Tag: nfl lockout news (Page 2 of 3)

      NFL lockout to be over by July 21?

      July 11, 2011 /
      Retired Minnesota Vikings defensive end Carl Eller enters a federal courthouse for court-ordered mediation regarding labor and revenue issues between the NFL and the NFL Players Association in Minneapolis, May 16, 2011. REUTERS/Eric Miller (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT FOOTBALL CRIME LAW BUSINESS)

      There is growing belief “inside league circles” that the NFL and NFLPA will have an agreement in place that can be ratified during the July 21 league meetings in Atlanta says ESPN.com.

      As one NFL owner said this weekend, there’s “no reason to believe it won’t get done.”

      Other people familiar with the talks now think an agreement in principle will be put in place in the next seven to 10 days, a handshake deal that would allow each side to ratify the deal to start the 2011 season.

      Of course, as usual, not all of the news is positive.

      However, one member of the players’ negotiating team who has been a constant presence at the table said that players feel they have made significant concessions and overtures “that have not been reciprocated.”

      He stated that negotiations Wednesday and Thursday will be the most telling days on whether an agreement indeed will be finalized within the July 21 time frame because “we’ve basically reached the limits of compromise.”

      The same source added that the players have agreed to cut rookie compensation in half but won’t agree to a deal that does not allow for the rookie class to become free agents at the end of four years.

      According to the article, if the deal were to be ratified by July 21, all preseason games would still be played. That said, I can’t envision a scenario in which the Hall of Fame game will still be played on August 7. Teams still have to sign rookies and free agents, get players into camp, and get them into some type of game shape so injuries don’t become a huge problem heading into the regular season. If the league were to keep the preseason games as scheduled, it could open a Pandora’s Box where players are dropping left and right because they’re not in proper game shape. I know a lot of players have been working out this entire time, but they’re still going to need 3-4 weeks to get in football shape. (If not more.)

      But in terms of the lockout in general, I won’t get my hopes up until the first free agent is signed. That would signal the official end of the labor dispute. Until then, it seems like the framework of any deal between the players and owners is constructed on top of a deck of cards. The entire thing could come crashing down at any time. Still, the latest reports remain positive and as I wrote earlier this month, I believe a deal will be in place by the end of July.

      External Sports, NFL

      Are the lawyers preventing the players and owners from negotiating a CBA deal?

      June 15, 2011 /
      James Quinn (L) and Jeffrey Kessler (R), attorneys for the NFL Players Association enter a federal courthouse to resume court-ordered mediation regarding labor and revenue issues between the NFL and the NFL Players Association in Minneapolis, May 16, 2011. REUTERS/Eric Miller (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT FOOTBALL CRIME LAW BUSINESS)

      ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting that labor discussions between the players and owners “almost blew up” on Wednesday when lawyers were allowed back in the room.

      How close it got to that point is a matter of opinion. The moment may have come shortly after lawyers from both sides were brought back into the process at an undisclosed location in the Washington, D.C., area.

      As tensions rose and anger grew, two sources said NFLPA leader DeMaurice Smith instructed his lawyers to “stand down.”

      With the lawyers removed from the direct negotiations, the process was said to get back on track and to a good spot. The scenario is an example of just how tenuous these talks can be and how quickly they can be derailed.

      But it also is the ultimate proof that Smith and his players, and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and the owners, have taken the process out of the hands of the attorneys and demanded that they control it as the two sides try to hammer out a new collective bargaining agreement.

      What’s interesting is that this is exactly what Vikings defensive end Jared Allen told me last week when I asked him his thoughts on the lockout: “Attorneys just seem to cause problems.”

      Granted, he laughed after he said it but it wasn’t the only time he mentioned how the lawyers were holding up the negotiation process. And in Schefter’s report, he mentions how during talks last winter, “many around the league worried that the lawyers were controlling the process.”

      Of course, this doesn’t mean that the only reason there isn’t a new CBA in place right now is because the attorneys are mucking everything up. Without completely understanding the full scope of the situation or having a front row seat to the labor discussions, we can only speculate as to what’s really going on. Not even Schefter, who is as tuned in as any NFL reporter, knows unequivocally what’s taking place behind closed doors.

