Roger Goodell, that sweetie-pie of an NFL commissioner, has taken time out of his busy schedule to write a nice little letter to NFL fans regarding the negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement.
↵Sweetheart Rog tries to reassure all of us nervous nellies that there will be football in 2011, and it won't be just in the UFL.
↵"I know we can and will reach an agreement," writes the commish.
↵Goodell, of curse, has been pushing for an "enhanced" 18-game regular season as a condition of the new CBA. He is blaming "fan complaints" for that one rather than what it really is -- greed.
↵"Fans tell us they don’t like the quality of the preseason games, and we’re listening. An enhanced season of 18 regular season and two preseason games would not add a single game for the players collectively, but would give fans more meaningful, high-quality football."
↵That, of course, also glosses over the fact that it really does add two extra games for regular players, thus adding to their injury risk and the toll the sport takes on their bodies.
↵One thing Goodell wants that I agree wholeheartedly with is a rookie pay scale. As Goodell wrote "In 2009, NFL clubs contracted $1.2 billion to 256 drafted rookies with $585 million guaranteed before they had stepped on an NFL field."
↵It really was nice of Rog to write directly to all of us fans, tell us how the labor trouble is really due to fan complaints and try to make the players out to be the greedy ones here. Good try, Rog. But there is plenty of blame, and greed, to go around.
↵Stop writing letters, get a deal done and get the 2011 season moving forward, please.
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