The National Football League is America's best run sporting organization in terms of revenue, popularity, and quality of product. There is little doubt that the best athletes in the world play in the NFL. But the question is why? Why don't other exciting sports leagues like the NBA or MLB generate the same fan loyalty that is so common in the NFL?
In short, it's the labor agreement.
In every other sport, the players' union has become too powerful and the ownership too weak. This has lead to the gradual degradation in the quality of product seen on the field as well as numerous fan base-crippling player strikes. In every other organized sport in the US, the individual stars control the league. Some stars are so powerful that they are even consulted on personnel decisions and player acquisitions. Can you imagine TO walking into the Tuna's office requesting a new Offensive Coordinator?
The NFL is the only professional sport not corrupted by bad labor agreements. Furthermore, the NFL is the only sport to realize that owners should have more control over their employees (the athletes) than their less astute peers on the baseball diamond or in the hockey rink.
The owners reason that the players are interchangeable, but the teams are not. In order to combat the lulls that occur in some sports due to a lack in superstar players (think the NBA after Jordan and before LeBron), the NFL markets its franchises rather than its athletes. In the NFL, the only thing the owners have actual ownership over is their respective teams. Thus, the owners are simply marketing the only product they are legally allowed to sell.
The NFL is also unique in the world of American sports leagues in that it does not allow for the 'guaranteed' contract. In essence, a guaranteed contract stipulates that a player will be compensated regardless of performance or injury. This particularly Parisian-style contract has been the bane of baseball for the past few decades. While it is clearly a player favorite, its existence has lead to a degradation in the overall quality of the leagues. Many, many teams have signed a player to substantial long-term deals only to have that player fall stricken to injury for months or even seasons. Teams are often forced between two options: 1) wait out the length of the contract until they have enough money to re-sign another player who hopefully will be less injury prone, or 2) trade said expensive fragile player to the Yankees for cash and minor leaguers. Realizing this after the fact, owners are offering smaller terms on their contracts and the players union is in fact foiling itself.
The salary cap is another tool the owners use to leverage control in their favor. The artificial ceiling cap ensures that no one player can be bigger than his team. It also ensures that no one team can be bigger than the game, ala the Yankees.
The NFL also employs the strictest dress code of any professional sport. Before the game, every single rostered player is inspected to ensure they are complying with the uniform code. Shirts must be tucked in and socks must be bright white in order to avoid exorbitant fines (think GNP of a small African country). The exacting rules are just another example of how determined the League is to remove as many individualist aspects from the game as possible.
Think about it, the NFL owners will go so far in protecting their league against mediocrity that they even instituted a clearly unconstitutional age requirement on players trying to enter the draft. Now that's dedication to the bottom line.
Years ago, after scoring a touchdown, Emmitt Smith used to lift his helmet off and mug for the cameras. In today's NFL, players are not allowed to take off their helmet unless they are on the sidelines, otherwise face a draconian fine. Its not because, as Michael Irvin suggested, the NFL is trying to exploit the personalities of its employees by not allowing them airtime. Rather, the NFL is making a statement to its players, one which says that no single player is bigger than the game itself. It is not the players which should be celebrated but the actual game. By reducing the power of the individual, the NFL owners yet again strengthen their bargaining position.
Even with the departure of long-time NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, the NFL has stayed true to its roots and has refused to allow individuals to dominate the great American game. Excessive celebrations are penalized more heavily this year than in an year prior. Twenty-two year coaching veteran Karl Marx said of the new harsher penalties, "I think it's needed. The game is about the team, not the individual." Sorry, I meant Marty Schottenheimer.
More on the subject of sports and politics: Game Theory Lessons of economics and politics to be learned from the world of sports
