[Bette]

Gene Upshaw, Executive Director of NFLPA, repeats once again there will be no rookie wage scale.
Upshaw has been pressed about this for several years by players. The players want a wage scale. Rookie pay is part of the salary cap and every dollar not spent on a rookie is available for a veteran. The players dont want to change all the rookie pay, just the handful at the top who make an obscene amount of money with out ever attending an NFL game without a ticket.
Upshaw continues to give flimsy excuses. It seems more and more that Upshaw is out of touch with the very people he is supposed to be representing.

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I've said it before. Something has to change somewhere. Americans are getting hard pressed financially with $4 a gallon gas and milk prices. Sooner or later it is going to affect the NFL. I think this is a start.
What do you think?

[azrael492]

He is their representative. Can't they just vote him out. I haven't heard anybody say anything good he has done in a very long time. Is it a lifetime appointment?

[Lefty Noob]

I'm sure the veterans who are making less than untested rookies are VERY happy with Upshaw's stance on this issue.

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by Lefty Noob

I'm sure the veterans who are making less than untested rookies are VERY happy with Upshaw's stance on this issue.

Come on man...every generation knows the game...Staubach and Bradshaw at their peak were making 200K...it is what it is.

[Lefty Noob]

Originally Posted by Gotham Dark Knight

Come on man...every generation knows the game...Staubach and Bradshaw at their peak were making 200K...it is what it is.

So what? Does that mean these guys should just sit on their hands, or if they're not happy about the current salary structure, should they work to change it. Obviously it's the latter. The NFL needs a rookie cap and they need it yesterday. Shame Upshaw doesn't realize it.

[Bette]

Its absolutely indecent the amount of money these kids get. How can you pay that much money to someone who has never played a game in the NFL? I still say its a start to hold down these big numbers in the NFL. It simply cant keep going up and up.

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by Lefty Noob

So what? Does that mean these guys should just sit on their hands, or if they're not happy about the current salary structure, should they work to change it. Obviously it's the latter. The NFL needs a rookie cap and they need it yesterday. Shame Upshaw doesn't realize it.

Totally disagree...in a free market economy I hate to see any kind of rookie cap...Its Social Darwinism 101...if owners are stupid enough to pay that kind of money, then let them suffer the outcome...

I got way more education than any of my siblings...yet they benefit from hitting the work force at a younger age when starting salaries are higher...it is what it is no matter where you go...I on the other hand do not have to stay with my company and can go the free agent route...its no different....why pick on the NFL?

To me parity in anything is just another word for lets all be average and be happy about it...we always want to level the playing field to be "fair"...the heck with that...life is not fair, it is what it is...

Upshaw can't fix crap...the owners run the league...if they want to show personal constraint that is one thing...to force their hands...heck no...I am not for it.

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by Bette

Its absolutely indecent the amount of money these kids get. How can you pay that much money to someone who has never played a game in the NFL? I still say its a start to hold down these big numbers in the NFL. It simply cant keep going up and up.

Well, as I said before...owners are running a business...and if they like to run it into the ground, its their business to run into the ground...

Say you had a flower shop or something like that...would you like someone coming in and telling you what you can pay your employees...or how your store should look...or anything else?...No...its your store...if you decide to not pay someone enough, they can go work elsewhere...if you pay them too much you go out of business...do you really need a Big Brother telling you either? Hardly.

Also they are paying them that much to keep the fan base happy...you draft someone first overall and you don't sign them...good luck selling tickets to your show...

And their hands are not tied on this...you don't want to pay that kind of money...trade down in the draft...you want to pay it...trade up...

I would be for a rookie cap the minute someone pulls a gun and holds it to an owners head and makes them pay that much...and not a minute before that...

[Bette]

Originally Posted by Gotham Dark Knight

Well, as I said before...owners are running a business...and if they like to run it into the ground, its their business to run into the ground...

Say you had a flower shop or something like that...would you like someone coming in and telling you what you can pay your employees...or how your store should look...or anything else?...No...its your store...if you decide to not pay someone enough, they can go work elsewhere...if you pay them too much you go out of business...do you really need a Big Brother telling you either? Hardly.

Also they are paying them that much to keep the fan base happy...you draft someone first overall and you don't sign them...good luck selling tickets to your show...

And their hands are not tied on this...you don't want to pay that kind of money...trade down in the draft...you want to pay it...trade up...

I would be for a rookie cap the minute someone pulls a gun and holds it to an owners head and makes them pay that much...and not a minute before that...

Its not just their business they are running into the ground. They are running my NFL into the ground.
Forget big brother, parity, keeping things average. No one said anything about being fair here. All we are talking about here are the rookie salaries. Its out of control. Its not the owners who are complaining anyway. Its the players. And yeah they want more of the dollars coming to them. So what? They have it coming more than some fresh faced kid barely off the farm so to speak.
The NFLPA is not the same as Big Brother.

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by Bette

Its not just their business they are running into the ground. They are running my NFL into the ground.
Forget big brother, parity, keeping things average. No one said anything about being fair here. All we are talking about here are the rookie salaries. Its out of control. Its not the owners who are complaining anyway. Its the players. And yeah they want more of the dollars coming to them. So what? They have it coming more than some fresh faced kid barely off the farm so to speak.
The NFLPA is not the same as Big Brother.

The owners paid for the team...they own it...its their money...case close...

[Lefty Noob]

See, you can't compare it to someone entering the workforce earlier or what not... it's an issue of whether or not an entry-level worker should be able to earn more than middle-management. I'm sure every business on the planet (well, most of them anyway) have some kind of seniority-based salary structure in place. What's the harm of the NFL doing the same thing?

[Bette]

Originally Posted by Lefty Noob

See, you can't compare it to someone entering the workforce earlier or what not... it's an issue of whether or not an entry-level worker should be able to earn more than middle-management. I'm sure every business on the planet (well, most of them anyway) have some kind of seniority-based salary structure in place. What's the harm of the NFL doing the same thing?

Exactly. I worked in the same place for almost 25 years. You can be darn sure that I and everyone else who had worked there that long wouldnt want someone else to make more starting out than I was. Their starting wage would be higher than mine because of the change in wages in general. But they arent going to make more than people who were their senior. Otherwise, why stick around? Go somewhere else and start for more.

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by Lefty Noob

See, you can't compare it to someone entering the workforce earlier or what not... it's an issue of whether or not an entry-level worker should be able to earn more than middle-management. I'm sure every business on the planet (well, most of them anyway) have some kind of seniority-based salary structure in place. What's the harm of the NFL doing the same thing?

Totally different game...when you are courting new talent...CEO...or lowly worker...he will always get a better deal than the guy within...no?...if not...they ain't gonna land the talent. Its the same.

[Lefty Noob]

Originally Posted by Gotham Dark Knight

Totally different game...when you are courting new talent...CEO...or lowly worker...he will always get a better deal than the guy within...no?...if not...they ain't gonna land the talent. Its the same.

Nah, now see, recruiting new talent as you describe = free agency.
The rookies should be treated like any other fresh-out-of-college entry level workers, if you ask me.

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by Lefty Noob

Nah, now see, recruiting new talent as you describe = free agency.
The rookies should be treated like any other fresh-out-of-college entry level workers, if you ask me.

Not in the NFL where the average career is about 3-5 years...come on man...you got to adjust for that.