CBA Talk Updates

[BoneKrusher+ 1,276]

There is a growing belief inside league circles that the NFL and NFL Players Association will have an agreement in place that can be ratified during the July 21 league meetings in Atlanta, according to sources familiar with the state of negotiations.

 

As one NFL owner said this weekend, there's "no reason to believe it won't get done."

 

Full Story:

 

http://sports.espn.g...tory?id=6756301

Edited July 21, 2011 by GoodellFTL

[SteVo+ 3,702]

Supposedly a CBA on the 21st would mean teams could begin negotiating with rookies on the 25th and free agency would begin on the 28th. DO IT!!!!!!!

[BoneKrusher+ 1,276]

Supposedly a CBA on the 21st would mean teams could begin negotiating with rookies on the 25th and free agency would begin on the 28th. DO IT!!!!!!!

yep, and i agree SteVo.

[KeVo 176]

Git-R-Dun.

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

Apparently the only major thing left to negotiate is the rookie pay scale. And the issue is how long rookie contracts are going to be.

 

IT'S CLOSE.

 

I CAN FEEL FOOTBALL IN THE AIR TONIGHT

[BigBen07 285]

GET IT DONE. NOW.

 

 

They are still idiots for going on strike.

[AllYouNeedIsLovie 377]

I feel like we've heard this a few times, but I am hoping they are right this time. We need football back.

[AllYouNeedIsLovie 377]

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk is hearing that July 17 is the new target date for the announcement of a new labor deal. Florio admits that the date is subject to change -- and probably will. It's clear now that ESPN's John Clayton was overly optimistic in predicting the deal's finalization by Friday. Most of the key issues could be solved by then, however.<BR aptureProxy="9"><BR aptureProxy="10">Source: Pro Football Talk: Twitter.com

[BoneKrusher+ 1,276]

i think its the real deal this time.

[SteelersNation36 128]

i think its the real deal this time.

 

I so hope so but i'm not holding my breath.

[AllYouNeedIsLovie 377]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/07/13/brady-manning-and-brees-it-is-time/

 

In yet another sign the next few days of labor talks are crucial, the biggest names in the Brady vs. NFL antitrust lawsuit are saying that “it is time†for a deal.Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Drew Brees released a statement to the Associated Press:

 

“We believe the overall proposal made by the players is fair for both sides and it is time to get this deal done. This is the time of year we as players turn our attention to the game on the field. We hope the owners feel the same way,†the statement reads.

 

(There are undrafted players, not to mention fans, that felt like it was time a long time ago.)

 

This statement can still be seen as a positive because it further advances the notion that there is a deadline to this latest set of talks. Then again, the statement indicates the players may be tired of continuing to compromise and believe their latest offer is enough.

 

I'm liking what I'm hearing. Come on, let's get this over with already.

 

 

[BoneKrusher+ 1,276]

Come On guys, lets do it so free agency can get started.

[BradyFan81 404]

So the only thing left to decide is whether draft picks are under contract for 4 or 5 years? That better not be what makes us miss training camp.

[BigBen07 285]

So the only thing left to decide is whether draft picks are under contract for 4 or 5 years? That better not be what makes us miss training camp.

 

Agreed.

[BucD+ 648]

I don't buy ANY of it. At this point, for me, it's all BS. I'll believe it when I see both sides come out and say that a deal is done.

[Vin+ 3,121]

Mark Maske of the Washington Post reports that an agreement in principle on a new NFL Collective Bargaining deal is "likely to be completed" between this Friday and next Tuesday.

 

Each side issued optimistic statements early Wednesday, and Maske reports that players and owners are currently working in New York to put "finishing touches" on a labor deal. People familiar with the negotiations tell the Post that an "agreement in principle was possible in coming days," even by Friday. Both sides are scheduled to meet with mediator Arthur Boyland next Tuesday. An agreement must be approved by at least 24 of the 32 owners, and separately by the players. At this point, the only game that appears to be in serious danger is the Hall of Fame exhibition on August 7.

