SOURCE: NFL lockout almost over

[hawaiiansteel]

Jeff Pash said owners have offered 90-percent cash guarantee

Chief negotiator details offer

by Aaron Wilson
JUNE 15, 2011


NFL chief negotiator Jeff Pash revealed that the owners have offered cash guarantees, what amounts to a true salary cap floor during ongoing labor negotiations toward a potential new collective bargaining agreement.

Pash told Sirius NFL Radio that one aspect of the offer included paying players an average of 90 percent of the salary cap spent in cash over a three-year span.

“For the first time, we were going to have a cash minimum as opposed to just a cap minimum,” Pash said. “You understand what the difference means and of course so did the union, which is why they pushed for that. The 90 percent was an agreed upon figure and because of the way teams change over time, we all thought that you couldn’t do it year-by-year so we were doing it at on a three-year basis to allow for the fact that teams go through cycles. Everyone on both sides thought that was a sensible compromise. It would have done a lot.”

In the past, teams weren't mandated to spend a minimum amount of cash, just using a specific amount of the salary cap that also included dead money from old deals still on the books.

Now, dead money wouldn't be counted toward the minimum cash guarantee.

That sounds like a tangible improvement over previous collective bargaining agreement deals.

Although talks are continuing and there's encouraging signs and optimism, there's still no deal yet as the lockout remains in place.

[url="http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Jeff-Pash-Owners-have-offered-90percent-cash-guarantee.html"]http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Jef ... antee.html[/url]

[RuthlessBurgher]

I guess this means that the salary floor will be closer to the ceiling (perhaps the NFL is cutting corners by moving the league offices to floor seven-and-a-half in the Merton-Flemmer building).

[youtube:ym8ifmot]009tNfQRd4o[/youtube:ym8ifmot]

[hawaiiansteel]

What can go wrong in CBA talks? Plenty

By Associated Press
Thursday, June 16, 2011


NEW YORK — Dark clouds no longer dominate the NFL horizon. Rays of sunshine have broken through as owners and players make progress in labor talks.

So what could cause rain to fall, washing away the chance of a deal?

Plenty.

"Much can still go wrong — every negotiating session is unique to itself," says Don Yee, who represents Tom Brady and is an adjunct law professor at Southern California. "Just because one day was good doesn't mean the next day will be, too."

How good those days have been also is relative. Although meetings in Chicago, New York and, most recently in Maryland have been productive, they have not created enough common ground for either side to declare a breakthrough is imminent. The owners have their own meetings in Chicago on Tuesday, with a possibility they will stick around through Wednesday to discuss the many topics being negotiated, from the percentage of total revenues offered the players to a rookie wage scale to parameters for free agency.

There's even a chance a framework for a new collective bargaining agreement could be presented to them.

Yet it all could come crashing down in this fourth month of the lockout.

"More than the business points, two things will impact the final outcome: the ability of the participants to moderate their egos, and the actual drafting of specific language to fit the concepts being discussed," Yee said. "The language of the last CBA gave rise to many grievances, which was fairly predictable as every lawyer tries to inject an edge for their client in the language. This will be a significant area of contention."

Also potentially contentious is the ownership dynamic currently in place. The league wisely has included such hard-liners as Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Panthers owner Jerry Richardson in all significant negotiations, along with moderates — and dealmakers — John Mara of the Giants and Robert Kraft of the Patriots. But there's a wide split in team values and opportunities for outside income. Small-market owners such as Buffalo's Ralph Wilson, Jacksonville's Wayne Weaver and Cincinnati's Mike Brown won't approve any deal that doesn't protect their interests.

A new CBA will require 24 of the 32 owners voting yes, and while Mara, Kraft, Art Rooney and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell can be very persuasive, there surely are more than eight owners who feel burned by the 2006 agreement. The owners opted out of that CBA in 2008.

There's also the potential for a power play by one side or the other.

"A deal is far from over and until there is agreement on everything there is agreement on nothing," says Marc Ganis, president of Chicago-based sports business consulting firm Sportscorp Ltd., and a keen observer of the league's business side, "the greatest risk to a deal getting done and playing the entire 2011 season is if one party or the other grossly overplays their hand. It's possible, more from the players' side because there has been more emotion, pride and hyperbole during this process from their side. But the owners could also overplay their hand."

