A full tear down and gut and rebuild like this was probably in planning before the NFLPA report. This takes time to gather materials and such.

(02-27-2024, 01:36 PM)Joelist Wrote: A full tear down and gut and rebuild like this was probably in planning before the NFLPA report. This takes time to gather materials and such.

true...Phase 1 was the training room. Phase 2 is the actual locker room

I am glad we are doing this. It matters to the players. The facilities should be better. Training room, field surface, locker room.

(02-27-2024, 03:05 PM)Isaac Curtis: The Real #85 Wrote: I am glad we are doing this. It matters to the players. The facilities should be better. Training room, field surface, locker room.

And as Pally said, the players have tablets as their playbooks now that have to be charged. Let alone having functional shitters lol

Bengals 2024 NFLPA Report Card pic.twitter.com/g4SP3tXWRT

— Ace Boogie (@NewStripeCity) February 28, 2024

Pretty terrible outside of Zac, the strength coaches, and the training/weight rooms.

(02-28-2024, 01:59 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote:

Bengals 2024 NFLPA Report Card pic.twitter.com/g4SP3tXWRT

— Ace Boogie (@NewStripeCity) February 28, 2024

Pretty terrible outside of Zac, the strength coaches, and the training/weight rooms.

The one positive is both the Steelers and Ravens did worse than the Bengals

The locker room is getting fixed so that is one more bad score off the list.

However, the whole family and food issues are both so easy to fix.  I would have expected the family one to have been taken of after last season's report.  And seriously,   It would cost them $100,000 to hire a dietician which would pay for itself with healthier and more physically fit players

For food, it's a multiprong issue
- Poor ranking for quality
- 1 of 2 NFL teams to not provide 3 meals a day
- Players want 3rd meal + cafeteria to be open when they're there on official off days
- Players don't get individualized diet plans
- No full-time dietician on staff

— Jake Liscow (@JakeLiscow) February 28, 2024

  



The family room and daycare are both important to the players.  It will be so even more next season...7 Bengals wives/girlfriends are due to give birth over the next several months

Treatment of families and food-related issues remain low-hanging fruit the club could address. Second straight year.
- 1 of 12 NFL teams w/o family room
- 1 of 7 w/o gameday daycare
- 1 of 4 w/o either
- Players want someone to coordinate information for their families on gameday

— Jake Liscow (@JakeLiscow) February 28, 2024

 

The Chiefs also got hammered for the locker room, but had an excuse to offer:

"Chiefs players also said they were promised after the 2022 season that the locker room would be renovated and it was not. According to the NFLPA, players were told their Super Bowl run extended the season so long that the team didn't have enough time in the offseason to make renovations."

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39616360/dolphins-vikings-top-players-survey-nfl-teams-chiefs-31st

(02-28-2024, 01:59 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote:

Bengals 2024 NFLPA Report Card pic.twitter.com/g4SP3tXWRT

— Ace Boogie (@NewStripeCity) February 28, 2024

Pretty terrible outside of Zac, the strength coaches, and the training/weight rooms.

I guess the NFLPA puts these out just before free agency, probably as a guide to players and extra pressure on teams to fix things. But, as Pally mentioned, there are some inexpensive fixes for some of these low grades, and the family one probably hits close to home (inadvertent wording) for some of these players.

Public shaming works!

Honestly glad to see some of these things are being taken care of.

I don't really expect the Bengals to upgrade to have the best of all the various things (other than hopefully best football team for about 10 straight years of Burrow lifting the Lombardi). I just don't want them being the worst or in the conversation for the worst in any of it. As long as it's good enough to not be a hinderance or distraction, winning football games will make up for the difference between having the 12th-16th and the 1st-3rd. Just ideally keep it out of the 20s-30s.

(02-28-2024, 05:24 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Public shaming works!

I mean, I guess, but I think that as a grown man I would think the players asking for some of this stuff would be ashamed. Multi-millionaires can't afford their own daycare, their own dietician, their own food on their day off? Good grief, how do us mere 5 figure employees manage to do all that stuff??? If a player really wanted a dietician/nutritionist to set up an individualized program, it would be far better to go to a private person for an individualized plan rather than the team having one dietitian to deal with 90 individual players. I love these guys, but talk about spoiled athletes (Across the league)

(02-28-2024, 05:58 PM)Sled21 Wrote: I mean, I guess, but I think that as a grown man I would think the players asking for some of this stuff would be ashamed. Multi-millionaires can't afford their own daycare, their own dietician, their own food on their day off? Good grief, how do us mere 5 figure employees manage to do all that stuff??? If a player really wanted a dietician/nutritionist to set up an individualized program, it would be far better to go to a private person for an individualized plan rather than the team having one dietitian to deal with 90 individual players. I love these guys, but talk about spoiled athletes (Across the league)

It's not a matter of what can or can't be afforded. It's a matter of your workplace meeting the standards of the industry's norm.

