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Tandler: NFL labor agreement in two weeks?

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http://realredskins.com/2011/06/nfl-labor-agreement-in-two-weeks/

NFL labor agreement in two weeks?

Posted on June 11, 2011 by Rich Tandler

While there generally has been an air of optimism surrounding the talks between the NFL and the players, nobody has been so bold as to attach a timetable to them, with most close to the situation saying only that it should wrap up in sufficient time to allow for a full preseason and a regular season that would start on time.

Today, however, Daniel Kaplan of Sport Business Journal suggested things might happen much sooner. A short time ago, he tweeted the following:

http://twitter.com/#!/dkaplanSBJ
dkaplanSBJ daniel kaplan
Told optimism is so high in NFL, players talks over labor deal that expectation is for a framework agreement in about two weeks
 
http://eye-on-football.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/view/22475988

Friday night, NFL Network's Albert Breer reported that players and owners have made substantial progress in recent days towards a new collective bargaining agreement.

And Saturday morning, Sports Business Journal's Daniel Kaplan tweeted: "Told optimism is so high in NFL, players talks over labor deal that expectation is for a framework agreement in about two weeks."

But it gets better. The Houston Chronicle's Lance Zierlein recently blogged that "According to a couple of sources, NFL lockout could be over sooner than you think."

"After lengthy discussions with both sources, they both conveyed to me a great deal of hope that a deal would be done by July and possibly as early as late June," Zierlein wrote. "Why the sudden optimism? According to one of the sources, 'both sides are focusing on the percentage of total revenue coming in (would include the first $1 billion the owners are currently taking off the top) and if that deal gets done, the other issues will probably fall into place fairly quickly according to what I'm hearing.'"

Another source told Zierlein that "I am 100 times more hopeful than two weeks ago that a deal can get done relatively quickly."

Pro Football Weekly's Eric Edholm also hears things, all positive: "Sources have indicated to PFW that June 21, which is when the NFL owners are scheduled to meet in Chicago, might be a date to circle on the calendar. The reason for the escalated talks might indicate that the owners want to have a deal — or parameters of a deal — to vote on when they all assemble for the meeting."

That makes five different sources reporting a variation on the "things are looking really good" theme. Nothing's concrete but as we stated last night: it's a start, we'll take it.
 
Similar, with a bit more info ...

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/sh...ctual-documented-reasons-for-o?urn=nfl-wp2547

Lance Zierlein of the Houston Chronicle recently put up a blog post entitled "According to a couple of sources, NFL lockout could be over sooner than you think" in which he quotes two NFL people he knows. I've known Lance for while, and I know how dialed-in he is, so I'm of a mind to take this seriously. The post said, in part…

After lengthy discussions with both sources, they both conveyed to me a great deal of hope that a deal would be done by July and possibly as early as late June. Why the sudden optimism? According to one of the sources, "both sides are focusing on the percentage of total revenue coming in (would include the first $1 billion the owners are currently taking off the top) and if that deal gets done, the other issues will probably fall into place fairly quickly according to what I'm hearing."

The players currently make just over 59 percent of all revenue, but that does not include the $1 billion the owners take off the top. If that money is included in total revenue, the players get about 51 percent. While the owners are said to be low-balling the players on their revenue offer, both of my sources from the players' side said that the percentage appears to be negotiable and could easily come up to a number that both sides could agree upon.

"I am 100 times more hopeful than two weeks ago that a deal can get done relatively quickly" was the sentiment from one of my sources who also believes that issues like health care and the rookie salary are issues that could potentially "be done already".

Eric Edholm from Pro Football Weekly is another news source to be taken seriously; PFW isn't exactly in the habit of floating false rumors to get traction on the interwebs. Eric's recent piece was interesting in a different way, because he pointed to a specific date by which both sides might be encouraged to get a deal done:

Previous talk coming out of the owners' meetings at the end of May — namely from Colts owner Jim Irsay and NFL lead negotiator Jeff Pash — appeared to target July 4 as a key date in the labor impasse. Both suggested that getting something done by that time would be necessary to have an uninterrupted 2011 season.

But a new date might be emerging. Sources have indicated to PFW that June 21, which is when the NFL owners are scheduled to meet in Chicago, might be a date to circle on the calendar. The reason for the escalated talks might indicate that the owners want to have a deal — or parameters of a deal — to vote on when they all assemble for the meeting.

A final Collective Bargaining Agreement might not happen until or around that July 4 date, and if that happened free agency would begin soon after. During normal seasons training camps typically open the final week of July, so reaching a deal around that time would allow for a three- or four-week free-agency period where players finally could change teams.
 
I hope that's accurate, but I'll believe it when I see it. The media hasn't exactly had it's finger on the pulse throughout all this. Dead wrong as often as right.
 
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000...rom-latest-round-of-talks?module=HP_headlines

Optimism over new deal emerging from latest round of talks

By Albert Breer NFL Network
NFL Network Reporter
Published: June 14, 2011 at 09:01 a.m. Updated: June 14, 2011 at 04:52 p.m.

Promise has sprung from the latest round of talks between the NFL and players, who resumed clandestine face-to-face negotiations Tuesday on Maryland's eastern shore, the third such set of talks they've staged this month.

According to sources, both the NFL and NFL Players Association are evaluating and strongly considering concessions on all fronts, and that has led to a belief that a deal could be done in two to four weeks. In a sign of the progress made, the legal teams on both sides have returned to the meetings, after sitting out the sessions in suburban Chicago and Long Island. N.Y. the past two weeks.