Also worth considering: How can each side come out a winner? That was one of the beauties of the relationship between the late Gene Upshaw when he ran the NFLPA and then-Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. Initially, at least, both the owners and the players had elements they could brag about in the latest CBA.

But what if one side gets greedy?

"Nibbling," Pittsburgh-based attorney and player agent Ralph Cindrich, who has been through every NFL labor dispute, calls it. "Reaching an agreement and then adding one more thing. In my view, this is unethical when it occurs. Careful negotiators close it completely and allow nothing in from the point of understanding."

These negotiations have gotten very contentious, particularly leading to the March 12 lockout. Can all that rhetoric be forgotten?

"Pride/competitiveness/hyperbole, this is my great concern," Ganis says. "That a reasonable deal is not accepted because of prior public statements made. What is it DeMaurice Smith and others need to offset comments like 'the worst deal in the history of sports?"'

Also worth wondering about: How much sway do the lawyers have? At one point, they seemingly convinced each side it can win in court. Then both the owners and players got a shot of reality from federal appeals court Judge Kermit Bye, who advised them to work out their differences, saying the court's decision likely will be "something both sides aren't going to like."

Cindrich notes that timing is critical.

"Coming down to a more realistic position earlier than later gets you a better contract," Cindrich says.

It's already later, but hardly too late — unless talks collapse.

"I'm not sure if there's a certain reason why we're at the table and negotiations are real and progressing," says Saints player rep Jon Stinchcomb, "but as a player we're encouraged by that. We want to get back to work. We want a deal that both sides are comfortable with.

"It's going to take some compromise, but we're OK with that. We just need to sit down and hammer it out and get back to work."

[url="http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/s_742437.html#ixzz1PXrgSnzs"]http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsbu ... z1PXrgSnzs[/url]

[fordfixer]

Chicago meetings pivotal for Goodell
Jason Cole

By Jason Cole, Yahoo! Sports
[url="http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=Ak9kW58REvv3LCgOd1eEFbJDubYF?slug=jc-cole_pivotal_meetings_for_Goodell_061811"]http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=A ... ell_061811[/url]

Will there be a Chicago 9 to emerge next Tuesday and Wednesday from among the NFL owners?

If there are nine – the total number of owners out of 32 needed to block the approval of a deal with the players and keep the lockout going – what will it mean to the short-term future of the 2011 NFL season? Just as important, what could such a snag mean to the long-term prospects of Roger Goodell as the league’s commissioner and several others in the league office?

“There’s a lot on the line [next] week,” one owner said Friday. “I don’t envy Roger’s position because he has to make a lot of people happy. I think there’s enough common sense out there that we’ll get something done, but there are also some [owners] who still want to fight.”

That desire to fight may exist even though two sources familiar with the circumstances – one on the players’ side – indicated earlier in the week that the players are willing to give owners upwards of nearly 60 percent of the “true up” money over the next three to four years. In other words, if the owners were to grow the business by $1 billion above projections in a given a year (a huge but not impossible gain), the owners could get nearly $600 million of that additional money.

The deal is expected to be vastly more complicated than that, featuring a reset of the percentages after a three- or four-year period. But the basic idea is that players have come a long way from the simple 50-50 split they offered in March.

The problem is that ever since the owners opted out of the collective bargaining agreement in 2008, there has been a strong subset of them who have pushed to fight the now decertified NFL Players Association for significant rollbacks in the portion of money going to players. Initially, this was not just a slight adjustment this group was seeking. It was an attempt to turn back the clock to pre-2006, when players shared in only a part of total football revenue, not all of it. They didn’t want just a chunk of money back; they wanted a $1 billion boulder right off the top to go with the other $1 billion they were already getting.

That was $2 billion going straight into the owners’ pockets out of a little more than $9 billion the league currently makes. When that idea crumbled, the owners countered with a system that didn’t account for potentially huge increases in revenue that are expected to occur when the television contracts, which expire following the 2013 season, are renegotiated. That’s when the players, frustrated with the perceived shell game and lack of respect that went with it, walked away from the negotiations in March, decertified as a union and filed a lawsuit.

Some in the ownership group saw that as a positive in the big picture because it meant that the hardliners – generally believed to include the likes of Jerry Richardson (Carolina Panthers), Jerry Jones (Dallas Cowboys), Mike Brown (Cincinnati Bengals), Dan Snyder (Washington Redskins) and Ralph Wilson (Buffalo Bills) – would have to back off because their power play failed.

