Will the labor dispute between NFL players and owners lead to a lockout? The Nation’s Dave Zirin joined former Denver Broncos player Nate Jackson on MSNBC’s The Dylan Ratigan Show to examine the options. If the owners force a lockout, Zirin says, players would lose access to team medical facilities and team trainers, a disastrous proposition. One player’s pregnant wife recently induced labor to make sure their child’s birth would be covered under player health benefits.
The owners, Zirin says, would like an agreement that is “socialism for the rich” and “capitalism for the fans and players.“ NFL owners are some of “the wealthiest, most well-connected people on the planet,” while players come from “poor socioeconomic backgrounds,” typically play three and a half years and die twenty years before the average American male.
What’s more, “the fans pay for stadiums with tax dollars,” Zirin says, but they can’t even afford to buy tickets to the games. He says fans make the game go around and should have more voice in determining what happens.
—Kevin Gosztola
