Cancelled NLL Season: What are These People Thinking? By Paula Wilkinson
After watching how the NLL talks have played out over the last week so many questions come to mind but I think my biggest questions is “What are these people thinking?”
In a time when lacrosse really seems to be gaining ground in the spectator sports market and is finally seeing airtime on national cable channels, I wonder what the NLL was thinking, but more over, what the players association was thinking. It seems both have cut off their own noses, to spite their faces!!
Since the PLPA and the owners failed to reach an accord, there will be no 2008 season. The NLL has told team owners to release their stadium dates, many of which cannot get them back, making fans wait until January 2009 to watch NLL action. It seems odd to stunt the growth of such a fast pace game swelling in popularity amongst both lacrosse players and fans and hockey traditionalists alike based on a failed collective bargaining agreement.
As with most things, it all boiled down to money but it also seems to be the final straw for the NLL themselves. Over the last seven years, the NLL and PLPA have renegotiated the collective bargaining agreement four times. This year, the NLL offered a five year deal with minimal salary increase and a share of the league sponsorship and merchandise revenue. In the past, merchandise revenue hasn’t been an option for the PLPA in the past. The PLPA wanted a 3 year deal with opt-out after one year for an increase in the revenue share. They also wanted a new salary system that would eliminate pay ceilings.
Jim Jennings, NLL commissioner said "This marked the fourth time we have had to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement in the past seven years. Our league cannot do business without the stability of a long-term collective bargaining agreement. We will use this year to improve not only our relationship with our players, but to improve our overall business model going forward." Further, he said, “Our owners made the best offer they could make while maintaining a sound business model for the league.”
The previous CBA (collective bargaining agreement) ran out in June of this year. The NLL had sent 3 new options to the PLPA last December but it was not until June that they received a response from the PLPA to say they could not meet with the NLL to discuss these proposals until Oct 12 and 13th, even knowing that a final agreement had to be in place by Oct 15th. That weekend meeting didn’t go to well with the players association countering the NLL proposals without discussing the 3 options supplied. The NLL made some concessions to the players but not enough to gain an agreement. With a deadline of midnight on the 15th the PLPA called the team reps just after the deadline to say that although they could not agree on the current agreement they wanted to keep channels open.
So who is in the wrong here? Is it the NLL for not continuing to talk with the player reps? I think not. Players have been calling their team managers over the last couple of days to see if there is a chance of still playing! Player feedback shows they want to play, and the NLL wanted to work with the players to find the best possible solution. The NLL did offer concessions with multiple contracts while balancing the need to make their growing success profitable. So why is there such disconnect between the PLPA and what the players apparently want? Maybe that is the real question. What drove the players association to push negotiations to a point of no return? Not only have they now put an end to any salary hopes their players had for the NLL ‘08 season but they have also endangered the continued success of the NLL. I’m pretty sure the NLL will survive but would bet the attendance levels in ‘09 will be below that of ‘07 and will take a couple of seasons to build those numbers again. With several teams not yet profitable, such as the Portland LumberJax, you have to wonder what damage this will do.
What about the players? Some people think that it’s the bigger names within the game that are pushing to have the salary caps removed so they can increase their salary requirements. I don’t think this is true. Wages do vary drastically within the NLL. The official word and quotes on Inside lacrosse say that the average player last year earned $14,500. The fixed rookie salary was $6,800, veteran players made between $10 and $22K while each team could name two franchise players eligible for $25,552. What we’ve heard is this isn’t correct and there are NLL all-stars earning upwards of $50k per season. If that’s the case, I doubt they would be pushing to remove the salary cap if they are able to get around the current rules. I’m also guessing those players are pretty miffed about loosing this large income due to the cancelled season. I know I’d be angry if I hadn’t been given the option to review or vote on any proposals that were put on the table last weekend.
At the end of the day, the biggest losers are the fans and the sport as a whole. Indoor Lacrosse already fights an uphill battle against much more recognized sports vying for TV time and major arena dates in major markets and considered on the same level as ultimate Frisbee by city sports Commissions! To the NLL and the PLPA! Get a grip! You are destroying the reputations of the players and sport as a whole. How is the upstart game supposed to be a growing Major League sport when we’re canceling a complete season because players don’t know what the PLPA is actually doing, the PLPA doesn’t take the league interests to heart, and the owners, who may be the least negligent, cannot agree!
PLPA - Neither the NLL nor MLL are cash cows ready to be milked; how can they be with average attendance teetering around 6,000 per game? That may change at some point in the future and I’m sure teams would look to reward their players accordingly. Maybe it’d be a good idea to work with the NLL to help grow the NLL as a whole. Buy in to the ownership of a growing professional sport rather than showing kids who idolize you what the love of the game translates to in salary figures. Making an investment really shouldn’t be a big deal right?
Jennings proffered the NLL is not going away, “We will be back in ’09.” He also added “Our owners will be getting together in the next 60 or 90 days. We will be looking at all aspects of our business and how we can improve it at that point.” Let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope that the owners and players can see beyond dollar signs and the bottom line- together, and that the players take their PLPA to task so they are equitably represented based on their needs. Failure to do so would be an irresponsible devastation to our sport before it was truly given the opportunity to shine.
PLPA
Of course professional lacrosse players don't get made a lot of money, and it is near impossible to make a living of lacrosse. But I think that is why so many of us respect these men. They prove or proved that they play and played for the love of the game not just the salary. If anything that salary could be seen as a bonus for playing something you care so much about that otherwards you may do for free. If players like John Christmas and Mikey Powell are inept of any other job or career then being a professional lacrosse player so be it. But the reason so many players do compete is because they can have a full time career along with playing in the NLL or MLL since it is not as much of a commitment. To cancell the 2008 NLL season is complete idiocracy. In a game that is still growing but with so much outside intrest, killing the sport for a year will only result in people loosing intrest and simply forgetting. If anything the players have hurt their salary's more then they know.