Well, screw that last post. The NFLPA told players today that it's still reviewing the owners' proposed settlement and that the NFLPA reps will meet again ON MONDAY to "review our options."
Well, by all means, take your time. We're not in a hurry here or anything.
The proposed Saturday start for league activities is now on hold. One assumes that if this standoff makes it to Thursday the 28th, the first week of preseason will have to be thrown out. A prolonged delay would screw the Rams but good revenues-wise, as their first two preseason games are both home games.
A main sticking point appears to be that the players want to re-certify the union with in-person signatures instead of voting electronically. I have no idea why this is important; it sounds like about the stupidest possible reason to hold things up. My legally non-binding guess is that the players want to be careful to the nth degree that the decertification of the union at the beginning of this process cannot be taken as a sham.
The plaintiffs in the Brady, Manning et al. antitrust suit against the league also have to agree to withdraw their suit. Vincent Jackson may or may not make that more difficult.
Worst of all, at this late point in the process, the players' side accuses the owners of adding elements and conditions to the CBA that were not collectively bargained. DeMaurice Smith indicates that such issues remain open, and that the players and owners do not have agreement on workers' compensation, "economic issues" and "end-of-deal terms" (the players want the option to opt out of the CBA after seven years).
I apologize to the Rams for complaining that I didn't have my tickets yet yesterday. At the rate things are going...
Gory details from espn.com
I'm starting to hope this thing ends the usual way a WWE "contract signing" ends, with someone getting slammed through a table.
-$-
No comments:
Post a Comment