      Let’s just hope that if the lawyers are causing problems, Roger Goodell and DeMaurice Smith will continue to step up to ensure that these talks continue to move forward. For the first time during this entire charade, there appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel. Let’s not have anyone or anything derail that.

      External Sports, NFL

      New CBA deal coming in the next 2-3 weeks?

      June 14, 2011 /
      DeMaurice Smith (R), executive director of the NFL Players’ Association, stands with attorneys Gregg Levy (C), David Boies (L) and Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Mike Vrabel (background) before he speaks to the media after attending a federal court hearing regarding labor negotiations between the NFL and the NFL Players Association in St. Paul, April 6, 2011. REUTERS/Eric Miller (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT FOOTBALL CRIME LAW BUSINESS)

      The Washington Post’s Mark Maske reports that the NFL could finalize its new Collective Bargaining Agreement within the next 2-3 weeks.

      Owners of the 32 teams, scheduled to attend a meeting in Chicago Tuesday, have been told to leave their schedules open in case the session runs late that night or spills over into the following day, said several people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deliberations are at a sensitive stage.

      It is possible–but very unlikely–that the owners could vote on a labor deal at that meeting, said several of the people, who did not participate in the talks but are familiar with developments. It is more likely, they said, that owners could give negotiators their opinions and a deal with the players could be completed the following week.

      A deal that week, just before the July 4 holiday, appears increasingly realistic, said people on both sides of the dispute.

      Others, however, cautioned that a deal between league and the players remains less than a certainty and talks still could unravel.

      Rotoworld.com notes that Maske “has been one of the most plugged-in and reliable reporters on the CBA talks,” so that’s comforting. And after speaking with Vikings defensive end Jared Allen and former Titan Kevin Carter over the last two weeks, I too get the sense that the two sides are getting closer.

      That said, both Allen and Carter expressed that there is still a lot that needs to be ironed out. The players are holding their ground when it comes to benefits for both current and former athletes. That’s a huge sticking point for them, as they want to ensure that the league will take care of retired players long past their days in pads and cleats.

      But at the very least, it appears as though these labor talks are moving in the right direction. It’s a very good sign that the two sides are talking out of court.

      External Sports, NFL

      Even though there’s still plenty of work to be done, secret meeting is positive news for NFL

      June 2, 2011 /
      NFL commissioner Roger Goodell (C) enters a federal courthouse to resume talks regarding labor and revenue issues between the NFL and the NFL Players Association in Minneapolis, May 16, 2011. REUTERS/Eric Miller (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT FOOTBALL EMPLOYMENT BUSINESS)

      Just try and halt my enthusiasm after reading about this little clandestine meeting that took place between union officials and NFL owners on Wednesday. The moment I heard about the news I ran up and down the streets screaming, “DING DONG THE LOCKOUT IS DEAD, SNITCHES!”

      All right, so I’m not that excited. But the fact that DeMaurice Smith and other NFLPA union officials (or whatever they’re calling themselves these days after decertifying back in March) met with top NFL owners and commissioner Roger Goodell can only be viewed as a positive sign when it comes to the current labor strife.

      The details are murky and it doesn’t appear that anything imminent is about to happen with the lockout, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that progress wasn’t made. The fact that the two sides are even talking is good enough. It may mean that they’re laying the groundwork for a new CBA deal and while the lockout may not end soon, the two sides have to start somewhere.

      Look, there’s still a lot of work to be done. There’s still a lack of trust on both sides, there’s still the small matter of the owners wanting the players to take a paycut and the players wanting the owners to fork over financial statements from the last X amount of years, and there’s still billions of the fans’ money that needs to be fought over. But again, I’m encouraged.

      Personally, I think the best piece of news that has come out of this is that Panthers owner Jerry Richardson was one of the five owners who attended the get-together. If you remember correctly, he was the one that ticked off many of the players early in the negotiations by treating Peyton Manning like a man who couldn’t even figure out which one of his shoes belonged on which foot. When ESPN’s Adm Schefter tweeted Thursday morning that the meeting was so secretive that there were other NFL owners “that didn’t even know about” it, I thought for sure Richardson was left off the invite list. But maybe his heart is starting to thaw, too.

