ESPN has managed to leak some of the details today that appear to be going into the NFL's collective bargaining agreement. Players are going to get 48% of revenues, teams are going to be required to spend close to 100% of the salary cap, and there will be a rookie wage scale.
Adam Shefter also leaked via Twitter that 4-year veterans will be eligible for unrestricted free agency. I'm sure that led to a run on midnight oil around the league. In essence, free agency rules seem to be reverting back to 2009, and the free agent market is going to be much more attractive than it was last year. That's the good news, news sure to keep Rams Park hopping, and a topic I'll do my best to develop here in the coming days.
There's also one bit of news I consider dreadful, and it's a good thing I'm not at the negotiating table, because I would NEVER agree to this bullet point: starting in 2014, there will be a Thursday night game EVERY week.
What is the NFL's obsession with Thursday night games? The season opener and Thanksgiving are fine, but other than that, I despise Thursday night games. I already have plenty to do weeknights in the fall, thank you very much. Thursday is a great night for Akron vs. Central Michigan or Louisville vs. Southern Miss. It's a poor night for, oh, Rams vs. Cowboys. Thursday games were a failure the last time the NFL used them over a full season, why revive them now?
Thursday games have to be an epic fail for fans attending games in person. Oh for the fun of rushing home after work and then hoping to rush back to the stadium in time for kickoff. No build like you get for a game on Sunday, when, you know, YOU HAVE THE DAY OFF. I don't know how anybody gets any serious Thursday tailgating done, either, short of taking a vacation day.
Based on past performance, scheduling also figures to be an epic fail from the NFL offices. The league has never even tried to schedule bye weeks fairly, and now, they're going to add another variable of imbalance, or unfairness, every week. How many times is a team going to get screwed playing a short week vs. a team that got a couple of extra days after a Thursday game? I'm also expecting a team to have to play a Thursday game against an opponent coming off a bye week - 3 days of rest vs. 10 - to happen at least twice. The league's never had the will to make sure it matches up evenly-rested opponents. Thursday night games are just going to make that pot boil over.
By instituting weekly Thursday night games, the NFL is also thumbing its nose at its key constituencies, the groups of people that have made it the world's most popular sport: gamblers and fantasy football players. Thursday night games are decidedly football pool-unfriendly. Say Chris Johnson tweaked his ankle in the 4th quarter Sunday against the Colts, and now the Titans host the Texans on Thursday night, and you have no idea if CJ2K is even going to play. Who do you pick in the football pool? What if CJ2K's on your fantasy team? (I know this will blow up in my face EVERY time. I'll either bench the injured guy and he'll start and score 40 points, or I'll start him and he won't play.) And Vegas' action on the game will certainly be reduced. They may never be able to put up a line on it.
The NFL wouldn't be as popular as it is without gambling, fantasy leagues, or me, and all they're going to do by shoving a Thursday night game down our throats every week is piss all of those people off.
Quit messing with a good thing, Roger Goodell.
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