The summer of 2011 is going to be huge for football in America. The NFL, a large revenue provider for many cities around the country, may have a lockout, which means they will not have a season. This is happening because the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL Players Association and the Owners is expiring. Every Sunday, thousands upon thousands of fans descend on the NFL stadiums and give money to bars, hotels, and other downtown venues, which, in turn, brings in millions of dollars to each city. For instance, the Green Bay Press Gazette has estimated that the city will lose about “$282 million in lost jobs in revenue if a lockout occurs for the 2011-2012 football season.” That kind of money is ridiculous to a city as small as Green Bay, I mean honestly this is Green Bay we’re talking about what else do they have up there besides football and snow? Now let’s talk about our city, wonderful Cincinnati, Ohio. According to Cincinnati.com “At Paul Brown Stadium, 2,500 people are employed on game days. Factor in hotels, restaurants and other businesses that benefit from Bengal’s home games, and the economic impact on an average weekend is $6 to $8 million, according to the Economics Center for Education & Research at the University of Cincinnati.” I know we have the Reds and the Cyclones but honestly where else are we going to supplement that kind of money to our city each week? Now you may ask, why is this happening? Well, mainly because the owners are mad because they are paying players 59% of the $4.5 billion dollars in revenue each season. Yes, that is a lot of cash but honestly where do the owners make their money, and who puts their job on the line every Sunday for the sake of the owners bank account? The owners want the players to take an 18% pay cut. 18%!!!!! Are you kidding me, what if your boss asked you to take that kind of hit in your pay checks, what would you say? Yeah that’s right NO EFFING WAY. I know they are making a lot of money but they also produce a lot of money for their respective teams and cities. Sports mean something to everyone be it if you’re a fan or a spouse of a fan, sports means something to each and every family in this country. If the NFL has a lockout a lot of cities in this country, including ours, are going to take a major economic hit.
It would be interesting to compare the pecentage of revenue that NFL players, "the workers," make ("59% of the $4.5 billion dollars") to other industries. At Kroger, for example, what percentage of revenue goes to workers' salaries and benefits?
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