Brees and the NFLPA -- had not heard this before (1 Viewer)

[SaintJ]

I flipped throught the ESPN story about De Smith's time as head of the NFLPA

Inside how the NFL got its 17th game

Last year's CBA should have been a defining moment for DeMaurice Smith and the labor force of America's most popular sport. Instead, some players -- and some owners -- have come to see Smith as an asset to management.

www.espn.com

which was reasaonbly interesting until I got to the part about Drew Brees -- I know he had been outspoken against Goodell, but there was some in-depth detail of which I was not aware:

There are other ways Brees proved to be one of Smith's most vocal and invaluable backers. Publicly, Brees echoed Smith's harsh criticism of Goodell in the media, a powerful player visibly in Smith's corner, especially on high-profile player disciplinary matters. And even on below-the-radar, complicated issues, Brees proved to be an influential union ally. In 2014.....[a] Louisiana bill would dramatically limit benefits paid to players hurt outside the regular season.....Brees and the Saints' players representative publicly denounced the measure that their own team had endorsed. In a statement, Brees declared the legislation "is not good for Saints players, not good for our team or other sports teams in Louisiana and not good for our state." Weeks after Brees publicly opposed the bill, its sponsor pulled the legislation.........

......It appeared that not long after Brees joined the executive committee in 2008, the union had begun paying him enormous sums of money for that work -- more than $2 million some years. And during Brees' seven years on the executive committee, from fiscal years 2009 to 2015, the union paid a total of $9,619,965 to Brees, a company that he owns and to his foundation, according to the union's annual reports filed with the Department of Labor. The NFLPA paid Brees $2,423,504 in 2010, and in 2011, the year of the lockout and the new CBA, a total of $961,532. The payments are in a column denoting Brees' work as an executive committee member, the union records show.

The payments to Brees were not hidden -- they were public record -- but a strict reading of the federal paperwork shows they far outpaced those received by any other executive committee members, including Foxworth and Saturday, who in 2010 are listed getting $5,300 and $15,461 respectively.....

Not sure what all of this means, it's just....a little odd, I guess. The Brees passages are about six paragraphs long, starting about 1/3 of the way down, just after his picture. I'd urge anyone who's interested to take a look for themselves.

I have no idea what to make of all of it, honestly. My own impression remains that he has been willing to be a consistent advocate for his fellow players in an outspoken way (which carries endorsement and popularity risk) while a large number of other top-shelf stars were not. I guess there's so much we just don't see.

 

[SuperSaint]

Is it wrong of me that my hatred of Goodell got even deeper?

 

[sammymvpknight]

Is it wrong of me that my hatred of Goodell got even deeper?

LOL

 

[jasonsw]

Well i tried and failed miserably to read the whole article.

 

[SweetT]

Read that last night. A few things I took away from the paragraphs on Drew:
1.) it makes sense now, why certain talking heads like Foxxworth sorta hates on Drew and our Saints.
2.) the amount of money Drew made for his contributions was grossly high (not out of the norm for someone of his stature), but I can see where other players would feel slighted.
3.) Not sure why Drew was so supportive of Smith?
4.)Drew does indeed despise Goodell. He just speaks in the best diplomatic way possible, but enough to get his point across. I’m sure the feeling is mutual between them

 

[AARPSaint]

It seems to me that De Smith has gotten too chummy with the owners. This kind of alliance can emerge when an initially adversarial relationship becomes mollified through constant communication.

Sometimes, that's a good thing, as when whites associate with blacks. They can become colleagues and friends. I've experienced it.

Sometimes, though, adversarial relationships should be maintained. Smith's job is to get players their best deal and ensure their safety. The owners' job is to make money. Certain incompatibilities are going to arise between these two entities, and it's not clear to me that common ground is always to be be found, nor is it necessarily desireable. Sometimes, one has to hold one's ground.

 

[Madmarsha]

Is it wrong of me that my hatred of Goodell got even deeper?

Come on, you know better than that.


There is no deep deep enough for the hatred of that man.

 

[Saint Taysom]

We already knew that Goodell hates Sean Payton... now we know he also has/had an axe to grind with Brees. This explains a lot of what occurred here:

 

[Bayouboy]

Goodell is the #1 reason the Saints do not have more than one Superbowl with Payton and Brees. The Bountygate debacle and subsequent shenanigans cost us dearly. I will always despise that man for that.

 

[Complex Kid]

I have no idea what to make of all of it, honestly. My own impression remains that he has been willing to be a consistent advocate for his fellow players in an outspoken way (which carries endorsement and popularity risk) while a large number of other top-shelf stars were not. I guess there's so much we just don't see.

I think that goes a long way in explaining the disparity in pay for Brees and the other two. Jeff Saturday wasn't risking millions in endorsements to speak up for the players. Drew Brees was.

