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Sports labor issues are the sports fan’s worst nightmare. They can result in lost games or even entire seasons of a professional sport. However, the labor discussions in sports are also quite interesting because of the number of different invested parties involved. Right now in the NFL there is a dispute between players and owners which some fear will result in the owners locking out the players for the 2011 season. However, it is important to look at all sides of this issue, because only by compromise will the season be saved.
Players
The players and their union are fighting to keep their jobs and salaries. The players are satisfied with the current collective bargaining agreement, and simply want to maintain the status quo.
Owners
NFL owners are known for collaborating with each other, giving them ultimate leverage over the players: if the players union does not submit to the demands of the owners, than the owners could force a lockout of the entire league, making it so that the players have nowhere to turn. However, doing this would bad for their own businesses.
Fans
The majority of fans do not care whether the players or the owners win out. All fans want to see is football, and if the league cancels the 2011 season some fans might be disillusioned enough to not watch the league when it does return. This happened in the mid-1990’s in baseball, which took several years to recover from its players’ strike due to a decrease in ticket sales.
TV Networks
TV networks have signed deals with the NFL in the hundreds of millions of dollars for the broadcasting rights. The problem for the networks is that the money is guaranteed: the owners get it regardless of whether there is an actual game to broadcast or not.
Agents
Agents will side with the players on any labor issue as they receive a percentage of the salary. However, agents have also been trying to plan around a possible lockout for a while.