Owners At Least Tried To Negotiate In Good Faith

[Night Train]

Negotiation by definition is a dialogue between two or more parties intended to reach an understanding and resolve points of difference. Mediation is defined as the process used to define the issues, develop options & achieve a mutually agreed resolution by working in good faith.

I'm reading many nonpartisan articles concerning the labor talks on business & law sites who could care less which side wins. All agree the proposals & acts of actual negotiation come strictly from the owners side, while the players side basically kept asking for financial records without any counter offer. They ignored the intended process.

These past couple weeks were a complete sham by the players side in regards to negotiation. They should have told the owners upfront that they planned on settling this in court with legal counsel. Great job, jocks. Sharp PR with the football fans.

The owners are hardly innocent... but they at least tried and didn't waste the mediators time.

You players can take all your future autograph picture$ and shove them far up your a$$. If Goddell is in the ballpark with his Letter To The Fans yesterday (explaining their proposals), than I better not ever see a Tweet of dissatisfaction ever again from 1 player, unless I get the opportunity to chain them to a wall and wail stones for 20 minutes.

Zero sympathy for the players. I see their middle finger very clearly from the stands.

[Goobylal]

Re: Owners At Least Tried To Negotiate In Good Faith

I side with the owners. Increasing player costs only leads to higher prices for the fans.

As for the players, they are making more money than ever and are more protected than ever. The owners own the league and should be making the money, and should dictate what the players get. If the players don't like it, they can go to Canada to play.

[alohabillsfan]

Re: Owners At Least Tried To Negotiate In Good Faith

NFLPA=FAIL

[Extremebillsfan247]

Re: Owners At Least Tried To Negotiate In Good Faith

I also have a non partisan view because I don't care which side wins. I just want to watch football. On that note, I've also like many of you have been following this banter for quite awhile now. I will continue to stay neutral on this but it seems like the Owners have done more to try and come to a resolution than the players have.

[trapezeus]

Re: Owners At Least Tried To Negotiate In Good Faith

owners never came to the table with a real effort. the players wanted 10 years of revenues to see why they should give up $1bn to 32 owners. owners balked at it continuously with very insincere efforts.

the fact the owners dont want to show why they "need" the extra billion is a joke. the owners have recklessly spent money and it isn't because someone held a gun to their head.

players are making more on average, but its inflated by superstars that have ridiculous payments.

I blame the owners...

[better days]

Re: Owners At Least Tried To Negotiate In Good Faith

owners never came to the table with a real effort. the players wanted 10 years of revenues to see why they should give up $1bn to 32 owners. owners balked at it continuously with very insincere efforts.

the fact the owners dont want to show why they "need" the extra billion is a joke. the owners have recklessly spent money and it isn't because someone held a gun to their head.

players are making more on average, but its inflated by superstars that have ridiculous payments.

I blame the owners...

To ask to see the owners books for the last 10 years is a totally unreasonable request & the players union knew that. It was just a sham of an excuse to fail to negotiate on their part.

[trapezeus]

Re: Owners At Least Tried To Negotiate In Good Faith

is it? if your boss asked you to take a pay cut so they could get paid better because they were losing a lot of money, wouldn't you ask for some historical trends to see what htey are seeing? that's good faith.

the five years they gave them were massaged numbers. and not very much data.

all i'm saying is if i'm working for a group that makes double digit growth each year and then they say, "we need you to take a cut in pay and benefits", i want to make sure this isn't just a money grab. because the work i do is hard and i do it well.

[better days]

Re: Owners At Least Tried To Negotiate In Good Faith

is it? if your boss asked you to take a pay cut so they could get paid better because they were losing a lot of money, wouldn't you ask for some historical trends to see what htey are seeing? that's good faith.

the five years they gave them were massaged numbers. and not very much data.

all i'm saying is if i'm working for a group that makes double digit growth each year and then they say, "we need you to take a cut in pay and benefits", i want to make sure this isn't just a money grab. because the work i do is hard and i do it well.

