The major problems sports union is facing

In an NFL agreement in 2007, the Union agreed to this thing called the Franchise Tag. It seemed simple at the time, as if a team and a player could not agree on a contract, the team could franchise tag him, keeping them under contract for a year at the average of what the top 5 paid players are making at his position. They could do this for one player for 2 years. And let me tell you, it may be one of the worst things in sports history. If a player gets hurt, they get robbed of long term security. They have to play for the team and don’t have a choice, even though their contract is up. It really doesn’t make sense how if their contract is up, why the team can still have rights to certain players. It has happened with primetime players like Dez Bryant, Justin Houston, and Eric Berry. Also, if a year goes by and no contract is negotiated, they can tag them AGAIN. It is utterly ridiculous that they have no long term contracts but they don’t have a choice to go elsewhere. Furthermore, if they holdout and miss games, they lose money. So they have no choice but to come, giving teams all the power, it’s a horrible system that needs to change.

josh norman redskins Players don’t like it as well. Josh Norman, an All pro corner for the Redskins who was once under the franchise tag, had this too say. “It’s stupid, it’s stupid….The reason why its stupid is because it allows teams to keep you held down for that one year, so they can see if you pan out or don’t pan out. It keeps you reserved for that one year, so they can have you at a premium price, but if something happens to you that next year, you get released.” Norman is right. All I’m saying is if a player has a down year or gets injured, he loses incredible amounts of money. Sounds dumb right? That’s because it is dumb. And its effecting one of the biggest stars in the NFL today as Le’veon Bell is under the franchise tag but hasn’t signed it yet because he’s holding out for a contract, but he has no leverage because he loses money if he misses games. This brings up a whole new topic. Just how little power the NFL players have is astonishing. While in the NBA and MLB players left and right are getting huge contracts, the NFL players aren’t getting that. They have contracts that have guaranteed money, so that’s all they are going to see. Odell Beckham came out and said he wants to be the highest paid player in the nfl and everyone rolled their eyes but in my opinion it should be a realistic option, but it’s not because the players union negotiated a contract that is weak compared to the other major sports. The NBA has a similar problem with team control over players. If you are drafted by a team, they automatically have your birds rights. That means they can pay you more and if after your first four years of your contract, if someone offers you a contract, they can match it and go over the salary cap if they have too. So basically you are screwed if you are drafted by a bad organization, and you have no say because they have your rights for the first 8-9 years of your career. You don’t even “hit” free agency until you 29, so essentially players are stuck in bad situations all throughout sports. Star players like Giannis Antetokounmpo, John Wall, and Devin Booker are stuck in mediocre and below situations for a long time because their teams own their rights after their first contracts are up. Overall, while the MLB union knows what their doing(have you seen their control/contracts!!), the NBA and NFL unions have major issues with the control teams have over the players.