Don't Worry: In The Event Of An NFL Lockout, Bob Costas Will Still Get Paid

Here's a letter from Mary Cavallaro of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. In it, she assures the NFL broadcasters among her membership that they'll still get paid their current salary even if there are no NFL games to broadcast.

An excerpt:

We are focused on the possible impact that an NFL lockout or any other labor dispute could have on the employment status of our members who perform NFL broadcast work whether play-by-play announcing, commentary, side-line reporting or show hosting on both television and radio.

In the event of an NFL lockout, it is AFTRA's position that the terms of your AFTRA collective bargaining agreement require your employer to continue to compensate you at your current salary.

So here's where we are: NFL broadcasters stand to make whatever the hell they make for games that won't be broadcast. NFL owners stand to make billions of dollars in broadcast revenue for games that won't be played. And meanwhile, NFL players — the guys who'd get laughed out of the negotiating room for even thinking pleasant thoughts about guaranteed contracts — won't get anything for the games they'll have been prevented from playing, unless you count the change they can dig out of the NFLPA office Coke machines. The silver lining, I guess, is that none of them will remember any of this in 2012.