News Brief By The FRO Staff
Those who follow the NFL betting lines at BetUs were all dreading last Thursday’s deadline for the CBA in the NFL labor battle to come and go, so we could officially kick off the beginning of a lockout that seemed inevitable. But now, the deadline has been extended and it could be a very good sign for the players, owners, and especially, the fans.
It was agreed to on Friday that the deadline, which was to be at midnight Eastern Time on Thursday night, would be extended by seven days in order to give the players and owners more time at the bargaining table. One way to look at it is, the players struck a major blow and took a lot of the owners’ leverage away when a judge ruled earlier this week that the owners wouldn’t receive any of the $4 billion they were due to get from their television broadcast partners. The players gave the owners the right to negotiate with the networks to get the most money, but the owners also threw in a stipulation that they would get paid no matter what and in the case of DirecTV, they would get 9% on top of the $ billion they were due. Now, without that money to fall back, the owners will be quicker to get the ball rolling on a deal.
This is good news because we were preparing for long periods of time where the two sides weren’t even going to talk, as the owners would be able to wait out the players while sitting on this war chest. But any time that the players and owners are at least at the table and discussing things, we can be hopeful that the two can come to an agreement. United States President Barack Obama even chimed in with his two cents, saying that there is enough money to go around for everyone in the NFL, and in this time of economic troubles, the two sides should be able to make a deal. For the sake of players, owners, fans and fantasy football players, let’s hope the President is right.
(Eds. Note: while the two sides still clearly have some differences, they seem to be getting closer to an agreement, even though late Wed. Night we had herd reports that the 18 game schedule is no longer up for negotiation according to the Players association…)
Original Story:
http://www.footballreportersonline.co...
