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Post by dj on Oct 3, 2011 23:32:15 GMT -5
www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/sep/29/chargers-dolphins-game-blacked-out/"It's official: Sunday's Chargers-Dolphins game will be blacked out in San Diego and nearly all of Southern California. The Chargers announced at the 1:15 p.m. deadline Thursday that 6,500 general tickets remained unsold for the game. There were three blackouts of Chargers games last season. The blackout means San Diego will see only two NFL games during the day Sunday instead of four. KFMB Channel 8 no longer will be permitted to show Steelers-Texans at 10 a.m.; the CBS affiliate will air Patriots-Raiders at 1:15 p.m. The only 10 a.m. game Sunday will be Lions-Cowboys on Fox." Don't you love your city being manipulated like this? And the NFL has been specifically shielded from anti-monopoly laws by Congress. From the very earliest days of broadcasting pro football, up until 1973 ALL games were blacked out in their home market whether or not they were sold out. Believe it or not this included playoff games and even the Super Bowl. Super Bowl VIII was the first one broadcast to the city it was held in. Congress passed a law in 1973 that if a game sold out more than 72 prior to game time, the blackout could be lifted. Most teams are able to work with this so it is rarely a problem any more.
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Post by Turk on Oct 4, 2011 21:07:23 GMT -5
Good article. What if the NFL Played by Teachers' Rules? By FRAN TARKENTON Imagine the National Football League in an alternate reality. Each player's salary is based on how long he's been in the league. It's about tenure, not talent. The same scale is used for every player, no matter whether he's an All-Pro quarterback or the last man on the roster. For every year a player's been in this NFL, he gets a bump in pay. The only difference between Tom Brady and the worst player in the league is a few years of step increases. And if a player makes it through his third season, he can never be cut from the roster until he chooses to retire, except in the most extreme cases of misconduct. Let's face the truth about this alternate reality: The on-field product would steadily decline. Why bother playing harder or better and risk getting hurt? No matter how much money was poured into the league, it wouldn't get better. In fact, in many ways the disincentive to play harder or to try to stand out would be even stronger with more money. Of course, a few wild-eyed reformers might suggest the whole system was broken and needed revamping to reward better results, but the players union would refuse to budge and then demonize the reform advocates: "They hate football. They hate the players. They hate the fans." The only thing that might get done would be building bigger, more expensive stadiums and installing more state-of-the-art technology. But that just wouldn't help. If you haven't figured it out yet, the NFL in this alternate reality is the real -life American public education system. Teachers' salaries have no relation to whether teachers are actually good at their job—excellence isn't rewarded, and neither is extra effort. Pay is almost solely determined by how many years they've been teaching. That's it. After a teacher earns tenure, which is often essentially automatic, firing him or her becomes almost impossible, no matter how bad the performance might be. And if you criticize the system, you're demonized for hating teachers and not believing in our nation's children. Continued at: online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204226204576601232986845102.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_carousel_3
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Post by jdredd on Oct 4, 2011 21:24:05 GMT -5
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Post by dolphie on Oct 4, 2011 21:25:19 GMT -5
Good article. What if the NFL Played by Teachers' Rules? By FRAN TARKENTON Imagine the National Football League in an alternate reality. Each player's salary is based on how long he's been in the league. It's about tenure, not talent. The same scale is used for every player, no matter whether he's an All-Pro quarterback or the last man on the roster. For every year a player's been in this NFL, he gets a bump in pay. The only difference between Tom Brady and the worst player in the league is a few years of step increases. And if a player makes it through his third season, he can never be cut from the roster until he chooses to retire, except in the most extreme cases of misconduct. Let's face the truth about this alternate reality: The on-field product would steadily decline. Why bother playing harder or better and risk getting hurt? No matter how much money was poured into the league, it wouldn't get better. In fact, in many ways the disincentive to play harder or to try to stand out would be even stronger with more money. Of course, a few wild-eyed reformers might suggest the whole system was broken and needed revamping to reward better results, but the players union would refuse to budge and then demonize the reform advocates: "They hate football. They hate the players. They hate the fans." The only thing that might get done would be building bigger, more expensive stadiums and installing more state-of-the-art technology. But that just wouldn't help. If you haven't figured it out yet, the NFL in this alternate reality is the real -life American public education system. Teachers' salaries have no relation to whether teachers are actually good at their job—excellence isn't rewarded, and neither is extra effort. Pay is almost solely determined by how many years they've been teaching. That's it. After a teacher earns tenure, which is often essentially automatic, firing him or her becomes almost impossible, no matter how bad the performance might be. And if you criticize the system, you're demonized for hating teachers and not believing in our nation's children. Continued at: online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204226204576601232986845102.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_carousel_3Thank you, Turk. I meant to cross post it here as well as the union thread, but became distracted and did not hit the post reply button. I did get it on the union thread though. Fran Tarkenton makes a great point!
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Post by jdredd on Apr 17, 2012 0:04:48 GMT -5
And it's just not the NFL: www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-16/sacramento-is-fresh-victim-of-bad-stadium-deals.html?cmpid=BVrelated"Officials in Sacramento, California, are furious that the owners of the Kings basketball franchise, the Maloof family, said they are backing out of a handshake deal in February to invest $73 million in a project to build a new arena downtown. This publicly funded stadium issue has raged in cities across the U.S., including Indianapolis, where the highly subsidized Lucas Oil Stadium was host to this year’s Super Bowl, and Minneapolis, as Minnesota legislators ponder a deal to build a new football stadium for the Vikings. But the story in California’s capital, a city of 2 million with a perennial inferiority complex borne of being overshadowed by the Los Angeles and Bay Area media markets, is not about the details of the deal or the wiles of mercurial owners of National Basketball Association teams. It’s about the foolishness of city officials who pin urban renewal hopes and taxpayer dollars on sports complexes despite the public’s declining willingness to pony up the cash." "In San Diego, officials continue to promote an atrocious taxpayer-funded stadium deal to keep its football team, the Chargers, from heading to Los Angeles or elsewhere, but they don’t seem to be getting much traction either."
