie wage scale; and benefits for retired players.

The NFL and union went more than two months without holding any formal bargaining sessions, until a meeting Feb. 5, the day before the Super Bowl. The sides met again once last week but called off a second meeting that had been scheduled for the following day.

The most recent deal was signed in 2006, but owners exercised an opt-out clause in 2008.

Looks like everyone wants to beg for it to get resolved.