Enjoy what is left of football guys..because next year may have a lockout

[Brady_to_Moss]

What we are seeing this year with this team is amazing. Being 11-2 in a "rebuilding" year? Simply amazing what we are seeing. The way Brady is playing, Woodhead, Mccourty ect. I love it. And i hate that the season is flying by and thats the only thing i hate.

With next year looking more and more like a lockout and this season flying by, we need to truly enjoy what we are seeing week in and week out in case there is no football next year in which case...i will punch babies....so to sum up my rant.. ENJOY IT AND GO PATS!

 

[Rob0729]

I think there will be football and it seems less and less likely for a lockout. People on both sides (including Bob Kraft who was very influencial in the last deal) believe there will be a new deal before the next football year. Both sides are already having significant discussion on two of the biggest issues - an 18 game season and a rookie cap.

I expect this to be like last time and there will be an 11th hour deal. Free agency may be delayed a week or two, but the football season doesn't miss a second of play.

 

[TX_Patriot]

All the more reason the Pats need to win it this year. Reigning champs for 2 years, that will at least ease to blow of no football.

 

[mosi]

Football is the biggest thing in America. Even bigger than all those dumb reality shows. It would be incredibly stupid of everyone involved if there were not football next year.

 

[Haley]

When there is this much money involved, these things have a way of working themselves out. If there really is a lockout next year I'd be very, very surprised.

 

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

When there is this much money involved, these things have a way of working themselves out. If there really is a lockout next year I'd be very, very surprised.

I am kinda in between. I don't expect to be watching football the weekend after labor day. At least not being played by guys whose names I recognize. But I do expect to see a superbowl.

There will be a football season. It might miss a few weeks and there might be a few weeks of replacement players.

 

[Haley]

I am kinda in between. I don't expect to be watching football the weekend after labor day. At least not being played by guys whose names I recognize. But I do expect to see a superbowl.

There will be a football season. It might miss a few weeks and there might be a few weeks of replacement players.

Possibly, but I think of this as a worst case scenario.

And if there were even a remote possibility of no Superbowl, I think you'd even see the federal government involved due to the potential loss in GDP, tax revenue, etc. Advertising agencies would go into hard core lobby mode under this kind of threat (possibly already are). It just isn't something I worry about since there are so many powerful forces tied into successful resolution.

 

[Synovia]

I think there will be football and it seems less and less likely for a lockout. People on both sides (including Bob Kraft who was very influencial in the last deal) believe there will be a new deal before the next football year. Both sides are already having significant discussion on two of the biggest issues - an 18 game season and a rookie cap.

I expect this to be like last time and there will be an 11th hour deal. Free agency may be delayed a week or two, but the football season doesn't miss a second of play.

Agree here.

Both sides know that they'll lose more money in a lockout than they would having a bad CBA for 5 years. A CBA will happen, it'll probably just have really short term.

 

[Nikolai]

Agree here.

Both sides know that they'll lose more money in a lockout than they would having a bad CBA for 5 years. A CBA will happen, it'll probably just have really short term.

That's what I see; a band-aid type of CBA that makes some compromises on the toughest issues and defers final decisions to the next CBA, the negotiations of which will continue immediately.

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

Agree here.

Both sides know that they'll lose more money in a lockout than they would having a bad CBA for 5 years. A CBA will happen, it'll probably just have really short term.

Give the owners an 18 game season and give the players expanded rosters and more money in terms of a rookie salary cap with the extra money that goes to veterans......
I know they won't use replacement players this time ( scabs if you will) but it would be really interesting to see what Belichick could do with guys off the street relative to other teams....I have a feeling there would no shortage of guys looking to sign with the Patriots in that kind of situation.

 

[TX_Patriot]

I happen to work in a Union shop (not union myself) and if I recall, a union can always vote to keep working under the current agreement until a new one is reached. So next year would basically follow this years rules. No salary cap and such.

 

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

I happen to work in a Union shop (not union myself) and if I recall, a union can always vote to keep working under the current agreement until a new one is reached. So next year would basically follow this years rules. No salary cap and such.