Well, not all NFL players do their work well, including many on the Bills. If the players think they are massaging the numbers they will say the same when they see the books as well.

Are you telling me you can tell the owner of the company you work for that you have to see his books before you will negotiate to be paid by him?

[TacklingDummy]

Re: Owners At Least Tried To Negotiate In Good Faith

owners never came to the table with a real effort. the players wanted 10 years of revenues to see why they should give up $1bn to 32 owners. owners balked at it continuously with very insincere efforts.

Go ask the people who own the company you work for to see their books.

[trapezeus]

Re: Owners At Least Tried To Negotiate In Good Faith

if my company got a governmental exception to effectively be a monopoly, then i could, but siince i have have a choice of where I want to work where companies go head to head and have to be competitive with each other, then i can go elsewhere.

additionally, i work for a public company, so i can see whatever numbers i want in regards to revenue.

[better days]

Re: Owners At Least Tried To Negotiate In Good Faith

if my company got a governmental exception to effectively be a monopoly, then i could, but siince i have have a choice of where I want to work where companies go head to head and have to be competitive with each other, then i can go elsewhere.

additionally, i work for a public company, so i can see whatever numbers i want in regards to revenue.

Well the Packers numbers are there for everyone to see. NFL teams go head to head & I doubt one NFL team would show its books to another.

Players can go play in the CFL or pick another vocation altogether. Nobody is forcing them to play in the NFL. They can work where they want but if they want to play in the NFL they will have to play by the NFL's rules.

[Night Train]

Re: Owners At Least Tried To Negotiate In Good Faith

To ask to see the owners books for the last 10 years is a totally unreasonable request & the players union knew that. It was just a sham of an excuse to fail to negotiate on their part.

Not just that, but they pulled this out in the last 15-39 minutes prior to the deadline, then left early !

If anyone recalls 2006, the owners were given 45 minutes to vote on a multi page proposal, which caused panic but Paul Tags told the owners to trust him and just vote " Yes " to avoid a work stoppage. His only concern being his own legacy, since he was retiring right after that. Ralph & Mike Brown balked and here we are.

Players negotiating in good faith ? When ????

[cookie G]

Re: Owners At Least Tried To Negotiate In Good Faith

Well the Packers numbers are there for everyone to see. NFL teams go head to head & I doubt one NFL team would show its books to another.

Players can go play in the CFL or pick another vocation altogether. Nobody is forcing them to play in the NFL. They can work where they want but if they want to play in the NFL they will have to play by the NFL's rules.

And the NFL will do great with replacement players, just like they did in 1987.

This isn't like replacing cashiers or store clerks.

There's far more of a symbiotic relationship in the NFL than you're letting on,

The NFL needs top flight players to make its business plan work. This is especially true now, considering how refined that model has become, and how much they are asking their customer to pay for that model. People aren't going to pay the amount of money the owners expect to receive with an inferior product.

The players need the NFL business model to showcase themselves in a marketable manner. Since there is no other arena for them to do this, they're SOL without the NFL.

You have 2 sides completely screwing up an enormously successful enterprise because both want to say "I'm the game." The game, to be as successful as it has been, is dependent on both.

[Bufftp]

Re: Owners At Least Tried To Negotiate In Good Faith

is it? if your boss asked you to take a pay cut so they could get paid better because they were losing a lot of money, wouldn't you ask for some historical trends to see what htey are seeing? that's good faith.

the five years they gave them were massaged numbers. and not very much data.

all i'm saying is if i'm working for a group that makes double digit growth each year and then they say, "we need you to take a cut in pay and benefits", i want to make sure this isn't just a money grab. because the work i do is hard and i do it well.

not 10 minutes before the deadline expired.

[Mad Max]

Re: Owners At Least Tried To Negotiate In Good Faith

NFL teams are privately owned companies Packers accepted and as such are not in the business of opening their books. That puts them at a strategic disadvantage with everyone they do business with NOT just the players.

How many regular Joes when they hear the question " how much do you make?", want to answer the question? And they for the most part make less than $100k. Essentially the same thing is being asked here except on a much higher scale.