NFL lockout

[Lason]

If Jerry Jones is preparing for a lockout, there will be a lockout. Every other owner in the NFL falls in line with Jones when it comes to things like this. His flat out refusal over profit sharing is a major part of why they are where they are now. And I have to say, I don't blame him. Why should he have to support all the shit markets that can't support a professional team? Move the teams to a market that can, and will support a pro team. Failure is failure, and it's time for teams like the Jags to admit defeat.


Fun fact of the day. Dallas Cowboys apparel accounts for TWENTY FIVE percent of all NFL apparel sales.

There is no way Jones can be prepared to go a whole season (worse case) with no games. He is sitting on quite a debt with the stadium. I could be very wrong but I doubt it.

[Steve]

If Jerry Jones is preparing for a lockout, there will be a lockout. Every other owner in the NFL falls in line with Jones when it comes to things like this. His flat out refusal over profit sharing is a major part of why they are where they are now. And I have to say, I don't blame him. Why should he have to support all the shit markets that can't support a professional team? Move the teams to a market that can, and will support a pro team. Failure is failure, and it's time for teams like the Jags to admit defeat.


Fun fact of the day. Dallas Cowboys apparel accounts for TWENTY FIVE percent of all NFL apparel sales.

Agreed 100%


Jones sets the tone for all the other owners when it comes to the business side of the NFL. When Jones didn't hire a new coach to a new multi year deal, that was a sign he wasn't too confident about a season next year.

[jw33]

no lockout.

[bcoop]

There is no way Jones can be prepared to go a whole season (worse case) with no games. He is sitting on quite a debt with the stadium. I could be very wrong but I doubt it.

We all know it's going to hurt him financially, with the new stadium. But if he couldn't afford to go a full season without, the deal would have already been done and we wouldn't be discussing it. Just my opinion, of course.

[mstng86]

We all know it's going to hurt him financially, with the new stadium. But if he couldn't afford to go a full season without, the deal would have already been done and we wouldn't be discussing it. Just my opinion, of course.

If you watch the 60 minutes interview with him from a couple of weeks ago, I think you can come away feeling like he is closed to having his ass in the wind, so to speak.

He is pretty much tapped out on cash. He didn't flat out say it in the interview, but the way he carried himself and responded to some of the questions makes you feel like he could be low on funds.

[bcoop]

If you watch the 60 minutes interview with him from a couple of weeks ago, I think you can come away feeling like he is closed to having his ass in the wind, so to speak.

He is pretty much tapped out on cash. He didn't flat out say it in the interview, but the way he carried himself and responded to some of the questions makes you feel like he could be low on funds.

A fried of mine's step father is his partner in an oil company. I assure you, he will be just fine.

That said, he doesn't want a lockout more than anyone else does. That means more interest for him to pay, with no fan support. It's not like he is really in danger of losing the stadium or anything. Again, just my opinion, of course.

[BERT]

thats because your a Cowboys fan

True, but i enjoy my Sunday afternoon naps

[Sean88gt]

Doubtful.

[papapepper]

NOTE: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell sent the following letter to NFL fans Monday morning:

With one of the most exciting regular seasons now completed and the playoffs about to begin, let me first thank you and all NFL fans for your incredible support. Many fans have been asking me where we stand on signing a new collective bargaining agreement with the player’s union. Let me update you and be clear at the outset:

I know we can and will reach an agreement.

My goal as Commissioner now is to help our teams and players find a solution that is fair to everyone and ensures that football becomes more popular, accessible, and fun. We want the next decade to be the best yet for our fans, and I’m ready to work day and night to make that happen.

We've come a long way. Compare where we are today with 10 years ago. From player accountability to player safety, more and better television coverage, upgrading the in-stadium experience, innovations like the RedZone channel, the Draft in prime time and playing the Pro Bowl before the Super Bowl, we are focused on doing what’s best for the players, teams, and fans. My priority is and always will be the game and the fans who love our game.

The NFL is great because fans care deeply about it. Economic conditions, however, have changed dramatically inside and outside the NFL since 2006 when we negotiated the last CBA. A 10 percent unemployment rate hurts us all. Fans have limited budgets and rightly want the most for their money. I get it.

Yes, NFL players deserve to be paid well. Unfortunately, economic realities are forcing everyone to make tough choices and the NFL is no different.

These are not easy negotiations, but the outcome can be positive. If both sides give a little, everyone, including fans, will get a lot and the game will improve through innovation.

Even in difficult economic times, a new CBA presents us with the opportunity to secure the future of our game. You may ask how will the NFL look under this vision?