If "us mere 5 figure employees" had 32 businesses in the same field in our city we could work at, and 29 of the 32 businesses offered Pizza Fridays, coffee makers with free quality coffee, and individual cubicle AC settings... sure we could afford to buy ourselves pizza, coffee, and a sweater... but if you're a worker in one of the only 3 businesses that DON'T get that, you'd feel shorted. It is normal to want to have the same quality of life perks as the other >90% of workers in your field do if it's become the standard for people who do the same job as you.

The team expects players to come in on their day off for treatment, extra weight work, extra film study, etc. How many times has Zac praised the work ethics of these players but then they turn around and refuse to open the cafeteria because "it's an off day"? They expect players on work days to be there 10-12 hours a day, expend 1000's of calories, and then don't provide adequate nutrition.

It is in the team's best interest to provide food and nutrition support to the players. If you set up the food plan and provide the food they get healthier players.

It is just common sense to provide a family lounge for game days. These are young men with young families. In the scheme of things, it is not an expensive item. Just like assigning the job of family liaison to someone in the front office. In a regular business that would be someone in HR

(02-28-2024, 05:58 PM)Sled21 Wrote: I mean, I guess, but I think that as a grown man I would think the players asking for some of this stuff would be ashamed. Multi-millionaires can't afford their own daycare, their own dietician, their own food on their day off? Good grief, how do us mere 5 figure employees manage to do all that stuff??? If a player really wanted a dietician/nutritionist to set up an individualized program, it would be far better to go to a private person for an individualized plan rather than the team having one dietitian to deal with 90 individual players. I love these guys, but talk about spoiled athletes (Across the league)

That was thought as well.  These guys are getting paid a million plus dollars a year and they expect the team to provide day care for them in addition to feeding them 3+ meals a day and getting them an on staff dietician?  It sounds like a bunch of spoiled rich athletes to me.

It’ll cost more than 100K for a nutritionist needed for that level.

It all cost. And with Burrow’s contract wiping out Suzy Lou Brown’s college fund and Chase’s contract set to force them to put up the Brown family home for collateral, players better get over it.

Colleges are setting the standard and they are far ahead of some teams when it comes to facilities. Browns are going to have to evolve. 

(02-28-2024, 07:32 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: It's not a matter of what can or can't be afforded. It's a matter of your workplace meeting the standards of the industry's norm.

If "us mere 5 figure employees" had 32 businesses in the same field in our city we could work at, and 29 of the 32 businesses offered Pizza Fridays, coffee makers with free quality coffee, and individual cubicle AC settings... sure we could afford to buy ourselves pizza, coffee, and a sweater... but if you're a worker in one of the only 3 businesses that DON'T get that, you'd feel shorted. It is normal to want to have the same quality of life perks as the other >90% of workers in your field do if it's become the standard for people who do the same job as you.

All NFL owners are not equal. The Brown family is relatively poor compared to the Robert Krafts and Jerry Jone's of the NFL world. I'm sure if they built a new stadium, they could offer a family room. Maybe there is not a place for one in Paycor that is not being used for something else. Sorry, when my kids were young, my wife and I paid for our kids daycare on a Police and Nurse salaries, and did not expect an employer to provide it. Nobody bought our meals or paid for our dietitians and trainers. This is just spoiled athlete crap.
Interesting to note that the worst ownership belongs to the team they call the new dynasty....

(02-28-2024, 05:58 PM)Sled21 Wrote: I mean, I guess, but I think that as a grown man I would think the players asking for some of this stuff would be ashamed. Multi-millionaires can't afford their own daycare, their own dietician, their own food on their day off? Good grief, how do us mere 5 figure employees manage to do all that stuff??? If a player really wanted a dietician/nutritionist to set up an individualized program, it would be far better to go to a private person for an individualized plan rather than the team having one dietitian to deal with 90 individual players. I love these guys, but talk about spoiled athletes (Across the league)

(02-28-2024, 07:32 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: It's not a matter of what can or can't be afforded. It's a matter of your workplace meeting the standards of the industry's norm.

If "us mere 5 figure employees" had 32 businesses in the same field in our city we could work at, and 29 of the 32 businesses offered Pizza Fridays, coffee makers with free quality coffee, and individual cubicle AC settings... sure we could afford to buy ourselves pizza, coffee, and a sweater... but if you're a worker in one of the only 3 businesses that DON'T get that, you'd feel shorted. It is normal to want to have the same quality of life perks as the other >90% of workers in your field do if it's become the standard for people who do the same job as you.

