U.S. District Court Judge David Doty issued a ruling that will likely prevent owners from accessing the TV payments that would have helped fund a potential lockout. As Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports writes, this is potentially a good thing for fans because it may force the owners to compromise.
Doty’s ruling, while an obvious boon to the NFLPA’s cause, wasn’t so much a smackdown of the owners’ position as it was a blow for labor peace. If the owners react to this judicial setback in a rational manner, they’ll lose their hardline bluster and come back to the bargaining table with a renewed sense of compromise.
Conversely, once Tuesday night’s buzz wears off, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith and his fellow negotiators should resist the temptation to gloat and instead push for a CBA that bridges the philosophical gap between the two parties.
If those reasonable and logical reactions occur when the two sides meet on Wednesday, I believe we’ll soon have an announcement from the camps that they’ve agreed to a short-term extension of the current CBA beyond March 3 – in the expectation of finalizing a deal over the next week or two.
In other words, after more than a year of rancorous rhetoric and the sense that a lockout was inevitable, we could have peace, love and harmony between players and owners by the end of the month, and well in advance of next month’s NFL draft. Free agency, minicamps, OTAs, training camp – it could all play out like a typical offseason, with fantasy drafts occurring right on schedule.
That’s how much power Doty’s ruling may have packed.
I’m not trying to burst Silver’s bubble, but the owners have been planning this lockout for years. They’re not going to cave just because of one ruling, even one as significant as this. There will be plenty of rulings coming up in the near future and maybe the next one will side in the favor of the owners. We just have to wait and see.
I want there to be football next season just as much as the next red-blooded American, so I hope Silver’s thoughts come to fruition and we see a quick compromise. (I also don’t doubt the impact that this ruling may have on the labor discussions.) But the owners are going to appeal this ruling, so I wouldn’t hold my breath on a timely resolution to this gigantic mess.