      So where do we go from here? The two sides will now head down to St. Louis where their lawyers will argue in front of a three-judge panel on Friday. The NFL is appealing an injunction that was grated by Judge Susan Nelson to block the lockout and the appeals court has already granted a full stay of that injunction. Thus, the owners are expected to emerge from this round of court-related nausea as the victors.

      But maybe after their trip to the Eighth Circuit, the two sides will reconvene again and start actually making progress on the CBA. It’s frustrating to think that during this time, the owners and players could have been working on a new labor deal instead of fighting in courts about the lockout. But in the end that doesn’t really matter. What matters is that the two sides actually start to make productive strides to ending this charade so that everyone can enjoy professional football come fall.

      External Sports, NFL

      5 questions with Brian Frederick of SportsFans.org

      May 24, 2011 /

      While the NFL owners and players continue to battle in court about how to split the $9 billion pie, some fans are not sitting idly by waiting to find out what happens. Brian Frederick, the executive director of SportsFans.org, is one of those who is literally fighting on behalf of the fans–the fans like you who continue to get shafted by greedy sports team owners and overpaid players. We had the chance to ask Brian a few questions recently about SportsFans.org and some of the current issues affecting fans:

      The Scores Report: First, if you can tell me briefly about how you started your organization and some of the things that you stand for?

      Brian Frederick: Sports Fans Coalition was founded in 2009 by the chair of our board, David Goodfriend, a former Clinton White House staffer. He put together a great board, including a member of the Bush White House. I was brought on in August of 2010 to be the first full-time employee. We were founded to give sports fans a voice on public policy issues; to bring the voice of the fan to the halls of power. We are concerned about issues like media blackouts, stadium construction, ticket prices, work stoppages and the lack of a college football playoff.

      TSR: I read that you were trying to earn a seat at the initial labor negotiations. Did anyone respond to you at all and if so, what did they say?

      BF: After one of the mediation sessions in DC, DeMaurice Smith asked to speak with me and he and I walked back to his office and chatted. He said we had written a great letter and he was interested in some of our ideas. He saw no reason, for instance, that a new CBA couldn’t include language ending blackouts. I am still hopeful that he will try to include that in whatever the new CBA looks like, but I am not holding my breath. I never heard from Roger Goodell.

      TSR: Now that the appeals hearing is set for June 3 and a ruling might not come down until a month later, do you think any games will be missed?

      BF: It depends on the ruling (and further appeals). I’ve always felt that we are likely to lose some early games but not the whole season. That’s not to say that there’s not a chance the whole season will be lost, it just seems unlikely because this is just over how to divide revenue within a structure that works. The NFL doesn’t have the deeper problems that the NBA does, for instance. If the owners win their appeal, I think we’re looking at some lost games. If the players win, I think there’s a better chance for football in the fall.

      TSR: Do you think the NFL has done enough damage to this point that will make fans boycott, at least to some degree?

      BF: The NFL is certainly damaging its brand every day this dispute drags on. I don’t think it’s caused enough harm yet that fans will boycott. Only after games are missed will there even be a chance of enough fans uniting to take action. This is unfortunate, of course, because that is what the NFL and NFLPA are counting on — that fans won’t care until games are missed. But that attitude (like a game of chicken) is exactly what leads to missed games. There’s this sort of attitude among fans that it will get worked out — “they always work it out.” Well, they don’t always work it out. Sometimes there are games missed and even whole seasons.

      TSR: When players and owners say how important the fan is, do you believe them? Why or why not?

      BF: I believe that they believe the fans are important in the sense that they are important to their bottom line. They are interested in treating fans as loyal consumers and they don’t want to jeopardize that relationship. They want the fans to have an enjoyable experience and to pay as much money as they are able to in order to have that experience. They don’t mind that they lose fans who can’t afford to follow anymore. That’s troubling. Sport doesn’t have to be that way. At SportsFans.org we’re trying to empower sports fans and fight for a different way of thinking about sports — one that places what’s great about sports (passion, camaraderie, fair competition, athleticism, etc.) ahead of huge profits.

      For more information about Sports Fan Coalition and SportsFans.org, please visit Sportsfans.org.

      External Sports, General Sports, Interviews, News, NFL

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