It's the longest work stoppage in NFL history, and one can sense that the owners are starting to get annoyed not just with the players, but with themselves. Case in point, check out Jim Irsay's Tweet today:
Jeff Saturday and I could get this thing done on cocktail napkins over a long lunch at Rick's Boatyard. It's not that hard!
I agree, Mr. Irsay. It's not that hard... if you have reasonable, rational people working in the room together. Unfortunately, the NFL has owners like Jerry Richardson, Jerry Jones, and Dan Snyder at the negotiating table. They clearly want to 'take back their league,' and are willing to destroy the whole thing to get what they want.
As Mike Florio explained earlier today:
Hell, maybe that’s what the hard-line owners secretly want. Maybe Jerry Jones wants to blow up the current system so that he can keep all the money that America’s Team makes and spend as much of it as he wants on the players he wants, in search of the string of Lombardi Trophies that he covets. And maybe Mike Brown is content for the Bengals to be 4-12 each year as long as he can pay the players as little as he wants while still making a tidy profit.
It only takes nine owners to block any and all proposals for a new deal, and if only nine owners ultimately want an NFL in which they can run their businesses as they see fit, the other 23 owners and everyone else who cares about the game will have to deal with it.
Did we mention that the the owners and players resumed mediation today? Did we also mention that no one cares, including NFL owner Art Rooney II?
Jerry Richardson is a condescending douche, and Jones and Snyder have legions of fans who will watch their respective teams play regardless of how screwed up the league or the franchises are. Cap or no cap. Revenue sharing or nay. These fans don't care. The Cowboys and the Redskins have been irrelevant franchises since the late 1990s. Yet, people still shell out huge money for tickets, jerseys, and stadiums built to sooth the egos of their owners. In their own minds, all three have nothing to lose and don't seem to care about the game itself.
If Jim Irsay wants to do this:
Everyone's so damn serious,suits,briefcases,lawyers! Let's put on jeans n golf clothes,players/owners remembering we're friends,hang alittle
Players/owners have alittle fun time retreat..drinks,laughs,golf,music clubbing..hang out,take the temperature down..find common ground
Step one is getting schmucks like Richardson, Jones, and Snyder out of the room. Step two is convincing six other owners not to listen to them. Step three is jeans, golf, and music.