Category Archives: Rodger Goodell

All off-season, the fans played the waiting game as the lockout stretched over 100 days.

Now, its the owners turn to sweat it out.

“Our pens are down” said Green Bay Packers President Mark Murphy to the Green Bay Press-Gazette. “They know what we ratified and they’re voting to ratify the same thing.”

It's now up to DeMaurice Smith to group his players together and end lockout

When the players will vote, however, is very much up in the air.

The NFL owners gave the players until Tuesday to re-ceritfy as a union, and approve the proposed CBA. That gives the players 4 days to mull over the reportedly 400 page document. Perhaps fueled by the euphoria of the NFL owners announcing their vote, many fans were discouraged by the players not voting last night.

However, many players reported that they did not get to see the document before the conference call with NFLPA President DeMaurice Smith. Some players said they still had not received the document as of 11:30 last night.

With Smith attending the funeral today for Myra Kraft in Massachusetts, he announced that no statements would be released today in honor of Kraft. While he did not say it, no announcements likely means no vote today. However, anything is possible in what has been a roller coaster the past 24 hours.

Would Smith put the proposal up for a vote despite not all players being happy? Remember, he only needs 51% of the players to vote in favor to have it pass. Given the majority of the players in the NFL do not make big money (by NFL standards), its hard to imagine their are enough players out their unhappy with this proposal that it would be shot down in a vote.

The feeling among NFL experts is that the deal passed by the owners is a “fair” deal, with the players getting a good deal in terms of revenue sharing. Many expect the CBA to be voted through, but believe the players are waiting to vote to show they will not be pushed around by the owners. NFL players did not take kindly to the owners passing a CBA that they believe was not agreed upon, and putting the players in a position where they would get immense public scrutiny if they do not sign.

Are things getting rocky between the two? Peter King of Sports Illustrated last night said he believes this deal is in major trouble. If a deal is not signed by Tuesday, the owners will start to take money away from the revenue pot, and things will get ugly.

Meaning that for the first time in this whole process, the most important days are now.

The lockout has been on for over 100 days in the NFL, but as the two sides reconvened from the holiday weekend, the clock is officially ticking to get a deal done. The first NFL training camp is set for July 23rd, meaning that a deal needs to written and signed by July 15th in order for everything to remain semi-on schedule. That would leave a little over a week for free-agents to find a new home.

NFLPA Lawyers enter negotiations back in April

It will be a busy week of negotiations between the two sides, and they kicked off this morning as the lawyers for both sides are currently meeting, working out what some describe as “nuts and bolts.” While many see that as them working out the final details on a deal, it more likely means just working out how a potential deal would look, or working out the details on smaller aspects that were already agreed on. No one in the circle of reporters who have covered this from day one sees this as a deal being finished.

The NFLPA lawyers have a stigma around them by many that they are trying to pro-long getting a deal done so that the lockout can go to court. During negotiations two weeks ago, DeMaurice Smith had to yell at them to “stand down’ in front of both sides, as the lawyers almost blew up the talks.

Rodger Goodell, DeMaurice Smith and the respective representatives from each side are not believed to enter the negotiation room until Thursday. This does not meet they will not be talking, as it is reported that the two sides talked over the holiday weekend. Ideally, the two sides would come together on Thursday with the intention of locking the door, and not coming out until a deal is done.

Going on a schedule where July 15th is a deadline to get a deal done, that means the two sides now have 10 days to work out a way to spilt over 9 billion dollars.

Tick. Tock.

If there are three things that have defined this lockout, they are:

1. More ups and downs then a rollercoaster

2. NFL beat writers trying to break down a case like a legal expert

3. Albert Breer of NFL Network and Mike Silver of Yahoo Sports  somehow doing just that at a high level

NFL fans have been forced to deal with the ups and downs of negotiations all off season

Mike Silver, who has been doing an outstanding job during this whole ordeal, posted an excellent article this morning breaking down what the current status of the NFL talks are.

Albert Breer is reporting that the 15 hour marathon style negotiation process that the NFL & NFLPA embarked on last night had its fair share of tense moments. But ultimately,  when the two sides left the table at 1am, the overall feeling was a sense of optimism.

What does all of it mean? Here is a some what simplistic break down of what you need to know regarding the labor situation going into the weekend.

