CBA Progress (or Lack thereof)

[JoeRedskin]

Originally Posted by BigHairedAristocrat

but don't the owners have all the leverage here? if there's a lockout, the owners can still make money - the players dont.

I don't know about that. Overhead (even outside salaries) is pretty high. If they hire scabs, they gotta pay em. Then there's rents, debt servicing. No games = no revenue.

[CultBrennan59]

So why can't the owners and players get on the same page? Is it that the owners want to pay the players less and the players want more money?

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by CultBrennan59

So why can't the owners and players get on the same page? Is it that the owners want to pay the players less and the players want more money?

At this point, the owners are causing the problems. They, not the players, opted out of a deal which could have lasted 2 more years. Things are pretty hush hush, but it would seem that the owners have not put a substantial new concept on the table for the players to either approve or decline. It would seem that the owners are awaiting the resolution of the American Needle case before they proceed in any significant way.

[CRedskinsRule]

D Smith is on 106.7 now, and his arguments just ring hollow to me. He pointed to healthcare, saying that an NFL player only gets 5years of healthcare coverage after they leave the league. I wish I got 5 years after I leave my company...

Both sides need to just get over it and reach an agreement. (I imagine I will say that a lot over the next year)

Put a lockout chance at 95%

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by CRedskinsRule

D Smith is on 106.7 now, and his arguments just ring hollow to me. He pointed to healthcare, saying that an NFL player only gets 5years of healthcare coverage after they leave the league. I wish I got 5 years after I leave my company...

Both sides need to just get over it and reach an agreement. (I imagine I will say that a lot over the next year)

Put a lockout chance at 95%

I'd even say 99%. Only thing stopping me from saying 100% is the fact that you can never say never. But it comes down to this, the owners want the players accept less than their current deal gives them. People don't like taking pay cuts.

[Daseal]

Schneed, I agree. I do think the players will have a rude awakening when they get out of the NFL and see the type of salaries they're extended in the working world.

[jdc65]

Another big part of the problem is that league owners can't even agree amongst themselves on how to share revenue. They won't know how to deal with the players and a cap until they figure that out.

I doubt anything gets done at all this season, and next off-season they will start to get their numbers together and get approval for revenue sharing. Then, after a lockout and court proceedings, they can deal with the players. Expect next year's draft to move up to February to get all draft picks signed before a March 5 lockout.

Next spring and summer will probably be a long slog of bickering and public pandering, courts, Congressional and Presidential involvement, a real soap opera. I still expect football next Septemper. Money always finds a way to flow.

[Monkeydad]

Originally Posted by Mattyk

These things always come down to the last minute.

Exactly. There is nothing to worry about YET. Once they missed the last deadline and it rolled into another contract year with a deadline 12 months away, their negotiating intensity died down. They'll make a deal when time is nearly up, it's a tactic both sides use to put pressure on the other side.

There's no real benefit for them to make a deal now, other than simply to get it done. They want to use the time left to their advantage and that only comes into play near the deadline.