Email from Roger Goodell

[sfchief]

Wow the propaganda machine is full throttle
Who else got this email

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=729 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=center align=left width=16>http://img.ed4.net/spacer50.gif</TD><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 10px; COLOR: #333333; LINE-HEIGHT: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left" vAlign=center align=left width=699>Trouble viewing this e-mail? View in Web Browser (http://click.nfl.com/r/16ZRN3U/3MPJ/7N627H/W4LP/XHFP/PN/h?a=16ZRN3U&b=ZGR3&c=YBU0BNB&d=LCKQJ5&e=1) | View on Mobile Device (http://click.nfl.com/r/16ZRN3U/3MPJ/7N627H/W4LP/ZG3L/PN/h?a=16ZRN3U&b=ZGR3&c=YBU0BNB&d=LCKQJ5&e=1)</TD><TD vAlign=center align=left width=14>http://img.ed4.net/spacer50.gif</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=2>http://img.ed4.net/nfl/2011/predev/cops_56032_0102/1/img/cops1.gif</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=508><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; COLOR: #231f20; LINE-HEIGHT: 14px; FONT-FAMILY: Endzone Sans Light, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">
With one of the most exciting regular seasons now completed and the playoffs about to begin, let me first thank you and all NFL fans for your incredible support. Many fans have been asking me where we stand on signing a new collective bargaining agreement with the players union. Let me update you and be clear at the outset:

I know we can and will reach an agreement.

My goal as Commissioner now is to help our teams and players find a solution that is fair to everyone and ensures that football becomes more popular, accessible, and fun. We want the next decade to be the best yet for our fans, and I’m ready to work day and night to make that happen.

We've come a long way. Compare where we are today with 10 years ago. From player accountability to player safety, more and better television coverage, upgrading the in-stadium experience, innovations like the RedZone channel, the Draft in prime time and playing the Pro Bowl before the Super Bowl, we are focused on doing what’s best for the players, teams, and fans. My priority is and always will be the game and the fans who love our game.

The NFL is great because fans care deeply about it. Economic conditions, however, have changed dramatically inside and outside the NFL since 2006 when we negotiated the last CBA. A 10 percent unemployment rate hurts us all. Fans have limited budgets and rightly want the most for their money. I get it.

Yes, NFL players deserve to be paid well. Unfortunately, economic realities are forcing everyone to make tough choices and the NFL is no different.

These are not easy negotiations, but the outcome can be positive. If both sides give a little, everyone, including fans, will get a lot and the game will improve through innovation.

Even in difficult economic times, a new CBA presents us with the opportunity to secure the future of our game. You may ask how will the NFL look under this vision?

A significant change would be to resolve fan complaints about preseason by modifying our 20-game format. Fans tell us they don’t like the quality of the preseason games, and we’re listening. An enhanced season of 18 regular season and two preseason games would not add a single game for the players collectively, but would give fans more meaningful, high-quality football.

Our emphasis on player health and safety is absolutely essential to the future of our game. We are strictly enforcing rules that protect players from unnecessarily dangerous play, especially involving hits to the head. We are changing the “play through it” culture to a “player-first” culture to ensure that if a player has a head injury, he doesn’t play again until his health is certain. We are also addressing the potential wear-and-tear on players in the way they train in-season and off-season.

It’s not just the health of players that concerns us. We must ensure the health of the league. That includes a new system that properly compensates proven veterans and retired players by shifting some of the outrageous sums paid to many unproven rookies. Earlier this year, Sports Illustrated published a list of the 50 highest-paid American athletes that included five 2009 NFL rookies. Every other athlete on the list was a proven veteran. In 2009, NFL clubs contracted $1.2 billion to 256 drafted rookies with $585 million guaranteed before they had stepped on an NFL field.

Don’t get me wrong: top draft choices will continue to be highly paid. All we’re asking for is a return to common sense in paying our rookies. Other leagues have done this and we can too.

These improvements and more will lead to better football, plain and simple. A forward looking CBA that is fair to players and clubs will lead to a great future for the NFL and our fans.

