NFL training camps now open

By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 07/26/2007

 It’s that time again — the National Football League season is here. Teams started reporting to training camp on Sunday, July 22. The Minnesota Vikings start in Mankato on Friday, July 27, and in two weeks the preseason games will begin.

 This marks my 29th year covering the NFL, and yes, like the NFL, I’ve come a long way. I’ve seen the NFL grow to be the number-one game by the widest of margins among fans and in the T.V. ratings.

With new NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell coming down hard on players for off-the-field conduct the last year, it’s clear that discipline is an issue. Questionable off-the-field conduct, whatever it may be, can cost a player his career. Pacman Jones, Tank Johnson, Koren Robinson and Onterrio Smith are just a few examples.

 Doing it right — that is expected. I’ll never forget this year’s April 10 issue of USA Today, when 41 players’ faces were spattered across the sports page in living color mug-shot fashion, identifying many of the players who have been arrested. Only two of those players were White.

 Atlanta Falcons star quarterback Michael Vick was not one of those players; he was indicted and faces multiple felony dog-fighting charges this week. Obviously, these issues make the headlines and sell newspapers.

 The NFL Draft is held annually in New York in late April; the National Basketball Association Draft is held in late June. I cannot understand why it is that the NBA players drafted in the first round in June are all signed by their respective teams in seven days, while many if not most NFL players drafted in the first round in April have not signed their contracts yet. Why is that?

 It happens every year that the number-one picks in the NFL, from number one overall to number 32, don’t get their hands on their money until the last minute. That’s four months minimum we are talking about — yes, many millions of dollars here.

 NFL teams get to keep these players’ money in their NFL bank accounts earning compounding interest until they finally sign the players in August. Do the players get the interest on the money that’s kept by the NFL teams?

 I don’t think so. In many cases, the players wind up barrowing money from agents, some of whom are good and reputable and some of whom are flat-out crooks who wind up managing the players’ finances.

 Vikings number-one pick Adrian Peterson has not signed yet, and the pressure will be applied by many among the media and fans to get him signed so he can report to camp and start learning what it’s all about to play in the NFL.

 These players should not have to wait until the last minute when their minds are focused on football and their careers to finally get their hard-earned money. It puts the players in tough spots, in many cases behind the eight ball. In fact, every player drafted is slotted anyway, so each team knows what the minimum and maximums are based on inflation from year to year.

 Some players can overcome it, but many players don’t. They deserve to get all their money just like the NBA number-one picks do — quickly, without waiting four months. This is not the National Hockey League. The NFL is number-one in revenue, marketing, ratings and popularity by a wide margin.

 This is a policy that Commissioner Goodell should look into and consider changing. The players should not have their money locked up because, in some cases as I mentioned earlier, they wind up getting locked up themselves.