Now, perceived moderates such as John Mara (New York Giants), Clark Hunt (Kansas City Chiefs), Bob Kraft (New England Patriots) and Dean Spanos (San Diego Chargers) have become the lead negotiators for the owners. Richardson has also been part of the process and some believe he has mellowed somewhat the past two months, particularly after his embarrassing treatment of players such as Peyton Manning(notes) became public. Likewise, Kraft was once seen as a hardliner early in the process, but has become much more of a peacemaker since late last season, repeatedly saying that a deal could be made, particularly if the lawyers were left out of the process.

Or as Mara said during the meeting of owners in Indianapolis last month, the best way to a long-term labor peace was a fair deal.

“If it’s not fair, all that means is that you’re back at the table faster,” Mara said.

The question is whether enough other owners agree with Mara’s sentiment. When the league gathers in Chicago next week, Goodell and other members of the negotiating team will update the other owners on the state of the negotiations. Goodell is expected to explain what the split of the money will be under a new deal and will recommend that the owners do the deal, although there is not expected to be a formal vote.

Another tricky element to all of this is that the vast majority of owners have little knowledge of what the deal is right now. Because Judge Arthur Boylan, who has been mediating the sessions, has requested that both sides keep the talks as confidential as possible, very few owners outside the negotiating team are believed to know the specifics.

That has been good because it has allowed for more progress. It’s bad because not knowing leads to anxiety and frustration.

“Your first reaction to most deals is to poke holes in it. It’s human nature,” a second unnamed owner said. “You always want the perfect deal, everything to go your way, and you have to think it through to figure out what’s acceptable. In this case, you have to multiply that process by 32 … when we sit down and look over this deal, I’m curious how the room is going to react. We’re at a critical stage.”

It’s critical on multiple levels.

First, and most immediate, there’s a time crunch to get the season started. Many executives in the league office and with different teams believe that free agency must begin by July 15 at the latest in order to start training camp on time and have a full preseason. Otherwise, the league starts to lose some of the reported $700 million-$1 billion that’s tied up in training camp and the preseason.

Second, if a deal isn’t reached now and the owners reject the work that has been done with the players, this could turn into a long fight that goes until at least September and could cause significant backlash to the league. In January, Sports Illustrated’s Peter King stated that a group of owners were willing to lose an entire season in order to get a better deal with the players. While that sounds brave, it may be tactical suicide depending on how the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals rules on the league’s appeal to maintain a lockout.

While it’s widely believed that the three-judge panel will rule in favor of the league’s ability to lock out the players for the time being, it’s also believed that the league will lose that power at some point. Specifically, the judges sounded as if they would allow the players to return to court in September, when the previous collective bargaining agreement allowed them the freedom to decertify and, therefore, file an antitrust lawsuit.

At that point, the league could be brought to its knees because it could lose the ability to lock out the players. In other words, the league is doing OK in court right now, but eventually there aren’t enough fingers to put in the dam. At that point, the players could end up with the kind of power akin to what their brethren in the NBA and major league baseball have gotten over the years.

Third, all of this could reflect poorly on Goodell, who has already taken his fair share of shots through this process. Over the first four years of his tenure as commissioner, Goodell was seen as a powerful force, coming up with new ways to make money for owners and being tough on players with his discipline.

However, the negotiations with the trade association have exposed Goodell as weak in the eyes of many people, particularly players. From Derrick Mason(notes) to Chester Pitts(notes) to getting booed by fans at the NFL draft in April, Goodell has been openly criticized on numerous fronts. For instance, there was a curious reaction on the morning of March 11, the day that talks broke down with players. King wrote that Goodell had been given approval by the owners the previous night to cut the best deal he could get.

Rather than seeing that as proof of Goodell’s power, many people around the league, in the media and, most importantly, among the players wondered why Goodell didn’t have that power before.

Or as the aforementioned source on the player’s side said, rhetorically: “If he couldn’t cut a deal before, why were we talking to him?”

That is a fascinating question that gets to the heart of how little the owners trust the man they elected to follow Paul Tagliabue, the guy who has taken much of the blame for the 2006 deal that owners quickly came to hate. From there, there is a trickle-down effect to people such as NFL vice president and general counsel Jeff Pash.

Could Goodell be in trouble if he can’t keep the hardliners in line and this negotiation blows up?