You're both right: it is a petty thing to be angry over, however it IS the industry standard, so the players are justified in their pettiness.

Pally also hit it on the head: if you have players spending the extra hours in house, you should accommodate the bare minimum to meet the needs of those extra hours.

That one's a no-brainer and it's not petty.

(02-28-2024, 04:22 PM)Nepa Wrote: The Chiefs also got hammered for the locker room, but had an excuse to offer:

"Chiefs players also said they were promised after the 2022 season that the locker room would be renovated and it was not. According to the NFLPA, players were told their Super Bowl run extended the season so long that the team didn't have enough time in the offseason to make renovations."

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39616360/dolphins-vikings-top-players-survey-nfl-teams-chiefs-31st

Arrowhead in general is an absolute dump. 

It's charm comes from how old it is - kind of like Wrigley. You know what you're getting when you sign there to go play. 

(02-28-2024, 05:58 PM)Sled21 Wrote: I mean, I guess, but I think that as a grown man I would think the players asking for some of this stuff would be ashamed. Multi-millionaires can't afford their own daycare, their own dietician, their own food on their day off? Good grief, how do us mere 5 figure employees manage to do all that stuff??? If a player really wanted a dietician/nutritionist to set up an individualized program, it would be far better to go to a private person for an individualized plan rather than the team having one dietitian to deal with 90 individual players. I love these guys, but talk about spoiled athletes (Across the league)

I mean, you have to look at it in the context of the player and the rest of the NFL. 

I threw away half a burrito I didn't like yesterday because I thought it taste like shit. What do you think a starving person in Africa would have said if they saw me do that? They'd probably be saying I'm a spoiled ass American. 

Our company has free soda for employees to take. They recently switched to generic soda "Big K/Faygo" and the backlash was insane.


The fact of the matter is that a lot of NFL teams offer better meals/nutrition/child care. It's become the norm and expected. The Bengals need to step their game up. 

(02-29-2024, 11:39 AM)WeezyBengal Wrote: I mean, you have to look at it in the context of the player and the rest of the NFL. 

I threw away half a burrito I didn't like yesterday because I thought it taste like shit. What do you think a starving person in Africa would have said if they saw me do that? They'd probably be saying I'm a spoiled ass American. 

Our company has free soda for employees to take. They recently switched to generic soda "Big K/Faygo" and the backlash was insane.


The fact of the matter is that a lot of NFL teams offer better meals/nutrition/child care. It's become the norm and expected. The Bengals need to step their game up. 

What the rest of the league does doesn't really negate how I feel, I feel like they are spoiled across the league. It's a really bad look for the NFL in an economy like this where people are struggling to pay for groceries, for multi-millionaire athletes to be whining about free daycare and free meals. Talk about tone deaf to the state of the nation! While I'm not the least bit surprised at the athletes, I am very surprised the NFL even let this nonsense become public.

(02-29-2024, 11:46 AM)Sled21 Wrote: What the rest of the league does doesn't really negate how I feel, I feel like they are spoiled across the league. It's a really bad look for the NFL in an economy like this where people are struggling to pay for groceries, for multi-millionaire athletes to be whining about free daycare and free meals. Talk about tone deaf to the state of the nation! While I'm not the least bit surprised at the athletes, I am very surprised the NFL even let this nonsense become public.

I feel like I have seen you complain about this for several years in a row now. It's always been like this, though. Elite companies in various industries have always provided top notch amenities and the state of the nation is irrelevant to that, frankly. Google employees, on top of their very healthy salaries, have nap pods and free lunches provided to them daily for example. Hell, the company that I work for allows us to work fully remote and takes us on two vacations per year - a fishing trip in Arkansas and somewhere international (usually Canada, Mexico or somewhere tropical). If I were to leave and go somewhere else, these perks would undoubtedly be gone. If I was tasked with giving a report card, I would also probably rate that new company low in those categories.

This is also another thing. Do we know that they are actually whining? You keep saying that but from everything I have read, you are just making an assumption. The players have voiced their desire for these things, but that doesn't mean they are actually complaining. There's a big difference between...

"Yeah, it'd be cool if the Bengals offered all three meals every day. I'd like to see that at some point. I know most other teams do that."

Versus

"I think it's ridiculous that the Bengals don't offer us every meal, every day, man. I don't know what they are doing, but it is ridiculous that this one of the only teams that doesn't."

Keep in mind, they are being prompted by a survey to provide their thoughts. They aren't just going out and voicing them.