At what point are missed games foregone conclustion?

[SanAngeloState]

Mid July? Mid August? I'm thinking a deal is done by early August...they'll be ready to play in 6-7 weeks. Only miss a couple games if that's so.

 

[Ron Sellers]

Right now the first sunday of the regular season is scheduled for September 11. I suppose if it gets too close those week one games could be moved to the end of the season (January 8), and the Super Bowl be played one week after the conference championships rather than two weeks later. If you work backwards from there (9/11 or 9/18) I would think teams would need an absolute bare minimum of three weeks of training camp, along with time for free agency, so I would guess sometime in mid-August would be the point where missed games would become a foregone conclusion.

However, I think the two sides would come to an agreement before then. Preseason games are relatively profitable for owners, and neither side wants to be accused of being the cause of games being missed on the anniversary of 9/11.

 

[BlueThunder]

July 15th looks like a good deadline.....could get into camp on time and get playbooks, conditioning and start working out....only the rookies would be behind the 8 ball....and the vets who didn't stay in shape over the lockout....

Both sides have about 10 days to get their S-H-*-T together

 

[Boston Boxer]

im thinking the 15th of July as well. Anything after that and you start losing pre-season games

 

[PatsDeb]

If training camps don't start on time at the end of this month, everyone (player, coaches, owners) will say they aren't "ready" to start the season on time. Even though I followed like a stupid sheep and re-upped my season tickets, we should all consider boycotting the NFL if they don't get something done this week or next. It's ridiculous.

 

[dhamz]

If you mean real games, the answer is probably the end of August. The NFL built the schedule so that it could start week 4 (October 2) and still play a 16 game season. Weeks 1 and 2 would be played at the end of the season, pushing the SB back a week and eliminating the week between the title games and SB. All week 3 match-ups are between teams that share the same bye week allowing those games to be rescheduled by eliminating byes.

 

[italia44]

Mid July? Mid August? I'm thinking a deal is done by early August...they'll be ready to play in 6-7 weeks. Only miss a couple games if that's so.

I'll spot you a small a,if you'll give me a small t..

 

[supafly]

If you mean real games, the answer is probably the end of August. The NFL built the schedule so that it could start week 4 (October 2) and still play a 16 game season. Weeks 1 and 2 would be played at the end of the season, pushing the SB back a week and eliminating the week between the title games and SB. All week 3 match-ups are between teams that share the same bye week allowing those games to be rescheduled by eliminating byes.

Yes, this. I could see the timeframe even being a couple weeks later, by mid-September. That would give them 2 1/2 weeks of some sort of preparation/TC, while still being able to play all 16 games starting Oct.2.

I don't think they will miss preseason games though, if so, they will still play at least 2, and they'll be scrambling like mad by that point to get a deal done.

 

[Sean Pa Patriot]

Well if a deal is not done by next fri, games will be missed... progress is slow again according florio and sal pal at espn... its getting discusting now....

 

[dhamz]

Well if a deal is not done by next fri, games will be missed... progress is slow again according florio and sal pal at espn... its getting discusting now....

If you are talking in terms of preseason games, then next week is a real deadline. That means a lot to owners and players as they would lose ticket revenue and have to refund $ to their tv partners but as a fan I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

If you are talking in terms of preseason games, then next week is a real deadline. That means a lot to owners and players as they would lose ticket revenue and have to refund $ to their tv partners but as a fan I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

On target excepting those like me who love attending summer camp @ Gillette. Missing the 1st 'exhibition', I'm sorry 'pre-season', game hits both owners and players directly. Unrecoverable loss of income. Such a prospect should get their attention. Were I a player I'd be acutely aware that there were a finite, soon reached, number of games (i.e. paydays) in my career. Piss one away and its gone forever. This is where the owners have an advantage.

The only folks I feel sorry for are those hourly workers who lose paydays every time a stadium event does not happen.

 

[BlueThunder]

On target excepting those like me who love attending summer camp @ Gillette

Amen to that ! I usually go with my son to see one of the camps and get a peek at the rookies.....:rocker:

 

[Darrone]

Patriots are going full steam ahead with ticket sales. Waitlist members start presale next Monday, single-game tickets go on sale to general public Friday. The owners aren't blinking.

