The Bronze Medal

Ask
home  |  September 9th, 2012

Just remember: This isn’t a strike. It’s a lockout. The owners are trying to teach the officials a lesson. For a league with revenues far north of $8 billion a year, the petty cash in dispute is laughable. Especially when you consider there are only 119 NFL officials. And that they’re employed part time. If Roger Goodell and the NFL and the NFL owners were serious about player safety and player conduct, for $50 million a year — less than 1 percent of total revenue — they could hire 200 well-trained full-time officials at $250,000 each.

But the NFL and the NFL owners and Roger Goodell are not serious about those things. They’re only serious about looking serious about those things. With the simple application of cash and backbone, they could make the game safer overnight. Instead, they’ll nickel-and-dime the officials’ union just because they can. And because we live in a moment when capital openly carries a nightstick in every debate over money or politics, you’ll let them get away with it…

You know that your leisure to watch an NFL game on Sunday was argued and bargained and fought for by unions, right? That the wages you spent on that game-day flatscreen were argued and bargained and fought for by unions, right? That your standing as a member of the American middle class was argued and bargained and fought for by 200 years of collective effort and sacrifice and blood on the part of folks just like you, right?

— Remember, they’re not “replacement refs”, they’re strikebreakers.

  1. shorterexcerpts reblogged this from annaverity
  2. the-lord-is-my-coelacanth reblogged this from stupidlittletuftybeard
  3. stupidlittletuftybeard reblogged this from annaverity
  4. annaverity reblogged this from thebronzemedal
  5. ziatroyano reblogged this from thebronzemedal
  6. thebronzemedal posted this

 next post
previous post