Stover's Email Is Bad News for Fans
On the long, long list of people who would want Gene Upshaw's head brought to them on a platter, I don't know where I'd have put Matt Stover, but clearly it was too low.
The Ravens kicker is agitating for the removal of Upshaw, claiming the NFLPA's executive director is, well, in an email to other player reps, he didn't really accuse Upshaw of anything. Stover wrote, "I want to make this clear: I have no personal agenda as I would hope everyone else would as well. I only want what is best for the Union and our teammates and my intentions are to establish a healthy leadership for years to come."
The inference there is clear.
Stover doesn't feel Upshaw has all the players' best interests at heart and that he's leadership is not "healthy."
The timing is curious. Upshaw's job approval rating should be at an all-time high. He got NFL owners to agree to share all of their gross revenues instead of just some in the labor deal struck in March 2006. He's done a good job articulating the NFLPA's record on helping ailing retired veterans; a record that's actually been a whole lot better than the mewling retirees led us to believe over the past 20 months. And he has sent the necessary shots across the bow of NFL owners who want to bail out of the new CBA when they have an opt-out opportunity this November. On that topic, Upshaw told the owners that if they think they’re getting the players to give back gains made, they better not hold their breath.
This isn't to say that discontent with Upshaw is rare. There are players that detest him as a person, who use his multi-million dollar income as head of the union as a hammer to chip away at his credibility. Most often, we've heard the complaints from ex-players lamenting either medical benefits, retirement benefits, investments or the simple fact that the piece of pie they got as players was nothing compared to today's.
Bruce Laird, a former NFL player who's past President of a retired player's advocacy group called Fourth & Goal compared Stover to Bobby Kennedy in an email and added that, "Today, those tiny ripples of hope that we - and now Matt Stover - have sent forth - are beginning to tear down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance in the NFLPA."
Yikes.
Laird's right on one point - Stover's cage-rattling is unique. And you have to wonder if he's doing this because he represents a segment of players that fears Upshaw will indeed give, and give at the negotiating table, wiping out the recently earned gains at the bargaining table or somehow diminish the future well-being of the league's players by trying to author a great closing bargaining coup that ends in decertification of the union and weakening of the league as a whole.
Factions within the players are certain to arise from this among those players who actually pay attention to this stuff (a large swath isn't that interested in this stuff). Where it goes from here? It's going to get hairy and - with the owners able to get a whiff of discontent from the players - it's going to get complicated as they try to opt out of the CBA in November.
That's horrible news for football fans.
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Drilling deeply into the mantle layer of America's Passion, NBCSports.com's Tom Curran offers up quick hits and insights on all things NFL.
How so is discussion of Upshaw's potential future performance, or even whether he continues to make millions of dollars in his position, "horrible news for football fans"?
You not only did not make your case for this, by how in the world is a weaker or stronger players union good for, or bad for, the fans?
As a fan, I can easily argue that the bloated salaries of the current crop of NFL players are seriously deleterious to their performances as athletes, an argument that probably applies to most major sports pros.
Ask yourself this question Curran - out of the "big three" sports, which one has the weakest union? That's easy - it is the NFL.
Bryant Gumbel is right - Upshaw is a management lap dog, and he has been for years. The MLB and NBA unions are led by brilliant high powered labor lawyers (Fehr and Hunter) who don't give the owners ANYTHING, whereas, the NFL owners consistently push Upshaw around when it comes to guaranteed contracts, personal conduct, age limits, etc. The reason the media likes Upshaw is because they like his pro-ownership agenda.
I mean, NBA BENCH PLAYERS make more money than NFL pro bowl players - that is a fact. MLB and NBA players have guaranteed agreements, even if they are cut. Fehr and Hunter refuse to let management suspend players for criminal "allegations", whereas Upshaw says, "yes sir! whatever you want Goodel!" While NBA and MLB players are laughing all the way to the banks, most NFL veterans fear of being cut even with their illusory "7 year deals".
And don't even get me started on teh absurd rookie pay scale which gives out $20 million to busts like Alex smith, whereas NFL veterans get non-guaranteed $2 million/year deals.
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