 

[townes]

Nothing has been missed yet but the lockout has had a huge impact upon sales related to football interest. Normally at this time of year the magazine shelves at bookstores and other stores are loaded with pre-season magazines and this summer there are almost none, at least where i live. The same goes for sporting goods and cap stores where there are almost no pro football caps out. This is definitely the first time that bruins hats are far outnumbering patriot hats both on the shelves and on people. I'm sure this will change quickly once the doors open and free agency starts but right now it's a football wasteland.

 

[Ring 6]

If training camps don't start on time at the end of this month, everyone (player, coaches, owners) will say they aren't "ready" to start the season on time. Even though I followed like a stupid sheep and re-upped my season tickets, we should all consider boycotting the NFL if they don't get something done this week or next. It's ridiculous.

I don't understand your logic.
You are upset over the potential loss or delay of football, so in response when it happens you will ingore it?
Aren't you only hurting yourself? The game goes on with or without us, which is why a fan boycott would have no impact whatsoever.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

A fan boycott of merchandise hurts the owners. That's impact.

 

[Wolfpack]

Mid July? Mid August? I'm thinking a deal is done by early August...they'll be ready to play in 6-7 weeks. Only miss a couple games if that's so.

Depends on what you mean by "missed games". They can have a lockout all the way to early September then start the season in late Septemeber and, due to various scheduling quirks implemented this year, still play 16 games.

But if you are including the preseason, then general consensus seems to be they start losing games (starting with the Hall of Fame game) if they don't get a deal done by July 15th.

 

[WhiZa]

im thinking the 15th of July as well. Anything after that and you start losing pre-season games

The Bengals who played in the HoF game last year started their camp on July 28 so couldn't they wait even further like a day or two before the 28th to strike a deal? Teams and the league are still preparing like a season is going to happen. They could have a lot of things done before a deal is even in place and go full steam ahead when the deal is settled.

As far as regular season games, if a team can get ready for the HoF game in 12 days then why not the regular season? That said, the last day to strike a deal without missing the first game on September 8th would be August 27. Maybe a couple of days earlier to allow for travel time.

My personal opinion is that some if not all preseason games will be missed. The owners already want to take away a couple games away with a 18-game season so why not force the issue?

 

[convertedpatsfan]

A fan boycott of merchandise hurts the owners. That's impact.

I believe it hurts the players as well as part of that money counts as revenue under the old CBA.

I certainly don't think anyone should give up their season tickets in protest as they likely won't get them back in this lifetime. But TV deals are one area that could be impacted. TV money is a huge chunk of the pie, and lower ratings would definitely impact negotiations in the next deal. If anyone has a ratings box at home, they could go to a buddy's place instead to watch the games. DirecTV subscribers who buy the NFL Sunday Ticket package could not renew and also impact that.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

The Bengals who played in the HoF game last year started their camp on July 28 so couldn't they wait even further like a day or two before the 28th to strike a deal? Teams and the league are still preparing like a season is going to happen. They could have a lot of things done before a deal is even in place and go full steam ahead when the deal is settled. As far as regular season games, if a team can get ready for the HoF game in 12 days then why not the regular season? That said, the last day to strike a deal without missing the first game on September 8th would be August 27. Maybe a couple of days earlier to allow for travel time. My personal opinion is that some if not all preseason games will be missed. The owners already want to take away a couple games away with a 18-game season so why not force the issue?

Prepping for the HOF exhibition/scrimmage game and prepping for a full season is comparing apples and oranges. Teams need at least a couple of weeks of camp just to get players in football shape. And given the loss of OTA's they now need a week or two more to work on basic installation. Then of course there is the matter of FA and they need at least a week of it to allow teams and agents and players to digest the new CBA and work out deals. Then of course the rookies have to be signed and depending on how much negotiation remains in their formula vs. slotting, that will take days at minimum.

And if they miss the preseason the whole deal may crumble because they'd be out three quarters of a billion (or more if you factor in lost sponsorship revenue as Fall ad money starts getting assigned elsewhere) they can never recoup and the cap would be exponentially lowered as a result. The owners don't want to eliminate games. They want to trade two pre season games for regular season. But that is off the table for the moment so it's not like they can replace missed preseason games with more regular season games this year.

Realistically Monday is drop dead date for the pre season because it will take close to a week from the time they agree on a deal until it becomes a fait accompli via the courts and recertification and a player vote and an ownership vote. They can shave a couple of days off the early open for the HOF teams, but once they lose that game they are on the cusp of a domino effect that not only impacts the remaining preseason but any deal...

Which remains the logical reason a deal finally gets done in the next couple of days.