The mediation intially seemed to result in some progress, with the two sides agreeing to a one-week extension of the collective bargaining agreement to try and get a deal done. However, that progress was short-lived, and the NFLPA filed for decertification as a negotiating entity by the 5 p. March 11 deadline. At midnight that night, the owners imposed a lockout, followed by a group of players filing an antitrust lawsuit against the league.
Saints quarterback Drew Brees called the owners' final offer made before the lockout "a front", and said it was no different from any of the other proposals in the years since the owners opted out of the agreement. The players and owners met in court on April 6, , in front of Judge Susan Nelson. Judge Nelson ordered the two sides back to mediation while she ruled on the players' lawsuit.
On April 25, , she granted the players' request for an injunction to lift the lockout. However, the NFL was granted a stay of that ruling on appeal, and the lockout was put back in place days later.
In early July, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the lockout was legal, clearing the way for the players and owners to settle their differences outside of court. On July 21, , the owners ratified a new collective bargaining agreement by a vote with the Raiders abstaining. The players had not seen the final agreement, and delayed a vote until some final points could be worked out. Both sides worked through the weekend, adding an opt-out clause to the agreement and clarifying other details.
The Bills and Bengals voted against the deal. May 20, NFL owners vote to opt out of the CBA following the season, 2 years before the extension was originally set to expire. At the time, the NFL released a statement reading in part: "The current labor agreement does not adequately recognize the cost of generating the revenues of which the players receive the largest shares; nor does the agreement recognize that those costs have increased substantially -- and at an ever increasing rate -- in recent years during a difficult economic climate in our country.
March 5, With the start of the "final league year" under the CBA, the NFL begins a season without a salary cap or floor for the first time since A negotiating session scheduled for February 10th is canceled. George H.
Cohen, director of the FMCS, announces he will serve as a mediator during the talks. At Cohen's suggestion, the two sides agree to meet again on March 1st. Giants owner John Mara attends the meeting, making him the first owner to participate in the federally-mediated talks. March 11, With no agreement reached, the NFLPA decertifies renouncing its status as the exclusive collective bargaining representative of the players.
April 6, Judge Susan Nelson holds a hearing on the plaintiffs' request for an injunction to end the lockout. April 11, Judge Nelson orders both sides to participate in court-supervised mediation while she waits to make a ruling on the lawsuit. It adjourns six days later, with a scheduled resumption date of May April 25, U. District Judge Susan Nelson grants the players request for a preliminary injunction to lift the lockout.
April 29, 8th U. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis granted the NFL's request for a temporary stay of Judge Nelson's injunction order, restoring the lockout. May 16, The U. Court of Appeals granted the NFL's motion for a permanent stay, keeping the lockout in effect until at least the June 3rd hearing, when the NFL's appeal of Judge Nelson's ruling will be heard. June 8, Judge Nelson moves up a hearing for the league's motion to dismiss the players' antitrust suit from Sept.
Generally there was a lot of confusion, both with the fans what does this mean , the players where can I go, what can I do , and the staff and front offices where can the players go, what can they do. In all this time you've heard a lot said by both sides. From the very beginning you heard about how bad the owners felt the CBA was for them, almost immediately after signing it back in You heard they're asking for billions, you've heard they want more games, you've heard all of that.
In return from the NFL—this week primarily—you've heard accusations like the draft is being attacked, the players don't want free agency or that the players are attacking the fabric of the game. Time and time again you've heard the owners and commissioner Roger Goodell talk about how they feel this situation will be resolved through collective bargaining, and yet you see the developments daily in court, as if the NFL is getting beaten down on all angles without even noticing while they continue to talk about bargaining like they have any semblance of leverage left to bargain with.
The casual fan may not be interested in all of this. They may not really even know what's going on, or what has gone on and what lead to this situation. They might catch a snippet of news here, or a sound byte there and be armed with only half the story at the water cooler when the subject of next year's season comes up. I'm here to help. I've been following this situation literally for years now. I'll clarify right off the bat; I'm not a lawyer. I'm not directly connected to this situation in any way, shape or form.
I have talked to literally zero people to confirm some of the assumptions I make. What I have done however is a ton of research. I'm great at reading people, I'm great at reading into their words and seeing what they really mean.
