NFL Owners and Players Can't Reach A Deal - Legal Battle to Ensue

Time has come, time has gone. Extension was given, extension has gone. Mediation requested, yet nothing seems to have been accomplished, and Friday the owners made it official by moving forward with locking out the players until a new Collective Bargaining Agreement can be reached.

Now, in case you're not familiar with what it is, or if you live in Wisconsin where there seem to be a lot of people who have forgotten what collective bargaining is, collective bargaining is when the group of workers in a specific field are allowed to have a say in the environment of their workplace. They are also allowed to negotiate things like health benefits, pay rates, etc... This is the whole purpose for having a union.

As with pretty much everything else in professional sports, the main issue revolving around the current work stoppage is money. The owners, claiming that they are losing money, are asking for a larger chunk of the $9 billion worth of revenue generated by the NFL. The players assert that the owners refuse to prove this, though there are many teams who have come forward ready to open their books for all to see. Many teams, however, have not offered to help prove the owner's point.

The players, however, while attempting to play the role of the victim, are doing something that isn't exactly on the up and up either. Knowing that a lockout was possible, the union threatened to decertify so that they can sue the league with an anti-trust lawsuit; claiming the owners are discriminating against a specific group of people. It's a crafty move that, frankly, made it so that they didn't have to make too much of an effort either. If you ask me, if you want to have the rights to collectively bargain, then you need to also accept the possibility of a lock out, not try to pull a little stunt like this so that you can get your way.

Bottom line here, the NFL as a whole is going to suffer from this. $9 billion of revenue, and they can't agree on a way to divide it. I have an idea. Why doesn't the NFL take that $9 billion that they are so indecisive about, and give it to public education. The state of Colorado alone is proposing to cut $300 million from the education budget, I bet that they could find a way to use it. So could the teachers in Wisconsin who now have lost their rights to collectively bargain.

All people involved in this lockout come off looking like greedy millionaires and billionaires crying about needing more money. Not good, especially in the current economy. Once again, until both of these parties can bring their big boy pants to work, both the league and the players will lose money and the fans.

NFL and NFLPA Headed to Counsoling

According to an article from yahoo sports, the NFL and the NFLPA have apparently agreed to resume talks about a new collective bargaining agreement. To make matters even more hopeful, both sides have agreed to mediation. What is this we're seeing? Signs of maturity from both sides? Realizing that making sure they get a deal done and don't alienate the fans is more important than that extra billion dollars that they're fighting over.

Nah, they probably just realize that there won't be that extra billion to bicker about if there isn't a season next year. Nonetheless, this is really the first glimmer of hope that we have seen regarding the progress of the new collective bargaining agreement since the owners opted out of the current one.

Will mediation do any good though? I think so. Mediators are great at laying out the wants of both sides and finding places to give and take. The biggest challenge of this is going to be the people on the two sides. Just like the clip I posted, yeah I know, not very journalistic of me, but funny nonetheless, these are two sides that are willing to fight it out tooth and nail to get what they want. I mean, during the last rounds of talks, things did, allegedly, get a little bit touchy.

It will be good for both of these sides to have somebody saying out loud, "if you want to get something done, then you're going to have to compromise." Something the fans, and some of the players, have been saying for a long time. I'm sure there will be many more updates regarding this over the coming weeks. Let's hope that there is something productive to talk about. As for now, looks like both sides have finally found those "big boy pants" and pulled them out of the dresser. We'll see if they are now willing to walk around in them