Jerry Richardson insinuated Peyton Manning and Drew Brees were too stupid to read a revenue chart during the last owners/players meeting.
Posted by
David (aka David)
Feb 13 '11, 17:32
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Arizona Cardinals kicker Jay Feely(notes) disclosed an interesting nugget about a recent bargaining session in Dallas between the NFL and the NFL Players Association.
He revealed that Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson talked down to Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning(notes) and New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees(notes) during the negotiation.
�Jerry Richardson, he�s going to criticize Peyton Manning and Drew Brees and their intelligence in our meeting Saturday?� Feely said during an appearance on the Michael Kay Show on ESPN Radio. �And sit there and say dismissively to Manning, �Do I need to help you read a revenue chart, son? Do I need to help break that down for you because I don�t know if you understand how to read that?� That doesn't help us get a deal done."
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Richardson is regarded as a hard-liner.
So, what happened during that bargaining session last week where talks broke down and a Thursday meeting was cancelled?
"They did walk out," Feely said. "I think everybody's disappointed that you can't sit down and have a meeting. There's going to be negotiating ploys. What happened is the owners moved a little bit and they said we didn't move enough and they got up and walked out. It's a tough negotiation. When you bring in emotion, it gets in the way of logic."
Feely said that players didn't ask for 50 percent of all revenue.
"That's not true," Feely said. "It was lower than that."
Feely said that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell isn't being truthful when he says the players' union has enough information. The league has refused to open their books.
"He's lying," Goodell said. "He's being disengenuous. We don't know how much costs they incur. Because you don't the costs, you can't determine how much profits they're making. When you have record revenue and record TV ratings and record worth of the franchises and you say the economics have changed and you need to give back 18 percent of your revenue, you say, 'Let me see why that's the case.' The NBA gave the NBA players union all that information. The NFL won't do that. ..
"All the fans care about is watching football. They don't want to hear us bickering. If I took out a lot of lawyers, I could get a deal done tomorrow. Jerry Jones doesn't want to share with the Buffalo Bills anymore. You have this disconnect between the owners. They want to take back from the players. That's their answer right now. Their answer is, 'We have leverage. We're going to assert that leverage and fix our problem that we can't settle between ourselves.'"
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