 

Source: Washington Post

[AllYouNeedIsLovie 377]

For those frustrated football fans who are living and dying with real-time reports on the status of NFL labor negotiations, the word close has become an emotional switchblade that taunts, tantalizes and tortures. After a recent spate of proclamations from journalists at various outlets that NFL owners and players are nearly done negotiating a settlement to the Tom Brady et al antitrust lawsuit and a new collective bargaining agreement, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees – a Brady plaintiff and NFL Players Association executive committee member – ramped up the hype on Wednesday, telling San Diego’s XX sports radio, “We’re very close to a settlement. We’re at that point in the negotiations where there’s just a few more details to be ironed out.†It’s certainly possible that the two sides could come to a tentative agreement within the next week, allowing the owners to vote on it during their July 21 meeting in Atlanta and the lockout to be lifted in time for a full preseason schedule. Yet to suggest that such an outcome is a formality – and that the basic framework of a deal is essentially in place – is nowhere close to accurate. At least, not according to what Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports is being told by numerous sources familiar with the state of negotiations, one of whom was in the room for Wednesday’s lengthy sessions in New York. “Are we close? I wouldn’t say that at all,†said one NFLPA executive committee member. “Drew is the eternal optimist, and yeah, it’s closer than it was a week ago. Could it happen quickly? Yes. But I’d be extremely surprised.†Another source on the players’ side said of Brees’ comments, “Don’t read too much into that. We’re not there yet, and there are still a lot of issues in play.â€

 

Source: Yahoo! Sports

 

Fucking christ.

[Tridentdawgpound 1,043]

When every other report says it close and one says otherwise...I'll side with the every other one.

[Krawnka 282]

I don't buy ANY of it. At this point, for me, it's all BS. I'll believe it when I see both sides come out and say that a deal is done.

 

 

This +1

[Vin+ 3,121]

The significant progress in Thursday's negotiations came in the form of the owners' conceding a fifth-year option in the contracts of players selected in the top 10 overall picks, according to ESPN's John Clayton.

 

Owners have agreed to a proposal that will grant the top 10 picks an average of the top 10 salaries at their position in the fifth year. All first-rounders are expected to receive four-year contracts plus a fifth option year. A team option can be executed in the third or the fourth year. If all matters in the rookie wage debate are settled Thursday, NFL Network's Albert Breer estimates that there's a "50/50 chance" of a handshake deal in Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan's chambers by Tuesday.

 

Source: ESPN.com

[SteVo+ 3,702]

[FartWaffles 1,857]

Per Rotoworld:

 

According to ESPN's Sal Paolantonio, a settlement of the NFL's collective bargaining agreement is now on the "fast track."

 

NFL Network's Albert Breer hears Thursday will be a late night of ongoing talks, with 12 hours already in the books. At the current pace, ESPN's Chris Mortensen estimates a final agreement could be reached in 24-48 hours. Two hurdles are being cleared with the rookie salary scale and arbitration system overhauled. Still on the agenda: retirees benefits and this year's free agency rules. The best guess on the latter is a three-day exclusive negotiating window with no rights of first refusal.

 

Source: Chris Mortensen on Twitter

 

:yay:

[RazorStar 4,025]

It's Mort, don't hold your testes...

[FartWaffles 1,857]

It's Mort, don't hold your testes...

Haha I know, but it's just nice to be hearing positive news about the CBA for a change. If they can actually get all of this shit settled in about a week or so I will be so freakin' ecstatic!

[BoneKrusher+ 1,276]

from ESPN:

some of this report has prolly been posted.

 

NEW YORK -- A source with knowledge of the NFL talks told ESPN's Sal Paolantonio on Thursday night that the negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement are headed toward a settlement.

 

The sides have agreed in principle to a rookie wage system, sources told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter earlier Thursday evening. Since that is no longer an impediment to a deal, the source told Paolantonio, "both sides are intent on working through each issue line by line to get this deal done."

 

In the time since the rookie wage system was overcome, the progress has been significant with almost unforeseen momentum, surprising even the participants, another source said.

 

NFL Labor Negotiations and Lockout

 

The NFL lockout began on March 11, but an end appears near. ESPN.com Topics keeps you up to date on all of the latest on the labor situation. More »

 

 

With the sides working at a frenzied pace, they reached a tentative agreement to make the 2011 salary cap $120 million, a source told ESPN.com NFL senior writer John Clayton.

 

Since February, the players have been willing to accept a $141 million player cost number -- which includes both salaries and benefits paid to players -- per team, multiple sources told Clayton. By agreeing to a $120 million cap, the players allow $21 million per team to be in benefits. Now that a cap number has been formed, teams need to determine the minimum cash payroll number, or what teams will be required to spend.

 

The guaranteed spend forces every team to put up more than 90 percent of the salary cap in cash each season. A couple of weeks ago, the owners talked about having the guaranteed spend number at close to 100 percent of the salary cap, according to sources. That number and percentage could still be adjusted.

 

The 2009 cap was $123 million but was moved by $5 million to $128 million due to a one-time adjustment called a cash adjustment mechanism. The change is an aberrational adjustment, due to the fact that 2009 was the last capped season of the previous CBA.

 

Last season was an uncapped year.