The talks are expected to continue into Wednesday.


A person with knowledge of the talks told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the two sides are headed in the right direction. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the meeting are not being made public.

Two other people familiar with the talks told The AP a framework for a new collective bargaining agreement could be in place before the owners' meetings next Tuesday in suburban Chicago. A memo went out to owners asking that they keep their schedules for next week flexible, in case the June 21 meeting spills into Tuesday night or even Wednesday.

Both sides entered the negotiations seeing a “window of opportunity” of roughly 30 days to resolve the labor situation. The owners are planning to meet once a month until the situation is resolved.

People familiar with the talks told The AP it would be premature to predict an imminent end to the lockout, but the atmosphere of negotiations has been more positive than it was previously, creating "a sense of movement."

Washington Redskins player representative Vonnie Holliday, appearing on NFL.com's "Cover Two Podcast" Tuesday, told hosts Steve Wyche and Bucky Brooks that he foresees an agreement that would allow for football to continue on schedule.

...

The league estimates that the cancellation of the preseason could cost it as much as $1 billion. Whether that figure is accurate or not, both parties recognize that the major economic losses that would be incurred by this dispute dragging through the summer would make negotiations exponentially tougher.

Sources say internal deadlines to have some semblance of a "normal" preseason with the games preserved sit on or around July 15.
 
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it's time to get this over with so we can waste a few weeks debating who has the upper hand when it comes to the evil quotient!

then we can get back to football and observing our homegrown work in progress. keeping my fingers crossed that Beck is a gem...and relieves me of the strain of having to watch Rex.
 
For what it's worth, from NFL Network's Albert Breer on twitter in response to a "by Friday" message ...

dbv53 doug
@AlbertBreer check this out Source w knowledge of NFL negotiations: by Friday could be "substantial framework if not a complete plan"
1 hour ago

in reply to @dbv53 ↑
Albert Breer
@dbv53 Slow. Down. They're working. And moving in the right direction. But I've been told repeatedly too much is being read into things now.
1 hour ago via web
 
If ESPN is on the "no way its done in 2-weeks bandwagon," that leads me to believe there will be a solid framework done in....2-weeks. :)
 
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6663832

By Adam Schefter
ESPN

At a time when many are waiting for and anticipating a news deal between owners and the NFL Players Association, there was a time Tuesday when talks clearly regressed.

One person close to the talks even went so far as to say, "This almost blew up yesterday."

How close it did is a matter of opinion. Fact is, the moment came 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.

More at link above ...
 
I didn't try too hard, but if I could have found the location of the meeting site on MD's Eastern Shore, I would have gone down to shoot some images. Instead, after looking at the images of construction at FedEx Field, I think I am going to go take some shots of the stadium so you guys can see the latest.
 
This is an interesting development. Apparently, not all the teams are in complete agreement with the direction talks are taking now:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6671873

An internal battle is percolating at some of the highest NFL circles in which some owners are resisting the labor deal they've been trying to negotiate with the players, according to multiple sources.

A handful of NFL owners -- at least two of whom are from AFC teams -- believes the parameters of the deal being discussed don't adequately address the original issues the league wanted corrected from the 2006 collective bargaining agreement, according to sources.

It is one of the primary reasons team officials are being prepped to stay an extra night in Chicago at Tuesday's owners' meetings. It's not to potentially vote on a new collective bargaining agreement, as many suspected; it actually is to try to fend off some of the resistance that is mounting, according to sources.

More at Link


I wonder if this has to do with revenue sharing?
 
Better write up here from Yahoo Sports. Deals with the internal factions, and Goodell's weaknesses:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_y...g=jc-cole_pivotal_meetings_for_Goodell_061811

Will there be a Chicago 9 to emerge next Tuesday and Wednesday from among the NFL owners?

If there are nine – the total number of owners out of 32 needed to block the approval of a deal with the players and keep the lockout going – what will it mean to the short-term future of the 2011 NFL season? Just as important, what could such a snag mean to the long-term prospects of Roger Goodell as the league’s commissioner and several others in the league office?

“There’s a lot on the line [next] week,” one owner said Friday. “I don’t envy Roger’s position because he has to make a lot of people happy. I think there’s enough common sense out there that we’ll get something done, but there are also some [owners] who still want to fight.”
 
Ooooh, a silver lining from all this CBA mess - Roger Goodell might lose his job!
 
Yeah, it makes no kind of sense for the first overall pick to make more guaranteed money than established, superbowl winning veteran superstars.
 
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/...nt-demaurice-smith-agreement-not-close-062911

Secret phone call dampens CBA hopes

Jay Glazer
Updated Jun 30, 2011 4:16 AM ET

The night before delivering a joint message to NFL rookies with commissioner Roger Goodell, NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith held an under-the-radar conference call Tuesday to update many of the league’s most prolific stars on the status of labor negotiations, FOXSports.com has learned.

Perhaps the most important thing to emerge from the talks so far was this: While saying he was optimistic because the two sides were continuing to negotiate, Smith painted a different picture than that of a collective bargaining agreement being reached as soon as this weekend.

Smith began the call by informing players — 50 Pro Bowlers were given call-in information, but the number of participants is unknown — that recent reports by certain news outlets were way off. That is why Smith wanted to tell players they still haven’t gotten a good enough offer from the owners to bring to them just yet.

More at link above
 
Ooooh, a silver lining from all this CBA mess - Roger Goodell might lose his job!

I don't understand the hate for Goodell...what's he done that's been so awful for the NFL or the fans (leaving aside the present lock-out which I believe was inevitable)?
 

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