My job is to represent the game — the fans, teams, players, coaches and business partners. Protecting the integrity of the game and ensuring it thrives is a responsibility I take very seriously.

This is about more than a labor agreement. It’s about the future of the NFL. We have to improve and will be relentless in our quest. The commitment to our fans is to make the NFL experience even better in the years ahead. With a responsible CBA, we will fulfill that vision.

Happy New Year and enjoy the playoffs.



<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; COLOR: #231f20; LINE-HEIGHT: 14px; FONT-FAMILY: Endzone Sans Light, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">– Roger Goodell</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
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[gblowfish]

Dontcha just love corporate weasel speak?

[spanky 52]

I got it, guess cause I'd ordered stuff from NFL.com. The NFL is going at the fans, the NFLPA is going to the press and politicians, doesn't give me a lot of confidence in them getting something worked out.

[007]

Must not be due to ording from nfl.com because I haven't gotten this email.

[Brock]

"We're not making enough money, what with having to pay another 49 dollars a month to NFL retirees for medical expenses."

[threebag]

A rookie no matter how high a draft pick shouldn't be paid equal to the top of the league.
And a lucrative contract should be escalators that the Rookie athlete achieves. Pay your dues. With a standard set for draft position. No more contract extortion negotiations. Get em signed and let's play.

[tomahawk kid]

I fully expect the 2 sides to get something done, after as much public drama, name calling and mud slinging as possible - and at the 11th hour 59th minute.

[philfree]

I think he misunderstands what fans are saying about preseason games. It's not the quality of the games it's the fact that it cost the same as a regular season game that they don't like. Or maybe he's turning a blind eye to that because they ain't giving up that revenue.

PhilFree:arrow:

[CoMoChief]

count me as one who has zero sympathy for any multi-millionaire or billionaire during these times.

[Donger]

I hate Big Football.

[Brock]

He's also acting like the starters play in all 4 preseason games. What a ridiculous little toady for the owners he is.

[wazu]

I agree with Goodell on all points. Go owners!

[jAZ]

He's right about a lot of that. The only disengenuine speak I read was his comment about 18 game season not adding to the burdeon of players. 2 more competitive games adds a lot of snaps to starters that they wouldn't otherwise have.

Player safety efforts helps to balance that somewhat, but even that isn't keeping up with the increased speed (and violence) of the game. So it doesn't offset the expanded number of snaps that players will be playing.

Otherwise, most of that is correct, even if it is an obvious PR effort.

[jAZ]

If the NFL really wanted to get fans on their side... particularly given the effort to win fans over with the "10% umployment hurts us all" talk... they should offer a 5% cut in ticket prices as part of their proposal. Something that would recognize the sacrafice that fans have made over the last couple year. Even if only nominally.

[threebag]

Forget the eighteen game season. I would like eighteen but it would Deminish the records that have stood for decades. Every year would be projected this vs actual that. I guess I just like the history of the game too.

[wazu]

If the NFL really wanted to get fans on their side... particularly given the effort to win fans over with the "10% umployment hurts us all" talk... they should offer a 5% cut in ticket prices as part of their proposal. Something that would recognize the sacrafice that fans have made over the last couple year. Even if only nominally.

I think the NFL owner equivalent of this has been not raising ticket prices except for club level. Reality is, though, that they will be forced to lower prices by market forces soon enough. They won't be doing it as a PR stunt.

[RNR]

If the NFL really wanted to get fans on their side... particularly given the effort to win fans over with the "10% umployment hurts us all" talk... they should offer a 5% cut in ticket prices as part of their proposal. Something that would recognize the sacrafice that fans have made over the last couple year. Even if only nominally.

The NFL quit giving a shit about Joe Sixpack a long long time ago~

[wazu]

The NFL quit giving a shit about Joe Sixpack a long long time ago~

They can choose to not give a shit, but Joe Sixpack actually spends a lot of money going to games. Good luck filling the stadium with nothing but millionaires.