The fact that the two sides left the talks last night with a feeling of optimism was a major change from earlier in the evening, when Silver  reported that talks nearly broke down. Silver  reports that at the heart of the dispute was a feeling that each side was trying to “bait and switch” the other into taking a deal. That sentiment is a far cry from where the sides were last week, when the feeling of genuine trust between the two was starting to build. Silver  says that while no deal was struck, a “verbal handshake” of some sort was felt to have been made.

The reported “verbal handshake” revolved around a proposal from the players that focused on a near 50-50 split, without the owners taking a one billion dollar “expense credit” off of the top of the revenue, before the spilt. That is compared to the last model used, where the owners took 1 billion off the top for “expense credits”, with the players then receiving 58 percent of the remaining revenue.

The players then offered, according to Silver, to take only 48 percent of the revenue (without the 1 billion dollar expense credit going to the owners). In exchange, the players asked for certain rules to be placed around the salary cap- such as each team committing to spend more on players. The players even offered to have that share drop to 46.5 if the total revenue continued to grow and exceeded expectations. Silver reports this was a proposal the owners were in favor of, and optimism was running high.

If the Hall of Fame Game is missed, watch out.

But as talks continued, the “bait and switch” happened. The owners wanted to include an “expense credit”, that amounted to several hundred million dollars. The owners felt this was understood- the players did not.

Where do the talks stand now?

The two sides met this morning, but talks are reportedly already over for the day. The sides will take the three day weekend off, and resume talks on Tuesday. Breer reports that breakthroughs were made last night, and that optimism is once again high.  Silver points out that if the two sides want the Hall of Fame preseason game to be played on August 7th, a deal would need to be struck very soon- like within the next two weeks.

Once preseason games are missed, the revenue pool with go down an estimated 700 million dollars. This will make each percentage point more valuable, and make the need to fight for that final point more critical.

A few weeks ago, their were hops of making an announcement on July 4th. But it now appears that will not happen. Many NFL experts see July 15th as a possible date where a deal will be done by.

Until then, we are all left to wait and dissect the case like a pre-law student, hoping to soon be breaking down game film instead.

One effect of the lockout this off season has been the NFL not being involved in the annual rookie symposium, leaving the NFLPA to organize it by themselves.

Goodell and Smith address the media side by side.

Despite not being involved, NFL commissioner Rodger Goodell accepted NFLPA President DeMaurice Smith’s invitation to speak to the rookies. After speaking to the incoming rookies, both Goodell and Smith talked to reporters.

““We obviously spoke to the rookie class here at the Business of Football Symposium.  We are not going to take questions but both of us wanted to come out and tell you that.   We’re continuing to work hard,” said Smith, according to NFLLabor.com. “Both of us felt that it was important to come down for this event.  Obviously, what we are doing on the business of football on a macro scale is about getting a fair deal done and trying to get back to the game and business of football as quickly as possible.  This event was important to ensure that our young men appreciated how important we think these few days are.  I’m thrilled that Roger could come down with us and talk to the rookies in a very good, direct way.”

Standing next to Smith, Goodell echoed that statement.

“It was a great opportunity for us to be able to sit with the rookies. They obviously have lots of questions,” said Goodell, once again courtesy of NFLLabor.com. “We answered the questions as best we could. But you all know that we’re under certain restrictions. We’re taking a break because we felt it was important to be down here with the players. We both have great respect, obviously, for the players. This is an important few days. We’re going to get back to work.”

With both sides honoring the agreement to not talk about the status of negotiations, it is up to the media to interpret each action. Goodell accepting Smith’s invitation, as well as them stepping out together to talk to the media, cannot be viewed as anything other then a very positive sign.

When Goodell and Smith first stepped out of a hotel in Washington over 100 days ago when the lockout began, they did not speak together- and spent the duration of there talk blasting each other. The fact the two men are now standing side by side talking about the importance of getting a deal done is a very important, visual statement that can be seen by everyone involved. Goodell doing Smith a “favor” by talking to the rookies is also a good sign.

With the Fourth of July weekend coming up, and the two sides engaged in the most intense talks yet, most NFL experts now feel a deal will get done without the pre-season being missed.

If it is not done, and the pre-season is missed, things will really start to get ugly. The owners will loose what is estimated by many to be close to 700 million dollars if the full preseason is missed. The owners are not going to loose that money without seeing the players suffer as well. They will sit and wait for the players union to collapse as game checks are missed. A stale mate like that will more then likely cause half the season to be missed, if not more.

The NFL and NFLPA still have a few weeks to negotiate before a scenario like that becomes reality.

But make no mistake about it- the two sides are entering a very important phase of negotiations, and the clock is ticking.