NFL Players Were Unmoved By Roger Goodell's Letter.

So, why are the players pissed? The money. They want to keep the 50/50 share of revenue.

Players claim the offer to meet them halfway” would have cost them $3.6 billion over the next four years under a realistic revenue projection. The proposed ten-year CBA also made no provision for what percentage players would receive after 2014, when the NFL is projected to double its media revenue with a new television deal.

The players say the other carrots, such as the enhanced retirement benefits, were only available if they accepted the diminished revenue share.

Instead of “encouraging their union to return to the bargaining table,” they urged Goodell to contact their legal counsel in the Brady litigation. The letters show the degree to which both sides are entrenched. Unless a legal ruling creates a breach, this standoff should resemble the Western Front, long, bloody and pointless.

The players are winning the PR battle, if only because they don’t have Jeff Pash whining to the media and issuing sniveling responses. Unfortunately for them that’s irrelevant. The owners don’t care what you think. They know you’re coming back to the trough.

[Photo via Getty]