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Schefter Tweets : re CBA: Take a month off, you won't miss anything

I read that this morning. Nice assessment. I agree that the players will eventually cave, but how long will it take. The owners have not done a great job of PR thus far, especially when you add in Sally Jenkins piece last week about the excesses of the SB. This is fascinating to watch in some regards.
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Yeah, this part of the Denver Post article seems to sum it up well.
You don't have to be a mediator to know that threatening players with a lockout if they don't agree to play more games for a smaller slice of the revenue pie while your league is booming might look a little like extortion, especially when you're unwilling to open your books to show why it's necessary.

In the end, the owners have the money — and the continuing football income from TV contracts that pay even if there are no games — to outlast the players. History shows that eventually the players will come crawling back, accepting whatever terms are available, when they run out of money.

But that could take a while. New union chief DeMaurice Smith will strenuously resist beginning his tenure with an unnecessary capitulation, and the owners aren't yet offering even a face-saving tradeoff.
 
I can understand the owners not wanting to open their books. I'm in business and I wouldn't want to open my books to my employees or anyone else other than our CPA. I doubt the players would want to disclose how much they make off endorsement deals.

I can also understand the players wanting better and longer healthcare.

Neither side is playing nice.

Goodell seems to be on a power trip and he worries me. He is tinkering too much with the game. I understand wanting to protect the players, but if we start getting a watered down product from all the fines, I see people starting to get turned off. He is in charge of a good thing, just hope he doesn't screw it up.

I'm hoping cooler heads prevail and a deal is done. It will probably take some serious talks behind closed doors.
 
Alright, I think I'll definitely take a month off. Wake me when these fools make some concessions and decisions.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6119630

Sources: Sides could talk this week

By Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter
ESPN.com

When is a proposal not a proposal? When the NFL and the NFL Players Association are involved.

According to sources familiar with the talks, last week's negotiations between the NFLPA and the NFL broke off when the union characterized their documents as an "illustration" that the NFL believed represented a proposal for revenue sharing between owners and players.

When the NFLPA characterized documents labeled "NFLPA Proposal" as something other than a collective bargaining proposal, the NFL ended the session, a source familiar with the talks said. League representatives then met outside the room, and returned only to abort the negotiations -- without immediately rescheduling any talks, the source added.

"As often happens in collective bargaining, the parties reached a point where there was a fundamental difference on a critical issue that was not going to be reconciled that day," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "The discussions were adjourned to permit both parties to assess their positions and consider how to move the process forward. Far from abandoning the process, in the first four days after the Super Bowl, we have had two meetings of our labor executive committee and negotiating team, a conference call with all 32 clubs, and a meeting with the union."

The day after negotiations broke down, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell convened a conference call with the owners of the 32 NFL teams and reported the developments of the previous day. A person familiar with that call said there was complete unanimity among the owners.

Despite the aborted Wednesday session, dialogue has continued between the two sides through smaller working groups as well as communication between Goodell and NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith. One player source said it is expected both sides will meet this week, as previously scheduled, and a management source did not refute that suggestion.

But there is a growing discord and mistrust between the two sides. Management was irritated by Smith's decision to release the owners' counter-proposal on a rookie wage scale to players and player agents, as opposed to offering a response directly to management. Even the choice of descriptive words were a source of irritation.

Whereas Smith noted that renegotiations or extensions of rookie contracts were "banned" until after the third year, a management official said the proposal "allows" for those renegotiations or extensions after the third year. Regardless, the intent and meaning are the same.

One person connected to the NFLPA said NFL owners were continuing to be "unreasonable," which accounted for the disintegration of last week's meeting.

Now, there are knowledgeable sources that previously were optimistic that CBA negotiations would not result in any lost games next year that are growing increasingly pessimistic. One source said last week's flare up was symbolic and illuminated the schism between the two sides. Now, there is a general feeling that some or all of the 2011 season may be at risk, though there is plenty of time for the two sides to continue talking and trying to bridge their vast differences.
 
Man, too bad Tagliabue retired. We need a negotiator, not this assclown Goodell. This year of no football we're about to experience should be renamed "The Year of Goodell." The owners are greedy bastages, yes - but I bet Tags would have been able to get a deal done.
 
NFL, NFLPA agree to enter mediation

NEW YORK -- Two weeks from the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement, the NFL and its players' union agreed Thursday to mediation in their labor dispute.

The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, an independent U.S. government agency, will oversee negotiations in Washington beginning Friday.

"Any time that both sides of negotiations can get together, whether through conventional means of bargaining or mediation, to come to an agreement that can benefit all parties, it is a good thing," NFLPA president Kevin Mawae told The Associated Press in an e-mail.

Friday will be the first of seven straight scheduled days of negotiations between the league and the players' union.

Click on the link for the full article and video
 

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