NFL Lockout has begun

[Deus Irae]

Report: Lockout starts at midnight

Per Adam Schefter, via PFT:

We are still waiting for an official announcement from the NFL, but ESPN’s Adam Schefter says a lockout is a done deal.

Schefter reports that the NFL owners will lock the players out midnight, as expected.

Report: Lockout starts at midnight | ProFootballTalk

 

[Wolfpack]

Re: Report: Lockout starts at midnight

 

[jmt57]

The NFL Network is now saying that the owners have locked out the players. Considering that the NFLN is owned by the NFL, I'll presume this to be factual and not a rumor.

 

[Joker]

Hey!!...who changed the g-dmed locks????...man...I got 8 wives and twelve mouths to feed..and that chiseler,Joey Bags the Jeweler, is only offering me 1/10% back on my ton and a half of gold chains and rings...dyam...how am I supposed to live on less than a mil a year????

 

[patsfanboy]

Re: Report: Lockout starts at midnight

 

[ctpatsfan77]

While claims of things going nuclear are nice, Florio does point out an interesting fact that may force the NFL to end the lockout:

Antitrust lawsuit alleges that NFL has waived “sham” defense to decertification | ProFootballTalk

Paragraph 45 of the civil complaint explains that, when settling the Reggie White antitrust lawsuit in 1993, the league “insisted on the right to terminate the [agreement] if the players did not reform a union within thirty days.” To get that provision, the NFL agrees that, “if a majority of players decided to end their collective bargaining representation upon or after the [agreement's] expiration,” the NFL would waive the right to argue, among other things, that the decertification was “a sham or otherwise ineffective.”

 

[Ring 6]

While claims of things going nuclear are nice, Florio does point out an interesting fact that may force the NFL to end the lockout:

Antitrust lawsuit alleges that NFL has waived “sham” defense to decertification | ProFootballTalk

I suppose the league could argue the term 'that agreement' since that is not the CBA in place now.

 

[naF staP]

Is it a lockout or a players strike? Or does it just depend on who's point of view you are looking at?

 

[Wolfpack]

Is it a lockout or a players strike? Or does it just depend on who's point of view you are looking at?

It is a lockout, although a lot of people think the lockout will be declared invalid. But for now, it's a lockout.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

I suppose the league could argue the term 'that agreement' since that is not the CBA in place now.

Again, I haven't read through it, but I remember seeing something in the current CBA linking it to past ones. In any case, though, it is/was the same NFLPA, so that might suffice.

 

[naF staP]

It is a lockout, although a lot of people think the lockout will be declared invalid. But for now, it's a lockout.

Thanks!

 

[patsfan-1982]

dose this mean there will be no NFL draft. and if there is one i heard someone say that you cant trade you have to stay at your spot and pick is that true ?

 

[Danielbaron1]

You can trade other draft picks but no player trades

 

[Calciumee]

Looks like Tiki has to wait a while longer to make his comeback

 

[DarrylS]

This really sucks....

 

[Patjew]

**** you, everyone.

 

[RobertWeathers]

It's unfortunate for sure and certainly disappointing that they NFLPA and owners have not been able to reach a compromise.

I'm hopeful that they will have reached an agreement sometime before TC.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

The league really had no choice but to lockout. It is the lesser of two evils to battle through the courts. NFLN had their legal analyst for the festivities on last night, the Dean of Indiana U lawschool, and he said if an injunction against the lockout was granted it would be unprecedented. An employer has the right to close his business down. That is the easier battle to wage. The NFLPA's belief that language in the CBA of 1993 precludes the sham argument will likely be subject to interpretation of the exact language, which at first blush appears to require them waiting for the CBA to expire - which they did not because of other language which stated if they did they would have to wait 6 months to decertify...

Florio has a good explanation of the options the league had available. Had they not locked out the case they have to defend is a full blown challenge of all the rules they imposed being in violation of anti trust. And of course the final option would be to destroy the NFL as we know it by dismantling the collective (and revenue sharing and the draft and FA, etc) and elinimating any need to deal with a union by announcing it was every man for himself with 32 competing franchises free to do business as they see fit.

As midnight approaches, NFL has three choices | ProFootballTalk

At the end of the day if your primary concern is seeing the BS of lawsuit pressers and courtroom drama end and football as we've known it played in September allowing the lockout to fly would be the best way to insure that happens because that would tip the balance back to ownership and and the NFLPA would recertify in a hurry to avoid the pitchfork weilding 200lb+ horde descending on their trade association offices demanding their $200M in bonuses due since March and their shot at FA. One of Bill's favorite sayings is if you want to get a players attention, take away his stage.

 

[Froob]

Damn, so is the 2011 season pretty unlikely?

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Damn, so is the 2011 season pretty unlikely?

Not necessarily, because this will all end eventually with a settlement and a new CBA. It's just a matter now of not only how long it takes but how many billable hours the lawyers get to suck out of the pie before the players wake tf up.