NFL Lockout News: Trying To Avoid The Charlie Brown Treatment

by David Fucillo on Jul 24, 2011 6:00 AM PDT in NFL Labor Issues

Yesterday afternoon media reports (ESPN - NFL) indicated an uptick in optimism as the owners and players apparently made significant progress in the issues surrounding reformation of the union, the opportunity to opt out of the deal, and several other issues. It's also worth noting that Vincent Jackson (or his handlers or whatever) has dropped the demand for some kind of compensation.

Albert Breer tweeted last night that the NFLPA made arrangements for members of the Executive Committee to come to Washington, DC on Monday. This would seem to signify a vote could come early in the week as many of them had left town after the breakdown at the end of this week. Both sides had been working on the issues via phone and email, which would seem to indicate bringing the players back to town is a big step. Reports are going so far as to say Roger Goodell might head to DC on Monday to join in any press conference if a vote goes down.

I was a bit skeptical when Adam Schefter tweeted "Welcome back, football" and Chris Mortensen tweeted "I'm talking football!!!!" Until the vote happens and this lockout is ended, it struck me as a bit over the top to tweet that out. On the other hand, one could view that as an even more optimistic sign things are close to finished. At this point I'd personally prefer to stick somewhere in the middle and avoid another instance of both sides pulling the football out of the way just as we're about to kick it.

It's worth noting that Roger Goodell and DeMaurice Smith have apparently remained in contact this weekend in spite of the issues that went down with the non-vote by the players. Both men have taken a lot of crap over the last few months, but if they're able to get a deal hammered out without missing much more than just the Hall of Fame Game, they deserve some credit. It would have been nice if they had gotten their collective acts together back in March or April, but that's often the way these sort of things happen. A deal in the next few days would go a long way towards getting them some forgiveness.

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Comments

This whole ending has made the players

look like a bunch of idiots.

We are so upset about the language of the deal…. oh wait we need our lawyers for that

Harbaugh will find a QB and he will succeed.

by goatfather on Jul 24, 2011 8:12 AM PDT reply actions

The players would be idiots if they DIDN’T have their lawyers look over the language of the deal before signing it. That’s what the lawyers are for, to catch anything the owners may have tried to slip in.

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

by skyywise on Jul 24, 2011 8:21 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

that's exactly what the owners want you to think.

they approved the deal before the players had a chance to go through the deal and analyze it, making it seem like the players are the ones holding it up.

in reality, the players would be beyond foolish to approve the deal without going over every single word of it. this deal will be in place for a long time, they owe it to themselves and the future nfl players to make sure it’s exactly what they want. agreeing to it just because they want football to start right away would be the worst thing they could do.

don’t buy into the owners pr moves, goatfather.

"I think people fail to remember that he was the second of their first draft choices. So it’s not taking as big of a risk if people think it’s a risk as people, uh… think."
John Lynch on The Teeblerator

by punty mcbunty on Jul 24, 2011 9:34 AM PDT up reply actions

Agree. That was an underhanded move by the owners

but brilliant from a PR perspective for people who aren’t paying close attention, which is the vast majority of us. The owners gave a counter proposal. They can’t ratify their own offer. In reality, they probably said it was their final final final offer, or something like that. Only the NFLPA can ratify it, and they’d be fools not to go over it with a fine tooth comb.

by McTee on Jul 24, 2011 10:23 AM PDT up reply actions

No, it wasn't a counter proposal

it was the same proposal that the players have. What upset the players was the press release stating that a deal was done and the tentative schedule put forth by the owners that included language about the NFLPA reforming.

It wasn’t the actual vote itself, since the vote itself had been scheduled by the owners for over a week. If that had been a problem to the players they should’ve said something long before Thursday.

by smileyman on Jul 24, 2011 12:58 PM PDT up reply actions

I misunderstood then

I thought the owners had modified the final proposal adding language about the NFLPA reforming (Plus I thought there were a couple other issues about lawsuits still pending from players, but whatever). Figured if they modified anything in the contract at all, then it has to go back to the players for approval and ratification. You’re saying that the NFLPA language and those few other issues were not put in the contract. Okay.

But even if it was not in the contract, still sounds like a bit of underhanded bargaining to declare an agreement that the players had not yet agreed to.

by McTee on Jul 24, 2011 6:28 PM PDT up reply actions

Wait what?

The owners meeting had been scheduled for over a week. The players knew exactly when the owners would be voting on this, so how was it an underhanded move on the owner’s part? It’s not like the owners convened a secret meeting to vote on the issue.

by smileyman on Jul 24, 2011 12:57 PM PDT up reply actions

They have no need for forgiveness.

It’s a business, they worked it out with very minimal loss by doing it in the off-season.

Really the fans and media should apologize to the players and owners for being completely insane for 4 months while they were missing absolutely nothing.

by whistlingmountain on Jul 24, 2011 8:56 AM PDT reply actions