A significant change would be to resolve fan complaints about preseason by modifying our 20-game format. Fans tell us they don’t like the quality of the preseason games, and we’re listening. An enhanced season of 18 regular season and two preseason games would not add a single game for the players collectively, but would give fans more meaningful, high-quality football.

Our emphasis on player health and safety is absolutely essential to the future of our game. We are strictly enforcing rules that protect players from unnecessarily dangerous play, especially involving hits to the head. We are changing the “play through it” culture to a “player-first” culture to ensure that if a player has a head injury, he doesn’t play again until his health is certain. We are also addressing the potential wear-and-tear on players in the way they train in-season and off-season.

It’s not just the health of players that concerns us. We must ensure the health of the league. That includes a new system that properly compensates proven veterans and retired players by shifting some of the outrageous sums paid to many unproven rookies. Earlier this year, Sports Illustrated published a list of the 50 highest-paid American athletes that included five 2009 NFL rookies. Every other athlete on the list was a proven veteran. In 2009, NFL clubs contracted $1.2 billion to 256 drafted rookies with $585 million guaranteed before they had stepped on an NFL field.

Don’t get me wrong: top draft choices will continue to be highly paid. All we’re asking for is a return to common sense in paying our rookies. Other leagues have done this and we can too.

These improvements and more will lead to better football, plain and simple. A forward looking CBA that is fair to players and clubs will lead to a great future for the NFL and our fans.

My job is to represent the game — the fans, teams, players, coaches and business partners. Protecting the integrity of the game and ensuring it thrives is a responsibility I take very seriously.

This is about more than a labor agreement. It’s about the future of the NFL. We have to improve and will be relentless in our quest. The commitment to our fans is to make the NFL experience even better in the years ahead. With a responsible CBA, we will fulfill that vision.

Happy New Year and enjoy the playoffs.

[Slowhand]

Well, hockey is pretty much irrelevant afterthe lockout. Just look at ticket sales. They may never fully recover, to the point they were at pre-lockout. I used to watch and attend a ton of Stars games before the lockout. I haven't watched 5 minutes of hockey since.

The baseball lockout fucked MLB as well, and I don't know if they have recovered fully yet either.

That's too bad. The game of hockey is absolutely better in every way in the post-lockout NHL, economics aside.

[pHILSANITY07]

isn't the NHL in better shape after the lockout? not that I watch it, or am a fan, just recall hearing on the radio one day that they did the lockout and actually got everything right for the players and owners

well yes and no, from the players and owners yes but as for tv right they have a horrible deal. they are on nbc/versus which versus was on a lockout from direct tv for like 9 months. nbc only has their games on the weekends.

[papapepper]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d81f1d6c1/article/judge-says-her-ruling-on-locko

T. PAUL, Minn. -- U.S. District Court Judge Susan Nelson said Wednesday that she will take the NFL and NFL Players Association's arguments "under advisement" but that she'll need "a couple of weeks" before she issues a ruling on the players' request for an injunction to lift the league-imposed lockout.

Nelson also advised the sides after the five-hour hearing that they should resume negotiations in the setting of federal court, where she said the risks presented because of the pending National Labor Relations Board case would be eliminated.

"It seems to me both sides are at risk, and now is a good time to come back to the table," Nelson said.

Nelson said she'd be "glad to facilitate" further negotiations to settle the matter out of court and create a setting that would "protect both sides from the consequences" of what could be ahead.

"Litigation settlement discussions have been something that the Brady plaintiffs, the class counsel, have said they'd be willing to do from the beginning," NFLPA outside counsel Jeffrey Kessler said. "That's 'litigation settlement discussions,' that's what the judge is talking about, not collective bargaining, not collective bargaining mediation in Washington -- entirely different animal. That's up to the NFL. That's what she told them they should do.

"We're settling antitrust claims in a lawsuit, which could (lead) to a new system, like the Reggie White settlement did (in creating unrestricted free agency in 1993). But it's not collective bargaining."

The NFL said it prefers to return to the Federal Conciliation and Mediation Service office in Washington, D.C., where the sides went through 16 days of mediated talks before they broke down, leading to the March 11 union decertification and March 12 lockout.

"(A resolution) can happen, if we just get back to bargaining," said NFL outside counsel David Boies, who spoke before the judge for more than three hours in Wednesday's hearing. "The Federal Mediation Service, as I said before, these are the people who do it for a living, they do it in industry after industry. We ought to be taking advantage of that."

