By: Breanna Jacobs
“Hopefully, we can all work quickly, expeditiously, to get this agreement done,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said this afternoon. “It is time to get back to football. That’s what everybody here wants to do.”
NFL owners proved today that they are ready to get back to football; the owners voted 31 of 0 (the Oakland Raiders abstained) vto approve the proposed Collective Bargaining Agreement.
The proposed CBA would be a ten year labor agreement, with no opt-out clauses, meaning that there would be ten years of peaceful labor, as long as the NFL Player’s Association also agrees upon the proposed CBA. But after 128 days of being locked out, it seems that the NFLPA is not ready to concede quite yet.
In an e-mail to the 32 player representatives, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith wrote, “Issues that need to be collectively bargained remain open; other issues, such as workers’ compensation, economic issues and end of deal terms, remain unresolved. There is no agreement between the NFL and the players at this time.”
However, in order for the agreement to go into effect, per the NFL, the player’s union needs to reestablish itself as quickly as possible, another sticking point with the NFLPA. An executive committee member for the player’s association, in a conversation with ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, said that, “the idea of reconstituting as a union has never been a slam dunk as the owners have already assumed.”
The players will vote on the deal within the next few days. If they do decide to approve the proposed agreement, training camps would be scheduled to start on August 1, making it impossible for players to be ready for the first pre-season game, the Hall of Fame Game. In fact, commissioner Goodell announced that because of the time constraint, this season’s game between the Chicago Bears and the St. Lous Rams will be canceled, to the dismay of many owners, players, and football fans.
As a football fan, I can only hope that the players and owners can reach a compromise as soon as possible. The owners have taken a large step in the right direction, and hopefully the players can follow it up with their own positive progress.
Great summary, Breanna.
Nice negotiating tactics by the Owners … they put the pressure squarely on the players. I suspect this might not be over as quickly as the Owners and the rest of us might hope. Now that they’ve cancelled the Hall of Fame game, the players have more time to fuss.
How much of the players talk that “we don’t have a deadline, we just want to get a good deal done, regardless of how much time it takes” is for show? Im not buying it and im thinkin they get a deal done my early next week at the latest. Losing the HOF game is losing football, which isn’t good, but we can live without it. As long as training camps start in early August, the quality of football shouldn’t suffer much. However, the free agency thing will be insane, with many teams making rash moves. May not be good for teams, but i think once FA starts, interest will be sparked, and we will once again be ready for a 16 game season …. and hopefully another ring for ARodgers and the Pack 🙂
I think this whole lock-out situation is really tough. I admire the owners for the strides they’ve made to get football back.
The players, however, are a different story. At first, I could see where they were coming from, but as the dispute goes on, it’s gotten more and more out of hand. I understand that they want what they want, but when they’re already earning 60 percent of the NFL’s revenue, what do they possibly need more for? And DeMaurice Smith has clearly taken the role as dictator in this situation.
I’d love to see another breakthrough soon, and I think that could happen if everyone lets go of their personal agendas and focuses on the compromises that need to be made in order to keep the NFL successful.
What about the report that the owners added wording to the CBA they approved that hadn’t been agreed to in their negotiations with the players?
That’s exactly what the owners did, Chas. It’s a good, but somewhat underhanded negotiating tactic. They have very successfully put the ball squarely into the players court … actually, they put multiple serves into the players’ court. GREAT PR move by the Owners, but again a bit of dirty pool. (But fans don’t care about negotiating tactics, they simply want football). Now, most people will fault the players if there’s not a quick settlement and everyone doesn’t go back to work next week.
I’m sure DeMaurice Smith of the NFLPA will try to save his own face by encouraging the players to hold out for better this or better that … just to prove he isn’t caving to the public pressure.
The problem here is that both groups want more for themselves, and obviously the opposing side will disagree.
Like I said, it’s great that the owners made a move. Should they have added in extra wording? Probably not, but at least it’s somewhat of a step in the right direction.
In this whole dispute, I think the players and owners have lost the meaning of sport.
Of course there’s nothing wrong with wanting better, but there is also no need to be greedy, especially when most are already making a lot of money. Even the league minimum salary isn’t really slumming it.
If they can refocus themselves on why they play the game and what it means to not only themselves, but to the fans, I think they can get a good deal in place.
Nice job Breanna!
I don’t begrudge the players for taking their time in voting to recertify the union and ultimately pass the current proposal. It is 600+ document with some many parties that are effected (past, present and future players).
I think they were looking for a 7 year opt out and I don’t think they are going to get it. If so, this is going to last 10 years. I can understand why they want to make sure this is exactly where they want it.
Either way, looks like football will be back in gear later this week.