The nature of professional sports franchise model and the relationship between the commissioner, the league and the players Essay

It is known that professional sport team is like a business which has its executive leadership, sales and marketing groups and departments which deal with mass media and community. A lot of people are involved in this business. Among them are coaches, trainers, therapists, football agents or scouts, accountants. Besides the above mentioned positions there are also part-time employees such as parking lot attendants and ticket takers and others who serve during the game-day. Professional sport leagues can be organized in the following ways:
European Model;
North American Model. (Cain, Haddock 115)
The first one is a structure where the promotion and relegation play an important role in the governing body of the league.
The second one is a structure which is organized by franchises. Such franchises or clubs stand for the only one sport team each. The franchises have their territories. A franchise system is based on the argument between several persons where a franchisor guarantees the rights to the franchisee.
The North American League has the right to set the rules of the game and the scoring rules as well as the rules according to which the players can join the team or leave the team. Each large city has its sport team which is supported by this city. Sometimes the city has two teams. The league has such a structure that the teams are not constant, they may change each year. Each team has an owner which is a shareholder in the league. The players can make a contract with the league. Those teams which are considered to be the best can take part in playoff tournament which gives the opportunity to the winners to be a crowned champion of the league or even the world champion. (Cain,Haddock 117)
In the USA, there are four major professional sport leagues: The National Football League (NFL), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Hockey League (NHL), the Major League Baseball (MLB). It is known that all of them experienced an increase in the number of teams or franchises which take part in the games and are the members of the league. New stadiums appeared in many cities.
The Relationship between the commissioner, the league and the players. The commissioner is a chief executive of the league. Jim Thorpe was the first president of the League in 1920. In 1925, there was another president of FNL, Joseph Carr who represented the contract of the player. The players should sign a contract according to which they will play in the team during the season. There is a National Football League Players Association which defends the rights of the players. It serves as a labor union for the players. This organization also takes part in negotiations concerning collective bargaining agreement which should be concluded with league owners. The National Football League Players Association had labor disputes during which in 1987 it was decertified.
On March, 11, 2011, the NFLPA was decertified again during the negotiations with NFL concerning a new collective bargaining agreement which failed to adjust some labor disputes.
It is known that the National Football League Players Association will file an anti-trust suit against the National Football League in the court of the United States.
Some football fans do not understand what is lock out. They just want to watch football. There may be two variants. The first one means that there will be a 2011 NFL season. In this case the court will find for the NFLP. The second variant is that there will not be a 2011 NFL season. This issue will be decided by the attorney and the Judge David Doty. It is known that many of the players have already filed antitrust lawsuits against the National Football League. The problem lies in the fact that the players and the owners of the teams could not find the way out of the existing situation. The problem is connected with the financial affairs of the NFL and NFLPA. Both the owners and the players need to get an absolutely new collective bargaining agreement. The current situation is a complicated one because the owners think only about themselves. They want to make money. It is known that the season which consists of 18 games is very important for both the NFL and the NFLPA. The Commissioner of the League, Roger Goodell intends to extend the 16 games of the season to 18 games. At the present time, all the football teams play four preseason games and then they play 16 regular games in the season. The proposition of the league in concluded in the fact that the number of regular games will be 18 instead of 16. The reason of this proposition lies in financial income. The preseason games tickets are rarely sold out and these two games which will be added to the regular games will compensate the owners their losses. They will get greater revenue for the season. This is very important for them. However, they do not think about the players who will be tired and injured. (Clendening)
The second problem which should be solved lies in the fact that rookie wage scale is unfair. The rookies earn too much money compared with the veterans.
The third problem which also should be solved in the court is connected with the television revenue which should be also shared between the NFL and the NFLPA.
I am sure that the players should solve all their problems and only after that they can start the session. I think that the players have their right to demand the fair financial income. Of course, this issue should be solved and the players should start their session in time. Otherwise, there will be great losses because the cities will not get the appropriate profit, the tourism and transportation will also have a loss on profits. Those employees who work on the stadiums will not get their salaries as well as the players. All these facts will hurt the economy of the USA in some extent. That is why there should be the NFL football this coming season.