NFL Lockout Thread

mattjb · Post by **mattjb** » Wed Jun 22, 2011 3:49 am

funny how the fear of there not being a season is making me more excited than ever for a new season.

Diesel · Post by **Diesel** » Wed Jun 22, 2011 4:06 am

This season's free agent process is going to be like putting Madden on "fantasy mode" on playstation.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed Jun 22, 2011 4:34 am

Originally posted by Tom Kessenich:
It appears the current belief is the new season will begin around July 15. That seems to be the target date right now. John Clayton agrees in his blog update here:

http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/ ... we-learned

Wow, can you imagine the excitement of this three-week free agency window followed immediately by pre-season games, drafts and the regular season? This could be WILD. Let's get it done.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed Jun 22, 2011 4:35 am

Originally posted by Diesel:
This season's free agent process is going to be like putting Madden on "fantasy mode" on playstation. AGREED!!! Nice comparison Marc!!

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed Jun 22, 2011 4:56 am

Mike Florio looks at the news surrounding the Thursday Night Games and whether those could start before 2014:

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... t-package/

Good read.

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Thu Jun 23, 2011 9:02 am

The latest from Pro Football Talk:

And just as all signs and momentum were pointing toward the looming resolution of the lockout via a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, the weekly blast of ice water has arrived.

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, NFLPA* executive director DeMaurice Smith told the players, “Don’t believe the hype.” Smith also said that a deal isn’t close.

Now, it’s possible that this is part of an effort to reduce the perception that an agreement soon will be reached. If enough players come to that conclusion, the NFL could choose to take a hard line on one or more of the remaining issues, forcing the NFLPA* to choose between conceding the point or killing a deal that the players think is done.

The fact that the news cuts against everything that has been reported, and everything that we’ve been hearing, makes us think/hope that Smith is simply trying to get the players not to believe that a deal is coming soon, even if it possibly is.

Either way, they need to keep working, every day and around the clock, if they plan to get a deal done in time to salvage all or part of the preseason. And if it’s true that a deal isn’t close, then the it’s even more important for the parties to continue meeting on a daily basis until the deal is done.

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Fri Jun 24, 2011 5:44 am

Negotiations will resume early next week:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/f ... itter_feed

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Tue Jun 28, 2011 4:15 am

Chris Mortensen just Tweeted that the NFL and players will meet for the next four days in Minnesota. That's very good news. It shows both sides are committed to aggressively trying to get a deal in place. Let's hope that occurs.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Jun 28, 2011 4:50 am

This is from Mortenson. Pretty wild that only Goodell and Smith are meeting:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6711660

This week's "secret" negotiations between the NFL and its locked-out players will take place in Minnesota, according to published reports.

The reports from NFL.com and The Associated Press did not specify on what days this week's negotiations would take place. After last week's labor talks outside Boston, though, players were told the next set of negotiations would involve commissioner Roger Goodell, NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith, several owners and players.

The talks this week will be the fifth round of confidential talks between the parties. Representatives from the NFL and the NFLPA have previously met outside Chicago, in Long Island, N.Y., in Maryland and last week in Hull, Mass.

The Associated Press reported Monday that a small group of players met with NFLPA attorneys in Minneapolis without the owners present. It is unknown what they discussed.

The players have an antitrust suit against the league that was filed in Minneapolis, and the city also is where the sides met for court-ordered mediation in May.

The lockout began on March 12, and players -- except for when the work stoppage was briefly lifted in April - have not been allowed to train at team facilities or be in contact with any of their coaches. Players on several teams have gathered on their own, trying to keep in football shape so they'll be prepared to get back to business on the field whenever the labor impasse is over.

"It's not about getting a deal done as quickly as possible, it's about getting a fair deal done," said Houston linebacker DeMeco Ryans, one of the team's representatives who worked out Monday with other Texans players. "Whenever that time comes, when a fair deal is on the table, that's when it will get done. We're not in a big panic to get something done, just for the sake of getting it done."

The key issue in the dispute centers on how to divide revenues after the league took in about $9.3 billion last year. Sources familiar with the owners' proposal told ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen last week that the players' share would approach the 50 percent mark the NFLPA has said it has received throughout the last decade. But the expense credits -- about $1 billion last year -- that the league takes off the top would disappear.

Also, there would no longer be "designated revenues" from which the players would share. Instead, the players would share from the entire pool of income, which both sides project will grow significantly over the course of a new collective bargaining agreement.

A salary floor requiring teams to spend close to 100 percent of the cap in cash also would be included, sources told ESPN.com's John Clayton.

Training camps are scheduled to open in about a month, and the first preseason game -- Chicago vs. St. Louis -- is scheduled for Aug. 7 at the Pro Football Hall of Fame inductions in Canton, Ohio.

"Hopefully, everything gets worked out quickly so we can get to training camp on time and get guys back to work and have a full season," Giants quarterback Eli Manning said in a telephone interview with the AP. "That's what the fans want. Obviously, they are the ones that make this possible, so hopefully we can get it done for them."

Information from ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen, ESPN.com senior NFL writer John Clayton and The Associated Press was used in this report.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Jun 28, 2011 5:15 am

ESPN.com's Chris Mortenson updated his story with this lead:

Representatives of the negotiating teams of the NFL and the NFL Players Association have agreed to four consecutive days of talks in the Minneapolis area starting Tuesday through Friday, sources told ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen.

This is the fifth consecutive week of talks between the sides, but this is the longest commitment to talks (four days) in those five weeks.

The talks will continue under the supervision of U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan, who has been assigned to run court-ordered mediation. Boylan lives in the Minneapolis area.