The call came from an NFL player Monday morning. The message: Don't believe the hype. He was talking about reports of a labor deal between the NFL owners and the league's players getting close to being done. "That's not true," the player said. "All that is hype coming from the owners side to try and put pressure on us to do a deal. They want to make us look bad. It's simply not true. There is a lot of work to be done. They are not close." Amid reports that a deal could be done by July 21, the player said that is far from the information he is getting from his representatives. "Consider where that information is coming from, it's the owners," the player said. "Their reason is to try and create all this false hope to put more pressure on us." The player said there are still a lot of hurdles to overcome to get a deal done. He has one wish to help make it come true: Get everybody out of the room, except for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and DeMaurice Smith, the head of the players association. "Do it one-on-one like their predecessors used to do," the player said. "When Gene Upshaw and Paul Tagliabue went into a room, they got it done. That's what needs to happen now. The players in there are smart, but they don't know how to close a deal. As for Goodell, he needs to drop his nuts. He needs to have the power to do a deal. It needs to be two guys in a room." http://www.cbssports.com/#!/mcc/blogs/entry/6315047/30586692 It seems that both parties are still posturing so this may last a little longer than anticipated.
That's not good news but exactly what I expect the season is going to be so bunched up on the time frame its going to be ugly.
I don't know CT. I have a problem in believing one lonely player over a lot of people supposedly in the know. I'm not buying it.
Seeing as though Goodell doesn't have the power to "make a deal" on behalf of all of the owners without conscent, how closely can this player be related to the actual negotiations going on in the room?
What he's failing to account for is the fact that his own representatives, at the behest of De Smith, are probably hyping HIM the same way the owners are hyping the media. The owners want to convince the media a deal is close, De Smith has continually sent messages to the players insisting a deal is not close, so that the players don't start putting pressure on him to cave. He's also been sending messages to the media. But I fully believe there are defectors amongst the players that are telling it like it is. You notice reports like these neither confirm nor deny specifics. They're all very general. "We're not close" is all they say. For instance, if this report came down the pipe saying: "The owners would have you believe that we've agreed on the revenue split and that we're only disagreeing on the rookie wage scale, but that's not true. We still disagree on the revenue split and have only moved to the rookie wage scale issue because we don't want to keep arguing about the same thing." Then, suddenly, I'm a lot more scared about this July 21st ratification that ESPN says is in the offing. But it didn't. It's just some guy spouting over-general rhetoric, with no room for analysis or verification. Grain of salt.
Agree CK, and I've heard rumors that this player protected his being anonymous by using the name Pac Man.
Unsurprisingly, once again Mike Florio has confirmed in his own way what I'd been thinking. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/category/rumor-mill/ Says that in the wake of this report and other chirps about "not close" versus "close", his own checks have confirmed that the rookie wage scale issue is the very last issue and once they agree on that, the deal will go through. I trust that kind of specific report all day before I trust the generalized rhetoric of guys being jived by De Smith.
i still believe, when it gets really close that they start to lose money because of this bull$, they will get a deal done
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/07/12/the-first-and-last-rookie-wage-scale-poll/ This is what they're fighting about? UNBELIEVABLE. The deal should be done. Something else is going on here.
The one thing that is missing is who this player is. One sticking point is that players should be able to participate in games thru work release from the individual states! Signed: PacMan Jones
If Mike Florio and all the rest are correct that the 5th year issue as it pertains to the rookie wage scale is really the very last remaining key point to come to agreement on, and further if the details that have leaked about the two sides' proposals is also correct...I have a tough time understanding why an agreement is not ALREADY reached...and an even tougher time understanding why they don't reach an agreement in principle today which should be voted on by the owners ASAP (prior to July 21st).
Maybe the players are balking on some stuff? I dunno, but if it's something as ridiculous as that, I am confused as well as to why they don't just sign and deliver this **** ? Unless they need the judge to sign off on it, and isnt he on vacation?
They don't need the mediator in order to come to an agreement. I think it really is just ego. The players are of the mind (and they're probably right) that they're the only ones doing the compromising and the owners aren't compromising at all. Just look at this issue. The players wanted 4 year contracts for 1st rounders. The owners wanted 5 year contracts. Maybe it's just me, but a 4 year contract with an option year at the end of it IS a 5 year contract. No contracts are guaranteed so it's basically a non-issue. How many contracts nowadays are signed where you know the player won't see the final year of the deal? So the players have compromised on this issue. They're affording the owners the ability not to waste their franchise tag in these situations, and even better if you look at the economics of the players' offer they're offering much less than franchise tag value for these 5th years. So there's some compromising going on with the players. On the other hand, if you were to look at the economics of the offer the owners have made on the 5th year option, I'd be willing to bet they haven't even compromised a red cent on if they just agreed to straight up 5 year contracts. And yet, justified you may be in being tired of being the only side compromising, the fact of the matter is you remain in a position where everyone loses because you're not willing to cross a ravine so small it could only be called a ditch.
well I wished the nfl would have hired Trace Armstrong to the union guy because i am not too fired up with De Smith as the Union head. and Goodell is nowhere near the commissoner that i thought he was going to be.
I do think this is all about ego, but the ego of Prisco. Now it is hard for me to be fair to the guy, I will admit that, but I see this as Prisco not being in the middle of all this labor stuff, his coworker Freeman getting all the buzz, and grasping at something that ONE source told him. I'm sorry, but if this is the ONE issue that is remaining, and I've read and heard nothing different, then I don't see why we don't have a deal by at least Thursday, if not by the end of the first day of face to face meetings tomorrow. Prisco will have to eat this story later this week, and it will be amazing.
Probably just making sure everyone is on the same page about the settlement of the Brady case once the CBA is agreed on.
All of the court battles have to be dismissed and signed off on as part of the new CBA deal. This is a good thing.
That one is gonna be tuff unless the deal comes together by Fri. I believe that they will somehow pull it off. It's a Sunday night game which can bring fans back to a degree of normalcy. I cannot see that opportunity going to waste.
This **** is just getting really ridiculous. I can't wait for free agency to start. Usually this part of the year, we are reading tweets, posts, and newspaper articles about OTA's, rookie MC's, position battles, who looks good and who doesnt. It's becoming very difficult, to give a **** about anything, unless the news is "lock out over" Too much "he said she said" "it is over, its not over".......to believe anything until it is D.O.N.E
Normally people are complaining about Omar Kelly's football knowledge during training camp right about now... The good ole' days.
I hold out hope that a deal is agreed to today. Florio has exhausted every one of his resources trying to see what the holdup is and he's continued to get feedback that it's just the rookie wage scale. Considering how close the respective proposals are on that 5th year issue...like I said, that's a ravine that can only be described as a ditch. I think the reality is the owners and players grew frustrated with each other and wary about making any deals before they could fully digest the court ruling, and just packed their bags on Friday before they could agree on everything. The heavy hitters weren't set to negotiate over the weekend or over Monday/Tuesday, so an agreement on the wage scale couldn't have even happened until today. They just wasted 5 more days for no reason other than poor, self-important work ethic in the face of the sudden court ruling. Although let's be honest. Who here believes that Judge Boylan, who was appointed by and works for the 8th Circuit, had scheduled his vacation the day immediately after the 8th Circuit was going to issue their ruling, by complete coincidence? By all appearances it was a vacation that had been planned for a long time and I'm sure the owners/players either could have, or SHOULD have seen that ruling coming on Friday the 8th for a long time. That may have been part of everyone's thinking for a week or more...that they were getting so close to D-Day on the 8th Circuit's ruling that they actually wanted to see what they rule and figure out if it changes anything for either side.