If you haven't listened to it yet, the Chiefs website has audio of the Roger Goodell and Clark Hunt conference callwith season ticket holders. Check out the full thing whenever you get a chance but here are a few thoughts I had on the call itself.
No breaking news. I was hoping that we would have some sort of decision from the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals regarding the stay before Thursday morning's call. That would give Chiefs fans the chance to be the first to ask Goodell about the results. Alas, we're still waiting on the court appeals and Goodell nor Hunt broke any news on the conference call. It was all pretty tame and fans were respectful.
One awkward moment. There was one sort of awkward moment on the call. A caller asked Hunt what they were doing about the high prices for tickets and parking. Hunt noted that most of the ticket prices are not going up this year and then had to break the news to this guy that parking prices were actually going up this year.
The owners want to get back to the negotiation table. As usual, both Goodell and Hunt managed to work that into a lot of answers. They can't say it enough: out of the courtroom and back to the negotiating table. Those of you following football in the 1980s may remember those lines.
I'm glad they gave fans this opportunity. Not every team is doing this (as far as I know) and regardless of what you think about the actual conversation, I think giving fans the opportunity to listen into this and ask a question (if you could get through) is pretty cool. You can agree or disagree with what they say but, in my opinion, it's hard to argue against the access they're providing to fans.
So why are you paying full price for preseason games? One fan asked Goodell that question and he said that's why they wanted to go to an 18-game schedule. Unfortunately, that doesn't answer the question. In the polls I've seen, fans have been clear that the majority do not want 18 games. Fans just don't want to pay full price for the preseason. That's a distinction the league doesn't know or is ignoring.