Able to hold team functions does not necessarily mean training camp. As soon as the lockout is lifted, teams will be free to contact their players, give playbooks, perhaps hold classroom sessions on the playbooks, hold weigh-ins, check in with the strength and conditioning program people, etc. The Transition Rules has a date at which training camp rosters must be set at 90 players. It's not until later. I doubt there are many (if any) teams with less than 53 men on roster right now. The Transition Rules have been set, look them up if you've got questions. It does no good arguing with me about the merits of what's already been set by the NFL owners and players as part of the CBA agreement.
Exactly, which is why Florio and Schefter, to me, earned their clown noses during all of this, do not care to hear or read what they have to say as clearly they both are half assed carnival barkers and hypetsers rather then good sources of information.
I'd disagree. Schefter reported what he heard. In a changing field like journalism, it's hard to pin down facts. But, Schefter might be the best news-breaker involved with the NFL right now.
Jay Glazer, by far, is the best at breaking news. Mainly because when he does, its accurate. He does very little speculation.
so on nfl network they say the owners cant or wont sign a cba before the players reform back to a union, so is the vote not basically an agreement, so that conference call at 8 pm by the players probably will be to recertify no ?
Florio bashes other sports as part of a running gag. He used to ***** about baseball left and right. The owners can agree amongst themselves that they like the CBA and will implement it, but they don't have to actually do anything until "all the Is are dotted and the Ts crossed" as the saying has gone. So again, we come back to Kessler.
As he should, when the NFL draft can draw higher ratings than a NBA Championship game, and a preseason game can out rate a game in the world series, he has a point. With his running gag.
did you just see smith on the camera moments ago ? he said going back to a union is a very serious issue, the way he talked it looked like it was march again, didnt sound like this thing is getting done anytime soon
no kidding? Not that I want it to happen guys, but again, if this doesn't get done this week. Say goodbye to September football (at best).
okeeeee... don't believe I'm arguing with you, just trying to get a sense of what life will hopefully be like once this thing gets done. I wouldn't be surprised if that transition rule timeline is amended.... i mean we don't have a CBA yet. For all we know, the transition rule timeline and when players should report is part of the red herring process going on right now.
De Smith going after NFLN is completely moronic... .shouldn't this guy be trying to get the deal done rather than watching NFLN and showing concern for what they say??????? Jesus F-ing Christ...
And so we come full circle. The irony here is that if the players keep this up, they lose out on the money generated by preseason football. They also lose regular season money, because advertisers aren't going to commit money if there is no televised football to show their ads.
I'm officially confused and will now take anything said by anyone in the media (or D Smith for that matter) with a grain of salt. Everywhere they have been saying that it's basically a lock that a CBA will get done. Did they all just forget that the Union has to re-certify again? Did they just assume that it would be an easy task to re-certify. I just don't seem to get why this is such a big deal all of a sudden and why D Smith didn't raise this as a red flag when all of these deadline dates (7/21) were being thrown around. The tipping point is approaching for me. I have to say that if the season is in the least bit cut (16 games to 12 or 8) I will have to boycott. I just can't support a sport that has this much greed and idiocy involved.
I seriously think the UFL has a tremendous opportunity here if this thing blows up this week. Too bad they are having some "minor" financial issues... nothing a little Donald Trump and Mark Cuban couldn't solve I trust.
Recertification has been an issue the entire time. The CBA has only advanced far enough that exactly how the players will ratify it and who will represent them has become an issue. The owners want the antitrust protection that a players' union provides, for reasons that Florio outlines. The players don't want to reform the union because they want to be able to sue the NFL again in the future.
Yeah, I get it. My point was simply that the date 7/21 was being tossed around like it was already a done deal (starting earlier this week). I recall hearing many reports that stated "unless something crazy happens, a deal will get done". Well the players questionning whether they want to re-certify is NOT crazy in my opinion. As you said, its always been an issue that apparently the media thought would magically be resolved. F'ing joke is what it is. The players and owners should expect to lose many teetering fans if this goes on for another week or so. I'm one that is definitely teetering.
The process of recertification is not the issue, it's whether or not the players WANT to recertify. The process being difficult is just a smokescreen... yeah that's right, I'm using draftspeak here...
Yes, but the vote isn't binding. And there are still things that will need to be agreed upon only once they re-certify. Also, I'm not sure how Smith can really get much blame for whats happening now. Its up to the players themselves whether they want to re-certify.
This whole thing is ridiculous. It took several years for the Union to recertify following the Reggie White case and yet the games were played and there were not hundreds of lawsuits filed against the league. Simply, it makes no difference how long it takes to formally recertify the union. As long as recertification of the union is a term of the settlement agreement, then the league is covered. They can lift the lockout whenever they want. And if the players breach, and we don't get a recertification in a reasonable time frame, then lock them out again and sue them for breach of the settlement agreement. This is a case of things being overthough and this is where lawyers can muck up the process, and that includes both Kessler and Batterman
hah, this is an interesting idea, from Peter King's twitter (retweet). The Free Agents should go to Indy for a "combine" to work out for teams / GM's and the bidding process. Since time is short... why the hell not?
There's two sides to every story, and of course it's centering (again) on the lawyer battle. It's important to note that the players don't HAVE to re-certify for the new CBA to be valid. The consequence of not re-certifying would be that someone like Andrew Luck could come in a future Draft and toss up an anti-trust lawsuit against the NFL demanding that he not be subject to the Draft (and wage scale) but rather teams be free to bid on his services. Without a Union, the current CBA doesn't apply to non-contracted employees like future draft picks. But if you think about that logically, that just means the players have to make sure they re-certify before the next Draft. Evidently Bob Batterman, the NFL's counsel, is behind the demand for the Union to re-certify immediately otherwise the owners won't sign the CBA. Jeff Kessler, Florio's new whipping boy, is insisting that players must physically fill out certification cards and would prefer that they be able to drop those cards off with teams when they report to training camp. Overall, Batterman's position seems more reaosnable to me. He doesn't want the NFL owners to ratify and sign a CBA and then have the players turn around and not re-certify. But at the same time, what reason does Batterman have to fear that the players will suddenly refuse to re-certify? Blowing up the Draft doesn't do anyone any good. That'll open up a bidding process for draft picks and they'll get tons of money while the veterans will get less. It's become a game of egos again between the NFL's lawyer and the NFLPA's lawyer. Batterman knows damn well that the NFL could sign the CBA and the Union's re-certification would come forthwith. Kessler knows damn well he could speed up re-certification. Neither wants to cave, and both have their respective clients not wanting to cave. Again.
please... Smith should be telling them to recertify ASAP, it's his deal that he and Goodell have put together. The more time goes by, the more likely games start to be cancelled and each side loses money. It's financial stupidity.
oh I have sigs, avatars and pics now turned off... page loads a lot faster on my downgraded connectoin.
I am now. I do recall the play where AJ stole the game from us. It was right before the 30 yard Kevin Walter catch, correct? Seeing as how set up Bell was in the picture, I couldn't imagine AJ caught that ball. The picture is coming down.