Despite having all the trappings of a modern business empire, football ? or more specifically its labor system ? harks back to the 19th century. Like miners and dock workers of that time, the NFL?s work force has little protection against job loss. Workers frequently toil outdoors in freezing temperatures, and they often literally put their lives at risk. To be sure, football players, with their generous paychecks, do not seem as exploited as those rail-thin miners dusted with coal. But compared with athletes who ply their trades in two other big-money sports ? basketball and baseball ? they?re strictly blue collar.
See "The N.F.L.?s Blue-Collar Workers", Daniel Gross, The New York Times, January 21, 2007