With the current economic recession, the NFL lockout is creating unnecessary anxiety and stress for the American people. As of right now, America is struggling financially with as many as 44 million Americans on food stamps and on average 8-9% of people are unemployed. These numbers only seem to be growing with increasing lay offs and fewer job prospects. The entire economy has dropped, with less money being spent on entertainment. This recession is also hitting the fan base of the NFL, which is decreasing the profits that the owners and the players will make. With this situation, it seems a bit ridiculous that these moguls of the sports industry are fighting over millions of dollars in this new contract. They are fighting to be paid more money per season by paying the players the same amount even though they are adding two more games, reducing their pay and trying to create more profit for themselves.
According to Crains Magazine, "Some of the nation's biggest advertisers—who spent a total of $3.4 billion on NFL games this past season, according to estimates by Nomura Research and Kantar Media—will have to seek out next-best alternatives to the highest-rated franchise on television" Thus the NFL lockout is not only hurting the players themselves, but also the advertisement industry. The NFL is a major component of the American Economy, and without it, a much larger recession will be thrust upon Americans. This lockout will create a negative trickle down effect, harming the average hardworking American family. President Obama was asked about his stance on this issue, in this video, he has taken a very strong stance against any governmental involvement or interjection in this multi-billion dollar deal that will affect the whole country, for he believes that the owners and players should be able to handle this situation with no oversight. In my opinion, I find this rather odd since the government has bailed out many large companies since the start of this recession.
This current economic recession that has been plaguing Americans for the last few years is now being faced by the average professional football player. "In preparation, the union has advised athletes to save their paychecks from the remaining games. The league rankled players recently when they said health care will not be available in the event of lockout. The last time the NFL had a labor dispute was when the players went on strike in 1987."Not all of these players make millions of dollars a year, and will be unable to sustain their standard of living on a small portion of last years pay check. As discussed earlier under the tab of spending habits, these players who previously had spent their money frivolously on material items are soon going to belong to the group of Americans living on food stamps and unemployment. This anxiety and economic burden centered on the outcome of the current lockout is being placed on all involved in this situation, all but the owners of these teams. According to Rick Reilly's article in ESPN entitled "Making Tight Ends Meet", players are taking out lockout loans, planning to work at FedEx for $12 an hour or even become a bartender or server. All of this to support their families, stating that they will do anything to provide for their family, much like the typical American. These players are not the ones racking in millions of dollars a year after taxes, they are blue collar Americans working jobs to support their families, just like every other average American family. Thus this lockout is adding increased anxiety and stress into a society that is barely able to survive at the moment. Sources used:
http://akitoyoshikane.com/blog/2010/12/15/nfl-lockout-would-cause-11500-job-losses-union-study-says/
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/05/07/us-food-usa-stamps-idUSTRE6465E220100507
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=6388708
http://rwer.wordpress.com/2011/04/10/graph-of-the-week-number-of-americans-receiving-food-stamps/
http://rwer.wordpress.com/2011/04/10/graph-of-the-week-number-of-americans-receiving-food-stamps/
