According to Michael Silver of Yahoo Sports, there’s a good chance there will be a deal worked out today between the owners and players which will extend the negotiations for NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement an extra week or two or possibly a month.
Silver reports that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith played vital roles in the negotiations yesterday by encouraging compromise. Goodell was able to cool the heads of some of the hardline owners, while Smith showed the owners that he indeed wants a deal because he offered concessions from the players side to get an extension of the negotiations.
It’s a tenuous situation because major disagreements are still in place regarding how the two parties will divide the more than $9 billion dollars of revenue the league brings in each year. There’s a difference of $25 million dollars per team per year.
Other issues exist concerning the players demand that better health care be provided for former players. The owners also want an 18-game season, but the players are fighting it.
One of Silver’s sources told him if the negotiations break down then the owner-player battle could blow up and threaten the future of the league. “It will be Armageddon” is the way the source termed it.
Smith and the NFL union are threatening to decertify and take Roger Goodell and the league to court in a anti-trust lawsuit which 
could severely jeopardize the league. The NFL would cease to exist as we know it, if they were to lose the case in court and the process would take years to be resolved. The draft and all the rules which govern the teams and its players would be in jeopardy. An anti-trust case hanging over the head of the NFL for years would be bad for business.
If the players decertify and take the league to court the owners will lockout the players and challenge the suit on the grounds that it wasn’t valid but merely a negotiating ploy.
NFL players have made most of their gains through court rulings, but nobody knows for sure what the courts would agree to, so going to court would be like the owners and the players playing high stakes poker with billions of dollars on the table.
It would be exciting but not good business.
Ray Didinger was on WIP this morning and I agree with his view that the owners are greedy billionaires who suddenly find themselves being recognized as such, in large part.
The fans have made it abundantly clear that they see the owners as hypocrites who want increased revenue derived from an 18-game schedule, all the while proclaiming that protection of the players is of great importance.
It’s pretty common knowledge, now, that the league only began to enforce the rules because of its fear of future lawsuits. They couldn’t care less about the players.
Also, wiser fans understand that the battle is not so much about the current $9 billion revenue, but the projected increased revenue of $20 billion per year. This projection is based on the use of new technology (in particular, cell phones) as well as international expansion of the league.
Didinger also pointed out that MOST NFL players are NOT millionaires. Many earn enough to have a good life now, but not nearly enough to retire from. Further, while an owner can remain an owner for his/her lifetime, players last only 3 or 4 years.
I’m glad I turned in this morning. I don’t know what made do it, because I generally can’t stomach much of the talk.
Negotiations have been extended a week. I seriously doubt that that was a part of the owners’ original plan. Undoubtedly, they had hoped to collect the guaranteed television money, allowing the the deadline to pass and the lockout to morph into a war of attrition.
Thank you, Judge Doty.
It’s nice to see the players exercise some bargaining power.
Don’t think for a second the extensions means the 2 sides are getting closer. It’s simply a public relations move by the owners to make it appear they are trying to work out a deal. The only way the owners can get close to what they want is to make the players fend for themselves for a few or many months. That means get insurance, train, trainers, and most importantly miss a few pay checks. They have to make the players suffer in order to get more leverage. They have been preparing for this lock-out for several years in all their business dealings. They are playing hard ball because they know billions are at stake and the players have such a small window of opportunity to make money. It’s going to be long and ugly, hell nothing will even get close to being done until the a third party auditor looks over the owners books that they have locked shut.
Plan on spending the summer without football. Don’t waste your time listening until a deal is done. Spend time with family or be productive. The draft will be fun. After that, see you in August. I feel for G because this has become the go-to site in the Delaware Valley. That’s why there are so many baseball, basketball and hockey posts in the last few months.
It’s possible that Judge Doty will force the owners to split the television contract money with the players. That’s why I think the talks are serious.
Lockout talk is a zzzzzzzz fest. Can’t wait to it’s settled