NFL Lockout

I’ve been trying not to pay too close of attention to the NFL Lockout–in which the Collective Bargaining Agreement has expired and the NFL/Team Owners want to adjust things to be more economically favorable to them, while the players would like to see things either remain the same, or tilt a bit more in their direction–but that’s really tough unless I want to eschew sports altogether. It’s kind of a tedious and annoying thing, with lots of grandstanding and negotiating through the media and dramatic legal action. The players had a union, but the union decertified and became a trade organization (or something) so that some of the players could file an anti-trust suit (or something) alleging collusion among the teams–essentially in the form of the NFL–and so on. It’s kind of a hot mess.

The other day though, I got to thinking: I think right now, the NFL players are contract or term employees of the teams. The team pays a salary, withholds taxes, etc.

But… what if the players changed the paradigm and became contractors, instead? I mean, many of them are already there in effect anyway: they hire people like trainers and assistants and publicists and whatnot, they have a personal brand, and they leverage that brand into endorsements and such. If they aren’t, to a man, individually incorporated they probably should be.

And then we could get to the point of what we’re really seeing here: a squabble between big business and small business. The small businesses, unfortunately, have essentially one product–themselves–and it has a very limited service life, average 4-5 years, and the big businesses are using their clout and leverage to try to force the small businesses to do business their way. Most of the big businesses are isolated from the effects of the lockout to one degree or another by their unrelated business interests. For example, the owners of the Detroit Lions–THE Ford family–are not going to go begging on the streets because there isn’t a season in 2011. The small businesses, like most small businesses, are not so lucky. Even their non-playing income would take a hit, because a player who is not on the field is not going to be as attractive a spokesperson, unless they happen to be Michael Jordan. Last I checked, though, there was only one of him.

I’m sure some finer business minds have gone over this sort of concept and either adapted or rejected it, but I found it a much more interesting way to view the conflict, versus the traditional management/worker, bosses/proletariat sort of dynamic.

Mirrored from Bum Scoop.