both sides are leaking shit now. they are trying to get any last leverage they can before july 10th-15th.
I'm trying to keep hope alive! http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/07/01/major-strides-made-on-revenue-split/ “Major strides” made on revenue split Posted by Mike Florio on July 1, 2011, 1:09 PM EDT Getty ImagesWith the players believing that the owners had reneged on a “verbal handshake” deal regarding the revenue split and with the owners insisting that everything remains negotiable until a deal is done (that’s fancy talk for “bait-and-switch”), the mood of the labor talks had turned gloomy on Thursday. Enter Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan, who by all accounts become much more than a fly on the wall and stepped up to prevent the talks from collapsing, as explained by Mike Freeman of CBSSports.com. Per Albert Breer of NFL Network, it was Boylan who pushed for the talks to continue late into the night. Boylan even wanted to continue past 1:00 a.m., but the principles were out of steam. (Free advice: Less Rob Roys, more push-ups.) The result? Breer reports that “major strides” were made regarding the revenue split, both last night and this morning. Given the players’ perception that the owners changed the terms as to the most important term between the two sides, we think the immediate goal should be to strike a firm agreement on that issue, write it up, put it to bed, and move on to other issues, which will prevent the league from trying to later adjust the terms or alter the key definitions or otherwise take advantage of the perception that the players ultimately will agree to whatever the owners’ last, best offer may be. It all starts up again Tuesday. Which means that every player, coach, assistant coach, scout, personnel director, G.M., other team employee, agent, and media member can look forward to a three-day weekend of answering this question from family, friends, neighbors, and complete strangers: “So, are we gonna have football this year?”
It amazes me how they can say how urgent these negotiations are and then decide to take a break for the weekend.
It's in the NFL and NFLPA's best interests to keep fans and sponsors on the hook until the last possible minute, regardless of progress they are making. This likely means leaking conflicting info every 8 hours to keep the NFL lockout as a primary story in the US sports landscape. They're banking that once the announcement is made that a CBA is agreed upon in principle, that it'll be like one giant orgasmic pimple bursting and the fans and sponsors will go on spending sprees in the afterglow. Goodell and Smith wouldn't be spooning at the rookie symposium and doing glamour shots at dinner if they were still locked in a stalemate.
I think this whole thing was about focusing on NFLN's Top 100 Players of 2011. They knew no one would care about it if the off season went on as planned. But with no Free Agency or OTAs, fans have only one thing to keep them satisfied every sunday - the weekly countdown. The last episode is this sunday, and once the countdown is over they'll lift the lockout. It makes perfect sense.
Right, $10,000,000,000 on the line and they're holding it up for a top 100 list. Makes perfect sense.
This situation is such a scourge on the psychological state of the NFL fan, doubly so on the minds of fans of teams such as the Jets, who came so close to the ultimate goal, only to have that feeling of success snatched from our grasp in the final moments of a conference championship. We can only hope to comfort ourselves with visions of Mark Sanchez and Nick Mangold performing the "finger cuffs" routine on lovely young Kate Upton if we truly want to maintain some simulacrum of sanity. Mmmmmmmmm. Sanity.
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000...-them-more-in-labor-talks?module=HP_headlines Sounds like it could derail all the optimism weve seen lately
I don't think that's going to derail all of this progress. It could extend the talks an extra week before the deal is done. We don't know the whole story. The only thing I know is that every reporter has said his 'insider' is targeting the 11th-17th as the week this is all getting done and over with so I can have some fucking football again.
It's not a conspiracy. It's smart business. And even if it could be termed a conspiracy, it's really not quite on the same level as thinking that the President of the United States organized 4000 Americans to be murdered in the WTC, either. :wink:
With the labor negotiations 'at the 5-yard line,' can NFL punch it in? Don't screw up. Don't screw up. Don't screw it up!
Get it done, fellas. The Dodgers are in last place, Knicks locked out, Devils months away and I'm tiring of soccer. Get. It. Done.