[Brock]

oh hai taxpayers, we need a new stadium that you won't be able to get into or else we'll leave

[threebag]

Almost all of my clothes are either CHIEFS or ROYALS. There is revenue there too. Lots of it.

[CoMoChief]

Almost all of my clothes are either CHIEFS or ROYALS. There is revenue there too. Lots of it.

:spock:

[morphius]

If the NFL really wanted to get fans on their side... particularly given the effort to win fans over with the "10% umployment hurts us all" talk... they should offer a 5% cut in ticket prices as part of their proposal. Something that would recognize the sacrafice that fans have made over the last couple year. Even if only nominally.
Outside of giving the season ticket holders on less preseason ticket they have to eat up, and a redzone channel we get to pay for there really isn't much in there for the fans.

[RNR]

Forget the eighteen game season. I would like eighteen but it would Deminish the records that have stood for decades. Every year would be projected this vs actual that. I guess I just like the history of the game too.

The records are already skewed. This was said when the NFL went from 12 to 14 and again from 14 to 16. A 1000 yard season was a great benchmark for a back or wideout at one time, now it is very average~

[threebag]

Ya just hate them always changing shit. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

[jAZ]

I think the NFL owner equivalent of this has been not raising ticket prices except for club level. Reality is, though, that they will be forced to lower prices by market forces soon enough. They won't be doing it as a PR stunt.

Certainly possible, which is why taking the PR value now is possibly very savvy. Obviously they have to make the numbers work for them, and 5% of ticket sales is a big chunk. But The advertising bump from 2 more meaningful games would presumably more than offset the losses. Maybe not though.

[Saul Good]

If the owners would stand their ground, the players would be forced to back down. Without the NFL, these owners are still worth hundreds of millions. Without the NFL, the players are hoping to get a job driving a bus.

[gblowfish]

Here's the real letter minus the weasel speak:

[ClevelandBronco]

They can choose to not give a shit, but Joe Sixpack actually spends a lot of money going to games. Good luck filling the stadium with nothing but millionaires.

We need millionaires to pay for Obamacare and football tickets.

[Brock]

Sure, we invented personal seat licenses, but trust us.

[Royal Fanatic]

Goodell is absolutely right about one thing: it's ridiculous that rookies get guaranteed contracts that set new records every year for the highest paid players in the league.

I'd be all for a rookie salary cap. It doesn't have to be ridiculously low, but right now the salaries for the first round draft choices are ridiculously high. Give that money to the veteran NFL players who are living in poverty instead.

[teedubya]

Here's the real letter minus the weasel speak:

heh... Not getting enough love.

With one of the most exciting regular seasons now completed and the playoffs about to begin, let me first thank you and all NFL fans for your incredible support. We like money. We REALLY like money. Many fans have been asking me -or I imagine they would ask me if I wasn't surrounded by personal security and driven everywhere by my chauffeur- where we stand on signing a new collective bargaining agreement with the players union. Let me update you and be perfectly, Nixon-esque clear at the outset:

I know we can and will reach an agreement. Why? Because billionaire lawyers can beat up millionaire lawyers. My goal as Commissioner now is to help our owners make money. And continue to pay players way less than the monetary value they create in terms of total revenue, to ensure that football becomes more popular, accessible, fun, and most of all, profitable. We want the next decade to be the best yet for our bottom line, and I’m ready to work day and night to make that happen.

We've come a long way, baby. Compare where we are today with ten years ago. From players on Twitter, to the pussification of roughing the passer penalties, more and better paying television revenues, upgrading the in-stadium ticket pricing experience, innovations like the fantasy football, the Draft as a prime time reality show, and playing the Pro Bowl before the Super Bowl -excluding players who are Super Bowl participants and watering down the talent pool - we are focused on doing what’s best for the owners, owners and owners. My priority is and always will be the
revenue produced by the game and the owners who own our game. In short, I am their Huckleberry.

The NFL is great because fans have been blindly conditioned to care deeply about it. Economic conditions, however, have changed dramatically inside and outside the NFL since 2006 when we negotiated the last CBA. A ten percent unemployment rate hurts us all. Well, not all of us. The top one percent still own 95% of the country's wealth.

