Commissioner Goodell

Sports Buffet for 05/11/10

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SptsBuf

NFL

UFA Charles Grant (NO) had the involuntary manslaughter charge against him dropped. He agreed to a misdemeanor public fighting charge with a fine of $1,000, a year probation and a $20,000 payment to the victims of that confrontation. The charges stemmed from a brawl outside a nightclub that led to the death of an innocent passer by.

Texans LB Bryan Cushing has been suspended for the first 4 games for violations of the NFL drug policy. He was the D Rookie of the year last season despite having failed a test in September of 09. He appealed the decision but lost that appeal and now will serve the suspension.

RFA OG Daryn Colledge signed his tender with the Packers.

We will see a lot of RFA players signing their tenders between now and June 15th. On that date NFL teams can lower the offer and the period for players to get an offer from another team has already expired.

The political left is insisting that the NFL pull the Super Bowl scheduled for Arizona due to the recent law that enforces federal law in the state. I suspect that the gutless Commissioner Goodell will do that despite the fact … Read more at FryingPanSports

The retired NFL players are pawns in the CBA negotiations.

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GoodellSmith

Media loves to turn everything that happens into a crisis and to point out victims of our free enterprise system. If there was an asteroid headed toward Earth the headline of the New York Times would read “Earth to end tomorrow. Women and children to suffer most.” Retired players have become a hot topic in the media because most NFL fans remember the men fondly that built the league to what it has become today. But in this case, there are real victims and they are the retired players.

The salaries have come up dramatically in just the last few years. Players that were active in the 60’s through the 90’s were paid next to nothing compared to the salaries today. In the 1960’s a star might get 10K a season. By the 80’s a star might get 75K per season. To give you a feel for how much salaries have increased in recent years, here is a statistical comparison. In 2000, the average of team’s median salaries was $497,782.26 for the 31 teams in the league. By 2009 that number was $909,235.72 for the 32 teams. In just 9 seasons the average team median salaries nearly doubled. It increased … Read more at FryingPanSports