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Originally Posted by jAZ
I don't understand how Tags can come in to the Owners and say "this is a take it or leave it deal" and then lobby to take it. That seems ridiculous, and it seems that should be the job of the Union Rep, not the Owners rep.
And the whole "saving the league" angle (because tags and upshaw are so close and both are likely to retire) seems silly as well. It's only a 6 year deal. What happens in 6 years when they are both gone? Same thing that would happen today I suspect.
I'm not going to argue that the owners deserve more money or this is a bad deal, but I'm suprised by the position Tags has taken on such a deal.
It seems to me that he's saying the owners have no remaining negotiating leverage. I'd be suprised if that's true, and I'd be suprised if they crafted a proposal with some reasonable modifications that the Union would say "hell no" and screw everyone.
It seems like Tags is saying the owners should blink. And I don't buy it.
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The choice is to make the deal or play hardball. There is no choice of "continuing to work toward an agreement". If the owners turn this down it will be war.
Sure the owners could decide to play hardball. That would guarantee discord in the league. It would risk losing the salary cap permenantly. It would put the '08 season at risk. At the end, the owners might "win", but the cost of winning is very uncertain. It could damage the populatiry of the sport (e.g. strike) or its competitive balance. And there is a very real possibility the owners could take all these risks and lose a court judgement (as has happened in the past). The risks are insanely high for a relatively small gain.
The owners are fighting a two-front war: one against the union and another between the high-revenue and low-revenue teams. Had the owners had a unified position on revenue sharing, they could have acted in a unified manner, made a strnong counter proposal, and probably gotten an agreement at 58%. Now its too late for that.
At this point, the smart move is to agree to the players proposal. No agreement today means a continuation of the 3-way battle into the indefinite future. And that is definitely not in the fans' interest.