I know the reality of the situation, and again, I've followed it closely for a long, long time. I've watched every word spoken on the situation by both sides. From the day the owners penned their names on the last CBA in through yesterday when Roger Goodell spoke with Adam Schefter and claimed that the players were trying to destroy the game, I've seen the movements of both sides, where their strategies are taking them, and what's going on. While I'm not what you would call "close" to the situation, in my opinion that makes me more credible, as anyone close to the situation is only interested in you seeing things from their side while I'm interested in you understanding the situation as completely as it can be understood.
In , the collective bargaining process seemed on the cusp of becoming just as contentious as the current labor dispute has. The sole difference was that NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue and NFLPA head Gene Upshaw had a long history together, and finally, by working together, they were able to get a deal done that the owners and players could agree to.
While two teams voted against the CBA Buffalo and Cincinatti , 30 teams voted in favor of it, and despite reports that owners immediately began looking to —their first opportunity to rid themselves of this deal—owners were quoted as saying things like, "We had to have it. We do have the greatest game in the world, and we got what we wanted. Redskins owner Dan Snyder said, "I think Paul did a heck of a job of corralling people. Collectively—with the exception of Bills' owner Ralph Wilson who claimed he didn't understand the new CBA and Cincinatti owner Mike Brown who believed from the beginning that the labor deal was one-sided in favor of the players.
The deal as it was written enabled the owners to opt out in , but that option would not be effective until the offseason. All 32 owners voted to opt out when the time for the vote came up, and that led to where we are now. After the death of Gene Upshaw in August of , the players already knew that a fight was coming with the NFL owners.
The owners had literally just voted to opt out of the deal, and the players knew they would need a gun to fight back. It was a tight race, but eventually DeMaurice Smith was elected the executive director of the NFLPA, likely due to his vast trial experience, and he began gearing up for the legal battle of his career and of his life.
For while owners seem to think the labor deal is far too good for the players, the players think it's barely enough and don't want to give anything back. The sport has seen significant growth over the past five years, and teams are making more money now than ever before, so why do they need money back? The NFL teams' answers as to why they need money back is basically this: "We are not losing money now, but trends show that we will be losing money in the near future if something doesn't change.
That something, is getting billions back from you guys, the players. Yes, you read that correctly, and I typed that correctly. What does that mean? Please don't be confused into thinking they're actually losing money now, because they're not, not even close.
I mean don't fool yourself, the people who work those stands don't make more than food workers elsewhere. Neither do the people in the shops, the front offices or the grounds and maintenance crews.
All these people make an average amount of money with the obvious exception of GM's and so forth, while the team charges you four times the price of any average retailer for items such as keychains, T-shirts, beers and popcorn. These owners are guys who have a lock on a market and abuse it as much as humanly possible. They're making plenty of money, and for many of them, this isn't or wasn't their only business.
They make or made their real money elsewhere. Whether it's the Seahawks' owner, Paul Allen, who made his money as co-founder of Microsoft, or shrewd businessman turned owner Daniel Snyder, the real money isn't even in owning the teams for these guys.
So now we know what the owners want. They want more money. They want it despite the fact they're making truckloads of money, and they want it based on their say-so that they might start losing money at some point in the near future.
They want it based on their say-so you say? You see, in order to establish a trend, you need multiple years. In order to understand all of the revenues and costs, you need financial statements. This is standard practice in business. The ruling grants considerable leverage to the players in labor talks. March 11, NFLPA rejects the owners' final proposal and decertifies as a union , which allows them to file an antitrust lawsuit immediately. March 12, NFL Lockout officially begins , setting off what will become the longest work stoppage in league history.
April 6, U. Judge Nelson says she will announce her decision in a couple weeks. April 11, Judge Nelson forces the two sides to enter mediation, and appoints U. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan to oversee the sessions in his chambers in Minneapolis.
April 20, Mediation suspended until May April 25, Judge Susan Nelson rules in favor of the players , lifting the lockout. April 27, Judge Nelson denies the owners' request for a stay.
April 29, Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals votes to grant a temporary stay of Judge Nelson's injunction that lifted the lockout. May 16, Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals votes to grant a permanent stay of Judge Nelson's injunction that lifted the lockout.
Both sides to appear in court in St.
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