After NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Executive VP & General Counsel Jeff Pash announced that they would be cutting their salaries from $10 million and $5 million respectively, to $1 until the NFL labor issue is resolved, I wondered how that would be countered by NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith.
Well, today in a story on NFL.com, it was reported that Smith will do both Goodell and Pash one better. More specifically, he will do them both $1 better, forgoing his entire salary until labor peace is achieved. Smith's current salary is around $1.8 million a year, significantly less than both Goodell and Pash. Apparently, Smith originally said he was cutting his salary to 68 cents, wherever that number came from, but then decided to cut it all the way to zero, supposedly a sign of his commitment to getting a deal done.
However, based on what we at SB Nation have heard in the past two days of having exclusive conference calls with both sides in this case, these two marketing ploys may not be impressing anyone and until a deal is agreed upon, neither side is getting the sympathies of most NFL fans.