However, Some owners now only have tens of billions instead of hundreds of billions of dollars. Fans have limited budgets and rightly want the most for their money. I get it. I don't really give a left handed rat's ass, but I get it.

Yes, NFL players deserve to be paid. Unfortunately, economic realities are forcing everyone to make tough choices and the NFL is no different. Frankly, owners hate unions. Unions are socialist. Obama is a socialist. Obama is not a Christian. So the NFL players are heathens and use their over inflated salaries to sponsor terrorism. This must be
stopped.

These are not easy negotiations, but the outcome can be positive. For both legal teams. Hours upon billable hours will be generated by all the involved law firms. If both sides stall a little, everyone involved with the process will get a lot. A really, really lot.

Even in difficult economic times, a new CBA presents us with the opportunity to secure the future of our game. You may ask how will the NFL look under this vision? Let me simply say "Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss."

A significant change would be to resolve fan complaints about preseason by modifying our 20-game format. Fans tell us they don’t like the quality of the preseason games, and we’re listening. An enhanced season of 18 regular season and two preseason games would not add a single game for the players collectively, but would give fans more meaningful, high-quality football. Expect we'll still charge fans for pre-season games as if they were regular season games. Frankly, that just cracks us up, and we laugh all the way to the bank with those proceeds.

Our emphasis on player health and safety is absolutely essential to the future of our game. We are strictly enforcing rules that protect players from unnecessarily dangerous play, especially involving hits to the head. We are also encouraging grabbing of the nut sack, as it increases fan interest and makes for interesting web chatter. We are changing the “play through it” culture to a “rub some dirt on it” culture to ensure that if a player has a head injury, he doesn’t play again until his eyeballs stop spinning and the little tweety bluebirds circling his helmet fl y away. We are also addressing the potential of scratch-n-sniff jerseys, jocks and socks that may be auctioned on E-Bay during the off-season.

It’s not just the health of players that concerns us. We must ensure the health of the league. Again, that means billionaires fighting with millionaires. That includes a new system that properly compensates proven veterans and retired players by shifting some of the outrageous sums paid to many unproven rookies by us, the owners. The owners need to stop the owners from this outrageous conduct. Earlier this year, Sports Illustrated published a list of the 50 highest-paid American athletes that included five 2009 NFL rookies. Every other athlete on the list was a proven veteran. In 2009, NFL clubs contracted $1.2 billion to 256 drafted rookies with $585 million guaranteed before they had stepped on an NFL field. Rookies suck. We hate rookies and want them all duct taped to a goal post.

Don’t get me wrong: top draft choices will continue to be highly paid. All we’re asking for is a return to common sense in paying our rookies. Other leagues, like say, the Mexican Baseball Winter League, have done this and we can too.

That means paying rookies $15,000 a year and making them help the club house boys collect up the dirty used practice clothing for laundry day. If Eric Berry can shine helmets, so can all the first round picks in 2011.

These improvements and more will lead to better profit, plain and simple. A forward looking CBA that is fair to players and clubs will lead to a great future for the NFL and our fans. Too bad that isn't going to happen until after an ugly, name calling protracted players strike.

My job is to represent the owners — the fans, teams, players, coaches and business partners come way down the line. Protecting the profitability of the game and ensuring it thrives is a responsibility I take very seriously. I'm paid by the owners to do so, and never forget that.

This is about more than a labor agreement. It’s about the future of Class Warfare and Capitalism. We have to improve profit and will be relentless in our quest. The commitment to our owner bosses is to make the NFL
experience even richer in the years ahead. With a iron-fisted, take it or leave it CBA, we will fulfill that vision.

Happy New Year and enjoy the playoffs, rubes. It might be all the football you get for awhile.

– Roger Goodell

[Reaper16]

In NO way does an 18-game regular season harmonize with an emphasis on player safety. An 18-game season is irresponsible, and players should be holding out for beaucoup bucks in light of it.