Nelson heard the cases of Brady et al v. the National Football League et al and Eller et al v. the National Football League et al, and she approved a motion to consolidate both. Hall of Famer Carl Eller, the lead plaintiff in the second case filed by retirees, former players and rookies, was present, and his group's attorney, Michael Hausfeld, took turns with NFLPA outside counsel James Quinn arguing against and rebutting Boies.

Many of the biggest names in the dispute didn't make the trip to Minnesota, with Commissioner Roger Goodell and general counsel Jeff Pash absent on the league side and named plaintiffs Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Peyton Manning not in attendance for the players.

Five of the 10 named plaintiffs in the Brady case did appear: Mike Vrabel of the Kansas City Chiefs, Ben Leber and Brian Robison of the Minnesota Vikings, Vincent Jackson of the San Diego Chargers, and Texas A&M linebacker Von Miller were joined in court by veterans Tony Richardson of the New York Jets and Charlie Batch of the Pittsburgh Steelers, members of the union's executive committee before dissolution.

NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith also attended the hearing, and the players, lawyers and officials arrived and departed together in a bus.

Nelson listened to arguments from lawyers for the players and the league, asking questions often and speaking politely but directly while acknowledging her difficulty discerning which components of the laws apply to this complicated case.

Nelson expressed some frustration trying to understand some of the arguments, mostly those made by Boies, but she oversaw a cordial process, telling the sides they did an "outstanding job." Both sides praised Nelson afterward for her thorough approach and intelligent questions.

As she began the hearing, Nelson urged both sides to stick to the issue of the injunction and not delve into the evidence previously presented in their briefs since all parties are up to speed on the information.

"You can assure that the court has done nothing else in the last few weeks," Nelson said.


Although the players' claim of suffering "irreparable harm" in a lockout is central to consideration in the injunction ruling, two other subjects -- the role of the NLRB and the interpretation of the Depression-era Norris-LaGuardia Act -- were predominant in Wednesday's hearing.

The league argued that the NLRB's ruling on whether union decertification was a sham should come before Nelson decides on the injunction and that the Norris-LaGuardia Act prevents a federal court from granting an injunction in a case "growing from a labor problem."

"They're financing this lawsuit," Boies said of the NFLPA. "They're saying, 'We're no longer a collective bargaining agent, but we're going to continue to do all these things.'"

The players tried to refute that by, first, defending the validity of the decertification and, second, arguing the Norris-LaGuardia Act was meant to protect employees, not employers.

"It's not some kind of tactic. It's the law," Quinn said of decertification, pointing to the players' unanimous participation in voting to approve the move. "It's what we're allowed to do."

Quinn pointed to the irony of owners using the Norris-LaGuardia Act to defend a lockout, and Nelson agreed. She sounded firm in her belief that the decertification is legal, pointing to court precedent in the last antitrust suit filed by players in the early 1990s.

"It's a big risk on their part, and they lose a lot by doing it," Nelson said.

But Boies cautioned afterward against reading too far into the scrutiny.

"I've been doing this for 45 years, and I've never been able to figure out from a judge's questions exactly where they're coming from," he said.

So now the sides wait, with the injunction ruling likely the next domino to fall. A ruling in favor of the players would force the NFL to open for business, but the league's argument is that it would be anything but business as usual in that scenario.

"One of the problems, as the court indicated, even if there was an injunction relating to the lockout, that wouldn't solve the problem of how you operate the league," Boies said. "So that really just delays the process. The underlying issues have to be resolved by collective bargaining.


"The fastest way for this to get resolved is for the parties to get back to good-faith negotiating."

Either side could appeal whatever Nelson decides.

Much of Nelson's ruling will come down to subjects covered in briefs filed by the league and players. Primary among those is the claim that the lockout is causing irreparable harm to the players.

Quinn, in closing, asked Nelson for a "quick ruling" to prevent more of that.

"We laid it out in our papers," Quinn said after court. "The fact is we have almost 900 players who are without contracts. They need to find jobs, they need to get on rosters, and every day they can't do that, they're suffering irreparable harm."

Nelson also could defer a decision until after the NLRB rules, which could take months, or declare the need to schedule another hearing to consider the evidence in the case before she rules.

That would be a loss for the players.

"All of this is delay, so they want to put pressure on us," Quinn said.

Boies said factual disagreements -- regarding the existence of the union, for one -- prove the necessity of another hearing. Boies took roughly double the amount of time to talk than the lawyers for the players did, partly because he was pressed so much by Nelson as she tried to grasp the argument that she has no jurisdiction in the case.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.


Can someone tell me why the judge is a female? Wtf their isn't one single female football player yet she gets to make the decision...