NFL owners and players finally get it — the only way out of this lockout mess is not through the courts. Friday’s ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals essentially gave both sides some leverage. Owners keep the lockout for now, but players still have the antitrust case next year that could financially break owners.
It’s a legal stalemate once again, which is why owner and player leaders spent the last week in heavy discussions. They now know neither will gain a decided edge from a judge.
“While we respect the court’s decision, today’s ruling does not change our mutual recognition that this matter must be resolved through negotiation,” said the NFL and NFLPA in a joint release.
Funny, that’s exactly what NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in March. Negotiation is the only resolution. Too bad both sides wasted four months to threaten the preseason.
It was interesting seeing the court fulfilled its earlier promise to make both sides unhappy if not settling before the ruling. Players gained nothing in the short term, but the Brady vs. NFL antitrust case still gives immediate leverage. That suit, which would bring triple damages into billions of dollars if players win, is enough to scare owners into not missing a season to starve players into submission. Instead, a deal now will likely include withdrawal of the Brady suit.
This week is the 11th hour of talks. Either the two sides agree to a deal or the preseason is affected. And it won’t take much for one week of games to suddenly become a lost preseason. And then the regular season gets threatened.
The deal seems nearly done. Stop playing ego games and finish. Concede a little on both ends and be glad everyone’s still walking away with life-changing money.
Attendees of recent meetings included retired players, which indicates the heavy issues are done and now shifting to taking care of secondary deals. That’s a positive sign.
A labor deal needs to finish this week. It will take a few more days to finish the paperwork and several more for both sides to ratify. That means free agency might not start until July 20, days before camps begin.
Can a deal go another week and camps still start? Sure, the delay just squeezes the five-month offseason until five days or so, but anything is possible. So what if the Hall of Fame game is simply a rookie scrimmage? It’s not like veterans play more than a quarter in that game anyway. However, the one upside of the lost offseason is starters will play much more in preseason games than the usual few snaps.
At least talk is now of when, not if, preseason begins. All it took was both sides to realize judges needn’t be the final arbiter.
Examiner columnist Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more on Twitter @Snide_Remarks or email [email protected].
