-B- The man, the myth, the legend Charlie Batch is many things, including the Steelers NFLPA rep. Batch has been heavily involved in four consecutive days of meetings between the league and the NFLPA and said that things were ‘going well.’ I won’t pretend I know that much about what is going on with the negotiations, but here’s what the AP says:
The biggest issue separating the sides is how to divide about $9 billion in annual revenues. Among the other significant points in negotiations: the owners’ push to expand the regular season from 16 games to 18 while reducing the preseason by two games; a rookie wage scale; and benefits for retired players.
I’m all for a rookie wage scale. Salaries have been getting out of hand and I’m all for systematazing that process before it gets out of hand. Like so many other fans of the NFL, I’m totally against moving to an 18 game schedule. There’s nothing wrong with the current 4-game preseason schedule and 16-game regular season. If anything, the season is already too grueling for players to stay healthy for. While the appeal as a fan of getting to watch two more ‘meaningful’ games sounds nice, watching Dennis Dixon handing off to Justin Vincent some big time December game would be tortuous. The only reason for wanting an extra two regular season games is money and when money is the sole reason for something that is an obvious red flag.
-B- We’ve made it to Round Two of the Best Pittsburgh Sports Blog tournament at Sean’s Ramblings. Big thanks to everybody who voted during the first round. We’re matchup up against SBN’s Penguins blog in this matchup – Pensburgh. You can find the poll to vote here.
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