Today begins the process of ultimately resolving the disagreements between the NFL and NFLPA when the two parties meet in U.S. District Court.
Judge Susan Nelson will hear a motion for a preliminary injunction brought by the plaintiffs in Tom Brady et al. v. NFL.
Sports Illustrated’s Michael McCann wrote an article outlining all the specifics of the lawsuit and further speculated on the prospects of the 2011 NFL season being played.
Towards the end of the article McCann discusses the financial impact on the players if part of the season is lost due to continued labor issues.
McCann said that the NFLPA has tried to minimize the loss of game checks by providing each player roughly $60,000, but a good portion of that money will be used to cover the players’ health care.
He goes on to say that the average NFL salary is $1.9 million and that the $60,000 they’ll receive from the NFLPA “will probably require significant lifestyle changes.”
Stop and think about that for a moment. An NFL player receiving a check in the amount of $60,000 might have to make significant lifestyle changes.
In other words, an NFL player who gets what he may consider a paltry sum is making more money than the overwhelming majority of Americans.
Suffice it to say, there won’t be too many people who feel sorry for an NFL player that will have to live within his means when most hard working Americans are doing so making less money.
Even for the players making the league minimum of $295,000, that amount is substantially more than what 97 percent of Americans will earn in a year.
While the NFL players have valid claims that brought about the lawsuit, the last thing they need to do is play the sympathy card in hopes of swaying fans in the court of public opinion.
When people learn that every NFL player will receive a check in the amount of $60,000 for doing nothing, it’s not going to make their case against the owners any stronger.
In fact, it might actually weaken their position when fans know that the players aren’t hurting financially as they might otherwise have you believe.
If you told the average American he could sit on his ass and get a check for $60,000, he’d probably pass out from euphoria.
If the NFLPA wants to pursue their agenda, that’s fine. But spare me the details about how players might have to make significant lifestyle changes because they’re “only” receiving $60,000.
