[Sports] NFLPA president: I don't care if NFL 'dies out in 20 years'

Started by lioneatszebra, Aug 22, 2017, 09:36 PM

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lioneatszebra

NFLPA president: I don't care if NFL 'dies out in 20 years'

NFL Players Association president Eric Winston said Monday players don't care whether a potential work stoppage harms the sport.

"So if this thing dies out in 20 years, it dies out in 20 years," the Bengals' veteran tackle said Monday on Cincinnati television station WCPO. "That's not really my concern, and I don't think it's any of these players' concern in here either."

The NFL's current collective bargaining agreement is set to expire in 2021. Given the unrest between owners and the union the past couple of years, not to mention NFL players complaining about their NBA counterparts getting far more lucrative contracts, many see another work stoppage on the horizon. (There was a 132-day lockout in 2011 before the current CBA was finalized.)

NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith commented last week that a strike or lockout "is almost a virtual certainty."

Winston agreed, but said he doesn't care what another work stoppage might mean for the NFL's future.

"Honestly I don't care and I don't think the guys in this locker room care whether [the NFL] is going to be around in 20 years because none of us are going to be playing," Winston told the TV station. "So if these guys [the owners] want to own for a long time, then they can own for a long time. But another work stoppage might kill the golden goose."

Winston, who's been the union president since early 2014, wanted to remind fans how the NFL owners locked out players during the most recent labor dispute.

"They took the decision to make sure that people didn't have a place to work," he said. "They cut off the insurance to our families... What are you supposed to do? Fight back, right?"

So Winston said he really isn't concerned about the possibility owners and the league might suffer in the long term.

"I'm certainly not worried about (the NFL's long-term health)," he said. "I'm not going to be around that long. I don't care if even if there are rookies in here — they're not going to be playing that long."


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