 

[Saintman2884]

It seems to me that De Smith has gotten too chummy with the owners. This kind of alliance can emerge when an initially adversarial relationship becomes mollified through constant communication.

Sometimes, that's a good thing, as when whites associate with blacks. They can become colleagues and friends. I've experienced it.

Sometimes, though, adversarial relationships should be maintained. Smith's job is to get players their best deal and ensure their safety. The owners' job is to make money. Certain incompatibilities are going to arise between these two entities, and it's not clear to me that common ground is always to be be found, nor is it necessarily desireable. Sometimes, one has to hold one's ground.

Well, Gene Upshaw had an often adversarial relationship with Pete Rozelle during the 1980's with two, costly labor stoppages which nearly irrevocably damaged the NFL's reputation with fans and the media as the rival USFL came along and poached quite a few NFL stars, up-and-coming star, would-be 1st round pick college stars like Reggie White, Doug Flutie, Vaughn Johnson, Bobby Hebert and if it hadn't been for the incessant, narcisstic economic blundering of one Donald Trump, the rival league might've survived longer. Because Trump's grand plan for the USFL was not to make the USFL a new alternative, professional league, it was to force the NFL into giving him a expansion franchise of his own or merging some of the more competitive, financially stable USFL teams into merging within the NFL, ala the NBA/ABA 1976 merger. Upshaw had a far better, more successful relationship with Rozelle's successor, Taglibue, as they he!ped usher in the era of modern NFL Free Agency, salary cap, and a more modern draft system.

Taglibue and Upshaw werent the best of friends, and certainly organized labor heads and ownership of any private industry probably need to keep each other at arms lengths, but not to the extent where one or both sides demonize or ostracize one another so severely to the extent whatever negotiations both may have regarding CBA terms, aspects, percentage of overall annual income will fall apart and then business suffers greatly and the league's popularity and image suffers even more due to the public viewing the owners and union officials/reps as being unreasonable, greedy, unwilling or unable to compromise just like the MLB 1994 lockout. Still, Upshaw was a far more intelligent, practical negotiator, labor activist, businessmen, and outstanding, if not loquacious HOF O-Linemen who won two Super Bowls as a Oakland Raider.

CBA negotiations with sports ownership or management is a business discussion, albeit a highly charged, emotional, often-complicated risky sets of ones but it absolutely positively has to have capable, competent lead negotiators, researchers, and financial experts from both sides exhaustively researching facts to support their positions.

 

[Complex Kid]

Well, Gene Upshaw had an often adversarial relationship with Pete Rozelle during the 1980's with two, costly labor stoppages which nearly irrevocably damaged the NFL's reputation with fans and the media as the rival USFL came along and poached quite a few NFL stars, up-and-coming star, would-be 1st round pick college stars like Reggie White, Doug Flutie, Vaughn Johnson, Bobby Hebert and if it hadn't been for the incessant, narcisstic economic blundering of one Donald Trump, the rival league might've survived longer. Because Trump's grand plan for the USFL was not to make the USFL a new alternative, professional league, it was to force the NFL into giving him a expansion franchise of his own or merging some of the more competitive, financially stable USFL teams into merging within the NFL, ala the NBA/ABA 1976 merger.

If anyone wants to read more about the USFL I always bring up this book:

Amazon product ASIN 0544454383
Really great book.

 

[bobad]

It's fine to have an adversarial relationship, but when taken too far, no good comes from it for either party.

Digging too deeply into these relationships is not good for fans or the game. Digging too deeply makes you take sides, and no good comes from that. I love the sport, but recognize it's run from top to bottom by human beings. When they stop doing things that are not in their own best interest, the game will disappear. They're no different from me, you, and our families.

 

[ilvdsnts]

I flipped throught the ESPN story about De Smith's time as head of the NFLPA

Inside how the NFL got its 17th game

Last year's CBA should have been a defining moment for DeMaurice Smith and the labor force of America's most popular sport. Instead, some players -- and some owners -- have come to see Smith as an asset to management.

www.espn.com

which was reasaonbly interesting until I got to the part about Drew Brees -- I know he had been outspoken against Goodell, but there was some in-depth detail of which I was not aware:



Not sure what all of this means, it's just....a little odd, I guess. The Brees passages are about six paragraphs long, starting about 1/3 of the way down, just after his picture. I'd urge anyone who's interested to take a look for themselves.

I have no idea what to make of all of it, honestly. My own impression remains that he has been willing to be a consistent advocate for his fellow players in an outspoken way (which carries endorsement and popularity risk) while a large number of other top-shelf stars were not. I guess there's so much we just don't see.

I knew why Goodell wanted to stick it to CSP, but always wondered why he would want to screw DB9 over. Guess now I know.