N.F.L. Players Split Over Revenue Share and Longer Season as C.B.A. Vote Looms

The first two or more full-price "regular" season games are already effectively "pre-season" quality, subject to roster shenanigans and whether D coaches have available books and video on who is actually playing for opposing teams. The changes might make more ticket and TV money, but will aggravate the problem.

I gave up my Jets season tickets when they moved to Met Life and demanded a $20k per seat “personal seat license.” I gradually lost interest in following the team and the sport and this year watched about 15 hours of football the entire season, about half that the Super Bowl and other playoff games. I no longer follow the Jets and my Sundays are much more enjoyable and less frustrating and disappointing.

The NFL has become like the NBA: It's too expensive to go to a game and nobody cares until the playoffs.

I admit to be a lifelong capitalist but this situation is just sick and a very good reason why people like Bernie have such a following with young disenchanted young people. Here we have an operation that violates our nations anti trust laws................but gets a waiver from USCongress. A large percentage of the players are gun totin, hip hoppin, wife beating criminals. A game that is 60 minutes long takes 3 1/2 hours No, I have no sympathy for owners or players.

Wow. MORE games? The capitalists will soon run outta bodies for their incredibly profitable bloodsport. Already, many parents won't let their kids play the game; football's (eventually) gonna hafta come up with something a shade or two less Brutal. Fewer games, not more: make 'em ALL count. Players are sacrificing. Why not the owners?

The ugly truth about the NFL has been in plain sight forever: rich, greedy, largely white owners reaping excessive riches, taking the lion’s share of profits on the backs of players with short, dangerous NFL careers. Seeking a longer season simply to squeeze more profit for owners is obscene.

The league continues trying to whistle past the graveyard by ignoring the ever-growing trail of broken players it leaves in its wake every year. Don't let your kids play football.

I find it interesting how we as a country have turned our backs on children, but the billionaires and millionaires of professional sports call the shots. Spare me the drama. The next football season I plan on not being on the first floor of the house, as my wife watches the games - she loves the competition, her brother and BFF both voted for Trump too. I may take the dog for a longer walk and swim 1.5 miles instead of just a mile, or go to my bedroom and read a book, I despise it all.

They should accept it. You can always rest the players you find more important for another game. Rodgers does not have to play every single minute of every single game, nor Sherman. Not only that '2/3 of the league' would get more money, they should be getting more playing time too, with these changes. And the audience will get more fun. Now, the game is super-violent and the injuries are what they are but that is broadly accepted by everyone in this business.

I've read several articles on this negotiation, and not a single one mentions the benefit that matters the most: lifelong medical insurance. This is a benefit that MLB players enjoy, but not players of the sport that destroys brains and bodies. NFL players currently get five years of medical coverage after retirement, and they only get that if they played at least three years. Here's a useful reminder: Most players leave the game after playing less than five years and earning less than $2 million. Whatever money is left after taxes from those earnings has to support a lifetime of medical bills. One more reminder: There are plenty of people still in the NFL who had a hand in crushing the players the last time they fought the league during the 1987 strike. And not just among ownership. Just look at Saints coach Sean Payton, who was a scab in 1987.

The notion that a ~23 year old player whose minimum salary is $600,000 get hurt and can collect disability from the Social Security is insane.

Cancelling my Sunday Ticket before they auto-pay themselves for another season. Ask an employer for $60k at a job interview and they laugh and say you wish. The greed is beyond any understanding of the people who pay for all of this.

In the end it appears the owners will once more outwit and snooker the vast majority of players who make up the lower 80% of rosters. These players are basically interchangeable parts with the average career some 3.2 years, or just shy of attaining free agent status. The NFL has become like the rest of society, with inequality ruling the pay structure. But those lower 80% will overwhelmingly vote to approve the new CBA because they'll get an immediate pay "bump", and a bit more in the way of benefits. But they'll still be out of the league in 3.2 years on average. I'm surprised the players' assoc. didn't negotiate harder on postseason pay. Fox earned $11M per minute of ad time in the last Super Bowl, or just about what each Chief earned for playing and winning three postseason games. Yes, one minute equaled three brutal postseason wins. The players should demand at least $750,000 per player for the Super Bowl winning team. And what about the paying customers who are subject to "flex" times turning a Dec. aft. game in Green Bay (bad enough) to a night game. The regular season and playoffs will now extend to mid-Feb, just lovely for those games in Foxboro, the Meadowlands, Chicago. etc. Oh yes, the league really has no concern for the paying customers. It is basically all about TV and streaming now.

Please no more games. The season is diluted enough already.

Millionaires negotiating with Billionaires about how much life altering brain damage is worth to each party. Riveting.

Meaningless regular season games in say, MLB or the NBA are one thing, however because of its violent nature, football is ill-suited for teams with bad records playing out the string or teams that already pretty much know their playoff positioning having to play an extra game. The relative shortness of the regular season (at least compared to the ridiculously long seasons of other pro-sports) and the succinctness of the playoffs is a large part of the NFL's appeal. More games and more teams in the playoffs and that starts to get lost. So many restaurants I walk into have a basketball game playing on a big-screen. How many people actually pay any attention to it? It's like visual muzak. Does the NFL want to go down this route? What's the show business adage about leaving them wanting more?

Don't bet on a windfall for anyone, until the game becomes more enjoyable to watch, with better officiating and fewer nit-picking violations!

What about the fans? I think 8 home games are enough. They are going to dicker around with the nature of the game so much that people will not even recognize the game in 20 years. I have been a football fan my entire life but I am rapidly getting turned off by the greed associated with the game. TV timeouts are a drag on the game but I do not expect the long delays between breaks in the game to diminish anytime soon. It may just be time to let go of my season tickets and find something else to do on Sundays.

I could personally care less about how they split the billions just don't cry the sky is falling if I, the middle class tax payer doesn't finance their new "playground" with tax-free bonds. NO MORE TAX-PAYER FUNDED STADIUMS FOR BILLIONAIRES!