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Post by jdredd on May 3, 2012 1:42:36 GMT -5
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Post by jdredd on May 4, 2012 1:26:07 GMT -5
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17948091"His death follows the 2011 suicide of former Chicago Bears player Dave Duerson. The two deaths have led to questions about the effect of concussions on the brains of professional football stars. Recent studies have found a connection between repeated concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a disease with symptoms including memory loss and mood swings. On Thursday, a more than a hundred former National Football League players filed a lawsuit claiming the National Football League (NFL) deliberately hid the dangers of concussions from them. They join an additional 1,500 former NFL players who have put their names to similar lawsuit." Could injuries be the Achilles Heel of the NFL racket? It's a long shot...
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Post by jdredd on May 21, 2012 13:39:20 GMT -5
www.economist.com/node/21555606"The Falcons and the GWCC have hit upon a solution: a new stadium with a retractable roof, more seats and a larger share of premium seats. The cost, according to the study’s “conservative estimate”, is a cool $947.7m, $300m of which would be paid for with taxpayer money." "Should that plan be approved, Atlanta would get off comparatively lightly. On May 14th Minnesota’s governor approved a $975m stadium for their football team. Minnesota and Minneapolis will pay $498m, with money coming from gambling revenue and a redirected hospitality tax, and the team chipping in $477m. Teams in Oakland, San Diego and St Louis are all angling for new stadiums; behind their pleas lies an unspoken threat: Los Angeles has no professional football team, and it wants one. An unhappy owner could always pick up his team and head for Hollywood. Of the 20 stadiums built since the Georgia Dome opened, four have been privately financed. Of the rest, the average public share is 73% of the total cost."
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Post by Tired in CV on May 23, 2012 2:20:01 GMT -5
www.economist.com/node/21555606Teams in Oakland, San Diego and St Louis are all angling for new stadiums; behind their pleas lies an unspoken threat: Los Angeles has no professional football team, and it wants one. An unhappy owner could always pick up his team and head for Hollywood. They are not likely to gain one either as THEY don't have the funds to provide a "new" stadium either. Although, as the 7th largest city (world metropolitan area) they would be more likely to provide funding along with "sponsors". The key is to get the people to agree to additional taxes, defered hotel taxes or spending from the cities coffers (money they really don't have). They also have more people of which to "fill" the stadium. Contracts between NFL teams and cities deal with "state of the art" facilities which could be outdated in as short as 5 years after building the stadium.
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Post by jdredd on Sept 25, 2012 2:44:24 GMT -5
www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/25/seahawks-defeat-packers-replacement-referees_n_1911519.html"By way of one of the most bizarre calls that you'll ever see in an NFL game, the Seattle Seahawks have defeated the Green Bay Packers, 14-12, on "Monday Night Football." With the Seahawks trailing 12-7 and down to their final play, quarterback Russell Wilson heaved a desperation pass toward the end zone. Green Bay safety M.D. Jennings rose highest and seemed secure the ball but Seahawks receiver Golden Tate managed to get his hands around the ball as well. One referee raised his arms to signal touchdown while another official waved his arms, seemingly signaling a touchback (by way of an interception). After review, one of the initial calls on the field was upheld... SEAHAWKS TOUCHDOWN! The controversial finish to the Week 3 finale, capped a tumultuous stretch for the overmatched replacement officials deployed as the labor dispute between the NFL and the regular officials drags on. From Patriots coach Bill Belichick accosting an official in the aftermath of his team's loss to the Ravens and the extra timeouts awarded the San Francisco 49ers to this surreal scene in Seattle, officiating is the inescapable story of the 2012 NFL season." So the NFL bigwigs are effing up the sacred football season in order to stick it to the ref union? Gosh, I've been missing the fun by ignoring football...
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Post by Turk on Sept 25, 2012 9:09:05 GMT -5
It may have been the worst call in NFL history which will help the hold out refs. This is a part time job that pays over a 150k per year, the refs want a 50% increase, must be nice, no one else gets that kind of raise. I say let them rot at home and give the replacement refs a chance.
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Post by Turk on Sept 25, 2012 9:17:42 GMT -5
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Post by jdredd on Sept 27, 2012 20:05:13 GMT -5
Well, the NFL and the Ref union have got a deal, and the owners will unlock them out. From what I can tell, the older Refs sold out the younger Refs, as usual, by sticking new hires with a 401k instead of a real pension. No wonder younger workers feel they have no use for Unions.
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Post by jdredd on Nov 7, 2014 21:02:20 GMT -5
profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/11/06/league-unveils-full-slate-of-london-games/"For the second straight year, the NFL will send three of 256 regular-season games to London. It’s not yet known whether one of those three games will start at 9:30 a.m. ET. The Dolphins host the Jets on October 4, the Jaguars host the Bills on October 25, and the Chiefs host the Lions on November 1. Per the league’s press release, times will be announced at a later date." This proves once and for all Brits are as stupid as Americans. Except, of course, they weren't stupid enough to go into Vietnam.
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Post by jdredd on Feb 1, 2015 2:36:38 GMT -5
Tomorrow is the big day for America's sportspersons. So who is this year's halftime whore? Oh, it's Katy Perry. Sounds about right.
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