 

Because a 2011 salary cap of $120 million could cause problems for teams such as Dallas, Pittsburgh and others that currently spend more than that, one of the provisions being discussed is a one-player cap exemption for each team, according to a source. That exemption would be a $3 million credit in 2011 that would count against benefits paid out, a source said. That exemption, which could drop to $1.5 million next year, could save the jobs of players.

 

The exemption transition would be similar to the minimum salary benefit that allows teams to sign a veteran player to a one-year contract at a greatly reduced cap number. Full details of that option weren't immediately announced.

 

The work to be done could still scuttle a deal, but that is unlikely, a source told ESPN. A player source told ESPN's Andrew Brandt that the sudden surge in progress is due to a "sense of urgency" arriving in the talks Thursday.

 

A player source told ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen that talks were beginning to wrap up for the night around 10 p.m. ET "on a positive note." The source said talks are expected to pick up on the same note at 9 a.m. ET on Friday, and NFLPA lawyer Jeffrey Kessler told ESPN after Thursday's 13-hour session that the sides could stay through the weekend.

 

Sources told Mortensen that the two sides continued to work on open issues including workman's compensation, right-of-first-refusals on this year's free agent class, settlement on the television damages and the Brady vs. NFL antitrust case and issues relating to commercial sponsorships.

 

Additionally, owners want the NFL Players Association to recertify as a union and settle all grievances through arbitration without judicial oversight. To gain advantages on many of the remaining issues, sources say the players may be willing to grant the owners' request for a comprehensive arbitration system without judicial oversight, a thorn in the owners' side since 1993 on grievance cases that have been appealed to U.S. District Judge David Doty.

 

In exchange for the NFLPA surrendering judicial oversight of the pending agreement, an overhaul of the NFL-NFLPA arbitration system is in the works, sources told Mortensen. It would include a panel of former judges to serve as arbitrators.

 

Although sources had told Mortensen earlier Thursday that commissioner discipline would be subject to arbitrator appeal, sources said late Thursday night that was unlikely. However, other matters of discipline, including drug suspensions, will still be subject to review under the proposed system, the sources said. Terms are still being negotiated, according to sources.

 

The players currently are unwilling to grant NFL teams extra right-of-first-refusals on this year's free agent class, because many of those free agents were restricted under last year's uncapped system. Owners have asked that they have the right to designate three free agents whose contracts with other teams they would have the right to match.

 

It is unclear whether the talks will shift to Minneapolis on Monday. Judge Arthur Boylan, the court-ordered mediator who is on vacation in Ireland, has ordered both sides to meet in Minneapolis on Tuesday, July 19. But if the deal is completed, or close to completion, the negotiators may stay in New York at the Manhattan law firm where the complex work is slowly coming to a close.

 

The rookie wage system had been a key part of that complex work in recent weeks. Exact language of the rookie wage system is being worked out by both sides' lawyers, sources told Mortensen, but a management negotiator agreed that the rookie system was "done."

 

According to sources, the terms agreed to on the rookie wage system are, in part, as follows:

 

• Five-year contracts, with a team option for the fifth year.

 

• If the team option is exercised, in the fifth year the top 10 picks would receive a salary equal to the average of the top 10 player salaries at their respective positions. That money would be guaranteed if the option is exercised after the third year of the contract.

 

• If the team option is exercised, in the fifth year picks 11-32 would receive a salary equal to the average of the Nos. 3-25 salaries at their respective positions. That money would be guaranteed if the option is exercised after the third year of the contract.

 

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and eight of the 10 members of the owners' labor committee were present at Thursday's session, including Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys and John Mara of the New York Giants. Two new participants Thursday were Green Bay Packers CEO Mark Murphy and San Diego Chargers owner Dean Spanos.

 

NFL Players Association chief DeMaurice Smith and a half-dozen current or former players also were there, including Indianapolis Colts center Jeff Saturday, Baltimore Ravens defensive back Domonique Foxworth and Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora. Umenyiora is one of 10 player plaintiffs in a federal antitrust lawsuit against the league.

 

Sources told ESPN that Atlanta Falcons offensive lineman Tyson Clabo, a pending free agent, also is in attendance.

 

Despite the progress, Ravens cornerback Domonique Foxworth said as he left Thursday's NFL negotiations: "All the reports that are floating around, there really is no deal until our players approve it."

 

With deadlines coming up next week to get training camps and the preseason started, one owner told ESPN's Paolantonio on Wednesday that owners are trying to figure out how to get the league operational in time "so that we don't lose a week of preseason and we don't lose $200 million."

 

The Hall of Fame game that opens the exhibition season is scheduled for Aug. 7 between the St. Louis Rams and Chicago Bears, who hope to be able to start training camp at the end of next week.

 

 

i think we're just about ready for some football!