CBS Refuses to Air NFL Players Ad

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AFL-CIO News Blog

by James Parks, Jan 31, 2011

Are you kidding, CBS? The network has rejected the “Let Us Play” ad (left) from the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) that was to air Feb. 5 on the CBS College Sports Network during the NFLPA college all-stars game.

CBS executives said they “didn’t want to get involved” in the labor negotiations between the players and the NFL owners, according to AdAge.com.

Not get involved? Come on. CBS is big-dollars involved already.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl9BpUgYljQ&feature=player_embedded

CBS, Fox, NBC and ESPN, as well as DIRECTV, have agreed to pay the NFL in 2011 even if owners carry through on their threat to lock out players, disrupting or even canceling the season. The NFLPA has filed suit against the league, saying the TV deals provide the owners with guaranteed payment even if no games are played, effectively financing the lockout by providing “lockout insurance.” The networks pay the NFL $4 billion a year to televise the league’s games.

The NFL owners opted out of the collective bargaining agreement with the NFLPA two years before it was due to expire, saying it isn’t working for them. But they refuse to provide audited financial information to explain what is wrong in a business that generated $9 billion in 2009 during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.


Read more: http://blog.aflcio.org/2011/01/31/cbs-refuses-to-air-nfl-players-ad/

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FULL story at link.

[rfranklin]

1. Well, only $5 billion of the $9 billion was profit, so they feel gypped...

I mean, how can you possibly live on that?

[Auggie]

2. Interesting... this will cost the networks ad revenue and lost

promotion of their own shows -- you'd think they'd want a settlement quickly. Instead, corporate brass is siding with owners.

[Taft_Bathtub]

5. A chance to crush a union?

That's every corporation's dream.

[Auggie]

10. Crush may be too strong a word... I think owners and league leadership

want a players union because they perceive it as being good PR for the league (and I think the players union is too strong and too visible to go away).

Owners have more money, so I think they're going to try to starve players in capitulating. BTW, there are links and commentary on this issue that I posted in the sports forum, if you're interested. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=215x172238

And welcome to D.U.

[BrklynLiberal]

3. They get their money from the corporate owners, not the players.

[Sonoman]

12. Yep. And NFL owners are not Good Guys.

I know guys who own three separate pro teams (1 MLB, 1 NBA, 1 NFL).

One of them is not a total dickhead.

Sonoman

[ixion]

4. The Fat Cats swapping money around...

that's all it amounts too. They pay each other off, and it looks like profit. Such is the state of our 'free' market.

[ThomCat]

6. They only take money from corporations, not labor.

And players, even though they are celebrities who play a game for a living, are employees/labor.

They would not want to set a precedent and accept money for an add that makes a corporations look like they should concede anything to profits. Corporations have to present a unified front, after all, and media corporations have dutifully done their part. :grr:

[Uncle Joe]

7. CBS is using some twisted logic.

"CBS executives said they “didn’t want to get involved” in the labor negotiations between the players and the NFL owners, according to AdAge.com."

The mere act of refusing to run a legitimate ad is getting involved in labor negotiations, whereas running the ad, is just part of CBS's normal business model, they could run an ad for the owners as well, if they truly wanted to be neutral.

By curtailing the NFLPA's ability to get their message out, CBS De Facto sides with the owners.

Thanks for the thread, Omaha Steve.

[MilesColtrane]

8. "CBS executives said they “didn’t want to get involved” in the labor negotiations"

Hey CBS, a lockout is what happens when there ARE no labor negotiations.

Management uses a lockout as a tactic to force a union into accepting a "take it or leave it" final offer, when negotiations have reached a stalemate.

That's what the commercial and the petition are trying to prevent.

The CBS suits are just making sure that their buddies in the owner's suites still have a pressure tactic in their pocket.

[MilesColtrane]

9. Oh, and here's the petition.

http://www.nfllockout.com

[Omaha Steve]

13. Thank you for posting

I meant to post it here. I only posted it in labor.

[dotymed]

11. Union busting

the new national past-time. The corporate media has guaranteed the NFL owners obscene money to crush the union. This should be illegal as hell.

PLEASE, AMERICANS....WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN.....