NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell continued what seems like a quest to gain public support for the owners in their ongoing labor dispute with the NFL Players Association, penning an op-ed piece that stated, in part, "the status quo is not an option."
Goodell's piece appears in its entirety on NFLLabor.com and is being run in newspapers around the country.
Wrote Goodell:
The hard work to secure the next NFL season must now accelerate in earnest. ... There has been enough rhetoric, litigation and other efforts beyond the negotiating table. It is time for serious negotiations.
Staying with the status quo is not an option. ... We need an agreement that both sides can live with and obtain what they need, not simply what they want.
I really don't understand what Goodell is doing here. I know what he is trying to do -- which is get some public support for the owners and paint DeMaurice Smith and the players as the bad guys who won't compromise -- I just don't understand how he is going about it.
He says in his piece "There has been enough rhetoric, litigation and other efforts beyond the negotiating table. It is time for serious negotiations."
Yet, here he is taking his case to the public and trying to sway opinion. On top of which, didn't the owners just file a complaint with the labor board against the players? So, which side is it that is creating the litigation Goodell is saying he wants to see stopped?
I don't claim to know everything about the collective bargaining agreement or how the whole thing should be split up. I do know I don't like dealing with people who say one thing and do another, and to me that is how today's message from Goodell comes across.