Labor Negotiations

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If you're tired of hearing about NFL labor, if you're weary of billionaires vs. millionaires, well, get used to it. For the next six months that's all you'll be discussing when it comes to football. Know why? This is why.

"If there's no agreement by the end of March," said one NFL player with intimate knowledge of the negotiations, "then there won't be until September or October. And I don't think there will be an agreement by March."


Drew Brees might have a lot more time to hit the golf course this offseason. (AP)
"I think this is going to be bloody," he added.

Oh, crap. Here we go. Crap.

I don't believe you, I told him. No way the golden goose gets cooked. The goose is laying too many fabulously juicy eggs.

"If you heard the language emerging from that meeting ... it's far worse than people generally know," he said.

Here we go. Crap.

What are these negotiations like, he was asked?

"The movie Braveheart," he said.

(Why does everyone compare everything to Braveheart?)

The player's explanation made total sense. In one scene, the protagonist, William Wallace, moments before a battle, goes to the middle of the battlefield to negotiate with a representative of King Edward Longshanks. Wallace knows he's going to fight the army so the negotiation is pointless but he does it anyway, and in the end antagonizes Longshanks' representative. Negotiations end and the battle proceeds.

The player said both the owners and players are William Wallace (not a sentence you'll read every day). They are negotiating knowing nothing will come of those discussions in the short term and that eventually a battle will ensue.

"Neither side is giving an inch," the player said. "Half an inch."

That explains why future negotiating sessions were called off.

The true outcome of the meetings, it seems, is a sense of how entrenched both sides have become. Some in the union are starting to genuinely fear not only will there be a lockout but there will be a protracted one that could last into the season.

My guess: The league, not the players, wants the current agreement to end. Owners, to some degree, desire the players brought to their knees and are willing to endure the bad publicity -- and potential loss of customer loyalty -- in order to get a better long-term deal.

Related links
Blog
Pete Prisco
It's ugly. And expect it to get worse. But don't get worked into a tizzy over it. It's called negotiating. Read More >>
Related links
Scheduled labor negotiating session cancelled
Ownership meeting on labor updates called off

Video
Inside the NFL: Discussing collective bargaining

There is also this piece of truth: The NFL has become our crack. Its popularity, for the foreseeable future, is unshakeable. If games are missed and you become angry, it won't matter, because you'll be back. We'll all be back.

This isn't baseball. This isn't the 1950s. Before its labor issues and steroid scandals baseball was on its way to semi-fossil-dom. Football is just hitting its stride. It's the sport of the future and will be that way for the next 20 years. Nothing can stop it, not even the impending lockout foolishness.

Football to fans: I may be away for awhile because of a lockout.

Fans to football: Do that and we're no longer BFFs. I'll never watch you again.

Football: Yes you will.

Fan: No I won't.

Football: You will. I'm crack. Here's a taste. Take a hit. You know you wanna'.

Fan: OK.

Football: Remember that feeling?

Fan: Yeeesssssss! Give me more!

Did you notice how many people watched the Pro Bowl? A putrid 55-41 game drew the highest ratings in over a decade. When people are so desperate for football that they watch the Pro Bowl in massive numbers, it says a great deal.

The player was asked the odds of a lockout being avoided.

"The same as me becoming president of Egypt," he said.

Well, there might be an opening soon.

Here we go.

Crap.

For more from Mike Freeman, check him out on Twitter: @realfreemancbs

Comments
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Obviously those wont get to be nearly what the NFL is, but people wont quit watching football because of it.

FatThucker wrote:

No shit? You're saying they can't just bring in 3rd rate players and make billions of dollars? Do you have data to back this up?

other than the fact that other leagues have tried and failed....no

Sarcasm doesn't translate well in print does it? I overestimated your intelligence.

So I guess you didnt get the sarcastic response dumbass

Guess I'll give you the smiley face next time so it wont ruffle your feathers.., Idiot

The fact that you gave a real answer to rhetorical questions implies it wasn't sarcastic, you moron (I can use 4th grade hate words too). And save your queerish emoticons for your boyfriend when you're telling him how big he his.

that was your mom I was telling how big she was. I figured the failed USFL, Arena league, and Europe was common sense. So do you understand now?

A 'Your Mom' joke! Those always feel like a knife in my back (sarcasm). Again I overestimated your intelligence. I thought it was fairly obvious that replacement players aren't the NFL's solution. I think it's hilarious that you make statements that would make Captain Obvious shake his head in wonder and then defend them by calling them common sense. Your shear stupidity is redundant!

It was in response to your dumbass statement prior to it. but your obviously still not smart enough to get it.

Settle down children.

Have you been able to find anything that explains why owners arent at mediation Rust?

The NFL is trying to get some issues worked out first before pulling the owners and more issues into it.

