A decision will be made this year on whether the NFL will become a single entity. Teams are opposed to the idea for numerous reasons. If the NFL becomes a single entity, there will be no salary cap, or salary floor for players. The tug-o-war battle between teams negotiating for a player may become obsolete. Players do not have much incentive to play, besides for the love of the game. In addition to negotiation issues, there is always a risk that a monopoly could develop. The possible outcomes of a monopoly developing are best put into words by Dave Zirin, a sport’s editor for The Nation. He writes, “disloyal franchises, overpriced merchandize, unbridled greed…The NFL already acts like it has diplomatic immunity. It feeds at the public trough for stadium construction, charges a fortune for tickets, parking, souvenirs and--most tragically--beer, and accepts public input about as well as the CIA does. It is also about as transparent.” All of these possibilities could change the general public’s attendance at games, support through merchandise, and attitude toward the industry as a whole.
The overriding issues regarding the Supreme Court’s decision with the NFL case parallel strongly with ideas of class, capitalism and commodity. Karl Marx was the first person to recognize class as an economic concept. He believed that class could be broken down into two categories. First was the capitalist class, or those who own the means of production. The second was the proletariat class, or the workers, who do not own the means of production. Developing this idea further, George Sage, author of Power and Ideology in American Sport, presents a hierarchy of social class comprised of three classes. The classes are the capitalist class, middle class, and working class. Focusing on Sage’s highest level socially, the capitalist class, it is a class “elite in terms of wealth, income, ownership, privilege, and power; members of this class hold extensive control over the economic system…” (37). In the NFL case, the NFL is the capitalist, and the owners, players, and coaches become the proletariats. The NFL will own the means of production and have colossal amounts of power. The NFL will control the marketing of goods and services, which will ultimately leave the owners, players and coaches as commodities. They will directly advertise the merchandise and team, but not benefit greatly on an individual level from the profits.
Ultimately, the NFL becomes a sort of capitalist firm. Sage writes, “Capitalist firms exist to pursue their own profit maximization, not the collective aspirations of people” (152). As the NFL grows in power, the owners, players and coaches lose theirs. They become subordinate, since they no longer have the means to produce on their own.
If the NFL becomes a single entity, it will affect my experiences. As a Green Bay Packers fan, I am accustomed to the way the Packers are run, the way they advertise, and the merchandise they sell. If prices go up, or other dimensions change, it could change whether I go to the games, and overall to what level I support the team. For the teams and consumers sake, I hope this case is dismissed, and the teams remain governed the way that they have been.
This year there will be a decision made in the NFL as to whether or not there will be a salary cap for the upcoming season. If this is true then certain teams will be held to limitations of which players can and cannot be signed due to the money issue. This can change many things about the sport because as we all know even the smallest decisions can make a world of difference. Just as Dave Zirin stated in his article when Reebok began to slap their logo on all of the NFL products, it changed the way fans were able to commit themselves. Drew Brees, quarterback of the New Orleans Saints puts it best, "official hats cost $10 more than before the exclusive arrangement". Thus showing how the fans may no longer be able to afford certain objects.
ReplyDeleteThis argument between the Supreme Court and the NFL is quite similar to Marx's ideas of the proletariat and the capitalist. In the NFL's case the capitalist would be the NFL and all the upper class people who run the show, and basically control the decision making of the entire league, usually without having to consult it with the owner's or the players. This brings us to the proletariat of the NFL which is the owner's, players, and so on. These are the people who are the labor, the men and women who do all the work, but really do not have their voices heard. And the decisions being made by the NFL can now end up affecting their status in society. This proletariat will no longer be the benfactors of advertising for the NFL because now all the benefits would go to the NFL as a whole, and not on an individual team basis any longer.
As Sage puts it the NFL is now just one large corporation in search for a huge profit, and just looking out for it's own best interest (Sage 152). The teams all must go through the NFL as their "leader", and no longer have the abilities to make decisions on their own.
However, if the league was to change in this retropect it would not really change my outlook on the sport. The reason I say this is because I have honestly always looked at the NFL as a giant corporation looking to make a profit, it's how the business world is. I rarely go to the games, or buy merchandise anyway, so therefore the NFL would be the exact same in my eyes.