Pie, who doesn't want a piece!

Spring time is here. The birds are chirping, the flowers are blooming, and I really don’t care! What I do care about is the fact that football is back. No, they are not playing games yet, but they are working to build their team. Without the processes going on right now, the NFL would not have teams that go from bottom of the barrel to division winners in a year or two. This is a crucial part of the year.

So why doesn’t it feel like it should? Because we don’t know if we will have our beloved football next year, and that’s a feeling no fan should have to have.

Instead of enjoying all the FA signings, I have spent this offseason wondering what provisions are in their contracts to protect the parties involved if a lockout does occur.

Normally I would be looking at the draft and trying to figure out who I should draft myself on the cheap now to keep my team competitive in the future. This year’s draft is more about if it will be the last “big payday” for rookies before they finally implement a rookie wage scale.

To alleviate this I propose the following:

Give the owners the $12.5 million in operating expenses and then split the remainder based on revenue percentage. The owners take on a lot of risk and debt when they buy a team. A lot of the NFL franchises are valued over a billion dollars now. That’s a lot of money to pay off and they deserve to make a profit. That being said, I think 47.5% is fair.

The remainder of the income should go to the players, but not just the active ones. The league we all love was built by men’s men. The kind of guy you would be proud to represent your team, your country, your kind of friend. Let’s show them the respect they deserve and hold 10% of the funds for retired players that need it. This not only benefits those who have played in the past, but those who play now because they will not play forever. The stat that the NFLPA likes to say is that the average NFL career is four years. Why not plan for retirement now?

That leaves 42.5 for active players. This may seem like a huge reduction from the nearly 60% they receive now, but just hear me out. They are already preparing for retirement, and if they agree to a rookie wage scale then the money normally wasted on failed first rounder’s can instead go to established players. It’s an odd concept I know, but I say make them earn the money. Prove you are worth it and you will be paid. Decide to make bad choices and/or fail to physically and mentally prepare how an NFL player should and you will find yourself out of a job. Just like the rest of America.