Owners Vote to Opt Out of Labor Agreement

[JoeRedskin]

As I recall, although 2010 would be uncapped - it would not be manna from heaven for the players. In fact, I think the last years of the deal had some rather draconian measures that would negatively affect the players in order to encourage them to accept some form of salary cap.

[BleedBurgundy]

Originally Posted by JoeRedskin

As I recall, although 2010 would be uncapped - it would not be manna from heaven for the players. In fact, I think the last years of the deal had some rather draconian measures that would negatively affect the players in order to encourage them to accept some form of salary cap.

yeah, something to do with limiting which players would technically be "free agents" and making it much easier for teams to keep their marque players.

[Rajmahal33]

This is an area of sports that I'm not that familiar with...Why does the players union expect to get an even larger chunk of the revenue (according to the comments in the article) when the owners were the ones who terminated the contracts? Also, it would seem that if something was unanimously agreed upon to be terminated, it was never really that reasonable in the first place. Why didn't they write into the deal an opportunity to rework it (with mutual consent of both sides) without terminating it or letting it expire? That way you can avoid leaving the shelter of the contract at any given time.

[70Chip]

Originally Posted by Rajmahal33

This is an area of sports that I'm not that familiar with...Why does the players union expect to get an even larger chunk of the revenue (according to the comments in the article) when the owners were the ones who terminated the contracts? Also, it would seem that if something was unanimously agreed upon to be terminated, it was never really that reasonable in the first place. Why didn't they write into the deal an opportunity to rework it (with mutual consent of both sides) without terminating it or letting it expire? That way you can avoid leaving the shelter of the contract at any given time.

I expect that once it became clear that there were enough votes to terminate the deal (9 owners I believe?) everyone voted unanimously in order to present a unified front to the players for negotiating purposes.

If the owners want to unring this bell, they will have to be willing to endure a strike or initiate a lockout. The Union seems convinced that they are unstoppable. Once some of these guys miss a few paychecks, though, Upshaw will find himself in a different position. He is not Donald Fehr. The NFLPA has been put in its place before and it may be time to do it again.