Not completely true. Both the owners and union have to agree to that. As in most cases, the union wants more (pay raise) such an agreement is favorable to the owners so it is rare for owners to say no to such an interim agreement.

 

[TruthSeeker]

I happen to work in a Union shop (not union myself) and if I recall, a union can always vote to keep working under the current agreement until a new one is reached. So next year would basically follow this years rules. No salary cap and such.

Not completely true. Both the owners and union have to agree to that. As in most cases, the union wants more (pay raise) such an agreement is favorable to the owners so it is rare for owners to say no to such an interim agreement.

I believe that if there is an impasse, the owners can essentially force the union to continue playing under the last reasonable offer; the only recourse the union has is to disband. The Wall Street Journal had an article on this a few months ago where the writer opined that this is a lot more likely scenario than a lockout.

 

[IllegalContact]

Moss has a much bigger chance of being locked out

 

[Synovia]

I believe that if there is an impasse, the owners can essentially force the union to continue playing under the last reasonable offer; the only recourse the union has is to disband. The Wall Street Journal had an article on this a few months ago where the writer opined that this is a lot more likely scenario than a lockout.

Thats generally only true in cases where the union is considered "essential". IE, unions where them being off work is going to screw up the national economy (transportation, etc). Football certainly isn't that.

 

[Wolfpack]

I am kinda in between. I don't expect to be watching football the weekend after labor day. At least not being played by guys whose names I recognize. But I do expect to see a superbowl.

There will be a football season. It might miss a few weeks and there might be a few weeks of replacement players.

You can't have replacement players in a lockout.

I wouldn't be surprised if we lose some preseason games. I doubt we'll lose any regular season games though I think that's a possibility. I don't see any chance whatsoever we lose the entire season.

 

[Wolfpack]

I happen to work in a Union shop (not union myself) and if I recall, a union can always vote to keep working under the current agreement until a new one is reached. So next year would basically follow this years rules. No salary cap and such.

The union has already announced that they would be perfectly happy to do precisely that. But it's the owners who are the ones unhappy with the status quo. Hence the chance they lock the players out.

 

[Synovia]

The union has already announced that they would be perfectly happy to do precisely that. But it's the owners who are the ones unhappy with the status quo. Hence the chance they lock the players out.

The owners will lose signficantly more money in 1 year of lockout than they'd lose in 10 years of the current "unfavorable CBA". They know that.


This isn't the NHL where the league is pretty much insolvent because of the CBA. We're talking about differences of 5% or so of total revenue. Neither side is dumb enough to sacrifice a year of revenue to try to get the other side to come up 5%.

 

[VectorPrime]

WAY WAY WAY too many people have WAAYY too much to lose if there was no football. The owners, the players, the tv networks (can you imagine how much money they would lose with no football? I'm pretty sure NBC would fold), the advertisers in the stadiums, everyone who works in the stadiums, EA Games ffs. It goes on and on.

There will be football.

 

[Wolfpack]

I believe that if there is an impasse, the owners can essentially force the union to continue playing under the last reasonable offer; the only recourse the union has is to disband. The Wall Street Journal had an article on this a few months ago where the writer opined that this is a lot more likely scenario than a lockout.

I read that same article, but there are all sorts of problems with that approach. It depends on how hard of stance the players (and potentially the government) want to take.

If the union disbands and there is no CBA, then all sorts of things we take for granted could be in trouble. Take for example the draft. The rules are such that when a player gets drafted, the 32 owners and the league agree that that player can speak to and negotiate with only the team that drafted him, no one else can talk to him and he can't talk to anyone else. Essentially you have 31 owners all agreeing they won't talk to him even though several of the owners may have otherwise been interested in him. It's actually the textbook definition of collusion - and collusion is illegal.

But then one may ask: How do they currently get away with doing something illegal? Well, it's not illegal if it is something collectively bargained. Also (and here's where the government comes in) there are various anti-trust exemptions for professional sports. But earlier this year, the US Supreme Court ruled that the NFL was indeed 32 separate entities and not 1 single entity. The potential ramifications of that ruling are huge if there is no CBA.