“I hope not, but it’s a really good question,” the first unnamed owner said.

[hawaiiansteel]

Roethlisberger says Steelers offense held lockout workouts

Posted by Mike Florio on June 20, 2011



Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s annual football camp opens today. According to Mike Prisuta of WDVE, Roethlisberger said that the team’s offensive players held lockout workouts during the offseason.

As far as we can tell, it’s the first acknowledgement that the Steelers players engaged in any type of organized practices during the lockout.

Though it remains to be seen whether the lockout workouts will have any value, it’s better than doing nothing. Or, at a minimum, it’s not worse than doing nothing.

Unless and until a guy tears an ACL.

[url="http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/06/20/roethlisberger-says-steelers-offense-held-lockout-workouts/"]http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... -workouts/[/url]

[feltdizz]

until a guy tears an ACL?

I like it... I really like how our team operates. I wonder if there was a bunch of reporters trying to watch them practice.

In Charlotte the sports radio guys were going nuts because the players wouldn't talk to reporters about their workouts. It's funny because the radio guys hate the Cam Newton pick but they now have an interest in the team.

[birtikidis]

ESPN was reporting that Goddell unveiled a proposal where the players get 48% of the revenue (down from 60%) but the owners give up the 1billion off the top. we'll see how they take that... it seems like a pretty good offer.

[Oviedo]

ESPN was reporting that Goddell unveiled a proposal where the players get 48% of the revenue (down from 60%) but the owners give up the 1billion off the top. we'll see how they take that... it seems like a pretty good offer.

Here is what has been "leaked." I think the definition of "credits" for stadiums and the like and the forfeiture of the $1B off the top will cause some angst among some owners. However, if the revenue growth projections are even close to being acurate this whole thing is obscene in the amount of money the NFL is generating.

Proposed CBA Details
Details of a proposed collective bargaining agreement being pitched to NFL owners Tuesday, according to sources:

• Players get 48 percent of "all revenue," without extra $1-billion-plus off top that previously had been requested by owners.

• Players' share will never dip below 46.5 percent, under new formula being negotiated.

• Teams required to spend close to 100 percent of the salary cap.

• Rookie wage scale part of deal but still being "tweaked."

• Four years needed for unrestricted free-agent status. Certain tags will be retained, but still being discussed.

• 18-game regular season designated only as negotiable item and at no point is mandated in deal.

• New 16-game Thursday night TV package beginning in 2012.

• Owners still will get some expense credits that will allow funding for new stadiums.

• Retirees to benefit from improved health care, pension benefits as revenue projected to double to $18 million by 2016.

I also love the hypocisy of the "labor brotherhood" not hesitating for a second to throw the future members (rookies) of the "labor brotherhood" under the bus to get a sweeter deal for themselves. Don't think they won't hesitate to throw the Vets under the bus next if it gets a deal done.

[hawaiiansteel]

Steelers players remain hopeful on labor deal

By Scott Brown, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, June 22, 2011



As NFL owners met for a second day Tuesday in Chicago, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said he is hopeful that a new labor deal will be reached in time for players to report to training camp at the end of July.

"I feel like we'll get it done," Roethlisberger said during the two-day youth football camp he hosted at Seneca Valley High School. "The professionals on both sides will get it done."

The players have been locked out by the owners for all but a couple of days since negotiations on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement broke down March 11. The sides appear to be making progress toward ending the NFL's first work stoppage since 1987.

Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch is a member of the NFL Players' Association executive committee, and he has been keeping his teammates updated on the labor situation.

"You hear so many 'sources say this,' 'sources say that,' so you don't really know unless you're in there hearing things," Roethlisberger said. "We just have to listen to Charlie, what he tells us and just kind of go forth from there. I'm sure both sides will find a way to get it done."

The Steelers players have worked out on their own, and Roethlisberger said the offense has gathered to replicate what it would do during the offseason practices that were lost because of the lockout.

Defensive end Brett Keisel said he has used the downtime to get extra rest following a season that ran through January.

"I'm not going to lie. It's been nice being able to wake up every day and just relax with the kids and go work out and things like that," Keisel said. "We're used to, at this point, working a little bit so it will be nice when they get this thing done, hopefully sooner rather than later and we can get back to doing what we do. It's getting to the point now where we're ready to get back to work."

