Grumpy Old Men

The NFL owners are grumpy and the players are grumpy. Players are getting cut, general managers have no idea what to do about their salary cap, and owners can't believe what the players are demanding. They're all grumpier than a guy woken up by a drunken friend's Wednesday night 1 AM phone call.

I try to avoid labor situations, so here's my misinformed understanding of what this is about:

• The owners and players are fighting over a few percentage points for revenue sharing. What's the difference between a few percentage points? Apparently tens of millions of dollars.
• The players want owners to change the way they share revenue with each other. Teams like the Patriots, Cowboys, and Redskins make more money than teams like the Cardinals and Bills because of local radio rights and other sources of local income. The players want more of that local revenue shared so more teams have money to throw at free agents.

The first issue is a traditional sports labor dispute. Hopefully, the owners and players are smart enough to realize that if they take too long to agree on a number, there will be less revenue to share.

As for the second issue, the players should just forget it. Yes, teams that play in bigger markets get an income advantage (although the Patriots didn't take advantage of this in the 80's). However, most of the extra local income comes from owners investing in building a quality team and promoting it. These good owners should not have the fruits of their labors given away to owners who refuse to invest in their teams.