Chiefs09 wrote:

It was in response to your dumbass statement prior to it. but your obviously still not smart enough to get it.

You truly are a dipshit. I've been saying it was common sense this whole time. I wiped more intelligence in the form of diarrhea off my 7 month old's ass this morning than you've ever displayed (not sarcasm).

LOL I can see I've gotten to you. So I'm now happy. Poor guy your too easy. But now that I have you thinking about me 24/7 I'll leave you alone. Better go play with your homies and relax.

I'm the one thinking about you 24/7, yet you're the one who wakes up and immediately gets online to declare victory? Whatever helps you masturbate at night I guess.

No I jack off in the morning due to victory. Let it go. take some sleeping pills if it helps. Or jack off it is a great relaxer too. It works mad or happy. I had to do it twice after Cassel lost our last 2 games for us.

OK fatthucker... I'll throw in the towel. I's stupid to bash one another on one thread and talk like humans on another. So without any smartass comment whatsoever I throw in the towel.

INDIANAPOLIS -- We knew the chances of a new agreement being reached prior to the March deadline were almost zero. Well, that's turning out to be true.

Despite heavy negotiations with a mediator, two sources with knowledge of the negotiations told CBSSports.com that while the talks were helpful in toning down the ugly rhetoric, it's all but official: the discussions won't produce an agreement.

When asked the chances of the talks helping to generate a new deal, one source said: "We're in the negatives now."

They're not officially dead. Miracles do happen. Some sort of bizarre thing could salvage the talks. There could also be peace in the Middle East tomorrow.

No, not officially dead. But basically, both sides have reached the conclusion that nothing will come of them, so they're preparing for the next fronts in the battle.

Again, the progress made is more about tone. The hate has been reduced from volcanic to blistering. That's progress.

But barring a last minute miracle the two sides will end the meeting without a deal. Or even close to one.

And the countdown to a lockout will continue.


Might as well forget about free agency before the draft.

The very last sentence was my words

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6161468

Absent a last-minute agreement that no one around football expects, the NFL Players Association plans to decertify by Thursday in an effort to pre-empt an owners-generated lockout, according to multiple league and union sources.

The collective bargaining agreement says the NFLPA in effect must wait six months to decertify if it does it after the collective bargaining agreement expires. It expires at 11:59 p.m. Thursday night.

If the union decertifies, it is no longer a union, and the National Labor Relations Board loses its hold over the NFLPA. The owners are expected to claim the decertification is a sham and challenge it in the NLRB.

But the NFLPA is poised to act this week before it is locked out. It already has obtained unanimous approval from players across the league to decertify, a process it undertook throughout last season and the union's executive committee reaffirmed that vote this past Tuesday to empower NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith to take this action.

The primary reason for decertification would be to file for an injunction that, if granted, would prevent the owners from locking out the players. NFLPA officials and players believe that this could be the only hope to have a full NFL season next year. Furthermore, decertifying as a union prior to the expiration of the CBA would allow NFL players to seek injunctive relief and commence anti-trust action against owners in front of U.S. District Court Judge David Doty, who has had jurisdiction over the current labor agreement since 1993. Owners have attempted unsuccessfully to have Doty removed from jurisdiction and strategically want the CBA to expire to effectively eliminate his authority, a source said.

The NFL and NFLPA are scheduled to meet with federal mediator George Cohen one more time on Tuesday, yet after seven days of meetings last week, Cohen said significant differences still remain.

Commissioner Roger Goodell met Friday morning with the majority of the league's ownership labor committee at the offices of the Indianapolis Colts, a league official has confirmed, briefing the 10-man group on labor negotiations.

Nine of the 10 members of the owners' labor committee were in attendance on Friday: co-chairman Jerry Richardson of the Carolina Panthers; Mike Brown of the Cincinnati Bengals; Clark Hunt of the Kansas City Chiefs; Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys; Robert Kraft of the New England Patriots; Mark Murphy of the Green Bay Packers; John Mara of the New York Giants; Art Rooney II of the Pittsburgh Steelers; and Dean Spanos of the San Diego Chargers.

Co-chairman Pat Bowlen of the Denver Broncos was absent but an official believed he participated via phone conference.

In addition to being updated by Goodell and his negotiating team, the committee was expected to honor Cohen's request to assess their positions on the "important core issues" following the past week of mediated negotiations.

I hope they do decertify since the owners dont want to negotiate in good faith.

when the players do decertify I assume teams can sign FA after Thursday.

No. There's gonna be a bunch of legal mumbo-jumbo bullshit that drags on for a long time. Even if they can sign, all GMs will be under strict orders to sign nobody, except maybe for the Raiders.

The owners dont want to open themselves up to a collusion lawsuit.