[url="http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/s_743271.html#ixzz1PyWA2J6Q"]http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsbu ... z1PyWA2J6Q[/url]

[JUST-PLAIN-NASTY]

[url="http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=jc-cole_nfl_year_could_start_by_july_15_062111"]http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=j ... _15_062111[/url]

NFL could be back in business by July 15

ROSEMONT, Ill. – Now that NFL owners appear to have cleared a significant hurdle on the way to labor peace with the players, the question for the league is simple: How fast can they get the league year started?

The short answer is sometime on or just before July 15. By that point, the league may be reopen for business on a permanent basis, meaning free agents could get signed and draft picks could start to meet with coaches for the first time in hopes of catching up as much as possible by the start of training camp.

“That kind of timeline is altogether possible,” a source on the owners’ side said Tuesday after the owners spent a little less than six hours hearing from Commissioner Roger Goodell about the state of the collective bargaining agreement talks with the players. Just as important, the owners were given a chance to object to the basic concepts put before them. The league went so far as to give the owners an extra day to discuss the negotiations.

In the end, the meeting became a day trip.


While Goodell cautioned reporters not to read too much into that, it was taken as a good sign by most. Furthermore, the wide grin on New York Giants owner John Mara’s face was a pretty good tell about the state of the talks. In recent months, Mara’s face has been etched with a dour look, such as in March when talks between the owners and the players broke down, and the CBA expired.

Mara repeatedly refused to comment on the mediations and the meeting of the owners, saying that he and the rest of the owners were under court order not to say anything. Goodell was nearly as hard to pin down, but part of that was based on the fact that the players have to go through the same process. If the owners start to present too strong a front, it could be taken as presumptuous by players. At this point, any sense of overconfidence could throw the process in reverse.

“We have a very strong view of the priorities … ownership is unified,” Goodell said.

Overall, the two sides have a preliminary agreement that all money will be split by a simple division, the players getting 48 percent and the owners getting 52 percent. While the players have technically taken a cut in their overall share of the revenue, the owners have agreed to guarantees that will essentially assure that teams will spend a higher minimum amount of money (90 percent of the salary cap) each year.

Additionally, retired NFL player Carl Eller met with four owners Tuesday morning to get assurances that the group of retirees he represents will get better health and disability benefits. Although Eller’s suit was grouped with the Brady et al v. NFL case, Eller’s group still has a say over the settlement and, ultimately, the eventual new collective bargaining agreement.

“The purpose of the meeting on Tuesday was to make clear that the bicycle has to turn into a tricycle,” said attorney Michael Hausfeld, who is representing Eller in his case. “The retirees are going to have a say in the process once this is over.”

While that could throw a wrench in the process, the source on the owners’ side and two others indicated that getting past the owners on Tuesday was the major obstacle. On Wednesday, the players will hold their own meeting in Boston and then are expected to meet with owners later in the day and again Thursday to continue hammering out the deal.

“At this point, you could probably have the terms drawn up by Friday if you wanted to really hurry the process, but two weeks is probably more realistic,” said the source on the owners’ side. “Two weeks for the paperwork is pretty reasonable.”

There are other steps along the way. For instance, all of the parties involved will have to meet with Minnesota District Judge Susan Richard Nelson to seek preliminary settlement of the class-action lawsuits brought by current players such as Tom Brady(notes), Drew Brees(notes) and Peyton Manning(notes) and former players such as Eller. After that, the league will have the NFL Players Association recertify as a union and the owners will have to reconvene to give the agreement final approval. Given all those steps, the July 15 date starts to look more and more realistic.

“You’d like it to be as early as possible,” one team executive said. “Like I said before, I’d like to get started this week, but we know that’s not happening. The way everybody seems to be talking, mid-July is what we’re all hoping for.”




What that means is free agency figures to be fast and furious. The basic rules of free agency aren’t expected to change, meaning that players with at least four years of experience who are not currently under contract will become unrestricted free agents.

That means players such as Nnamdi Asomugha(notes), Antonio Cromartie(notes), Santonio Holmes(notes) and DeAngelo Williams(notes) will head one of the deepest classes of free agents in NFL history. The depth of free agency is primarily because so many players from 2010 weren’t allowed to hit the market when the rules changed, requiring players to have at least six years of service before becoming unrestricted free agents.

While the depth of this free-agent class is subject to debate, the important part is that free agency may soon start, replacing the boring details of a labor dispute.