Official NFL lockout thread

MINNEAPOLIS -- The NFL lockout is about to head to court.

With the lockout at three weeks and no end in sight, attorneys for the NFL and its locked-out players will go before a federal judge on Wednesday in the first round of their fight over the future of the $9 billion business -- including the 2011 season.

The players -- with stars like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees among the plaintiffs and retirees and yet-to-play rookies joining them in support -- are asking for an immediate end to the lockout on the basis of "irreparable harm" to their careers. The injunction request accompanies the antitrust lawsuit filed against the league after labor talks broke down on March 11.

Another lawsuit was filed Tuesday by a draft-eligible Middle Tennessee State wide receiver who alleges the league violated antitrust laws and created an anticompetitive market.

The fight is complicated and perhaps uninteresting to the average football plan in early April when the scheduled start of the season is still five months away. But the fate of everyone's favorite team hangs in the balance.

"Even though football is enjoying this unprecedented popularity ... nothing is invulnerable," said David Allen Larson, a professor of labor and employment law at Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul, Minn., where U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson will hold the hearing.

The first work stoppage in the NFL since the 1987 strike -- and the first in any major U.S sports league since the NHL's lost 2004-05 season -- has developed into one of the all-time nasty disputes in sports. The players balked at more financial concessions when the owners wouldn't open their books, and the owners insist the decertification of the union is a sham cooked up only to apply leverage in the fight.

Now, they don't even agree on which laws apply to the case, with the owners arguing for labor law and the players preferring antitrust rules.

Nelson isn't likely to rule on the injunction request Wednesday. She could side with the players and grant the injunction, putting pro football back in business. Or she could side with the owners and either deny the injunction or wait to decide until the NLRB rules on the league's contention that decertification was an improper bargaining ploy.

The winner would have fresh leverage whenever talks on a new collective bargaining agreement resume. Of course, whatever Nelson decides almost surely will be appealed.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11096/1137336-66.stm#ixzz1Ij3NDxzY

Players urging judge to end NFL lockout

Oral arguments begin this morning in a federal antitrust case that could end the NFL's labor lockout — or forever change the game of American professional football.

Accusing NFL owners of acting like an illegal monopoly, union players want U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson in Minnesota to order the league to end the lockout and let athletes return to work.

The NFL, however, has begged Nelson to punt the case to the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, where owners have filed a claim alleging athletes won't negotiate in good faith.

"To me, it seems like the judge might try to find the best judicial tool that will enable both sides to get back to the bargaining table," said Arizona sports lawyer and business scholar Jeff Levine.

"If that tool is taking away the owners' lockout, then she might use that. We also might see an order that gets both sides back into mediation because the court doesn't want to referee this labor dispute like a baby-sitter."

Negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement broke down March 11, with the NFL Players Association decertifying as a union, and owners imposing a nationwide lockout barring players from earning paychecks.

Both sides have been dickering for nearly two years over wage concessions, safety issues, rookie pay scales, drug testing, an expanded schedule and other topics, apparently with little progress.

In their legal filings, the owners have called the union decertification a "sham" and complained that if players get their way, a "debilitating cloud of legal uncertainty" will descend on the League, ruining competitive parity as the wealthiest teams buy up the best players.

The players, however, have lampooned NFL demands that they reform into a powerful union, arguing that they have every right to decertify and take on what they consider an illegal price-fixing syndicate of billionaires.

Read more: Players urging judge to end NFL lockout - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/s_730845.html#ixzz1InZpYdYj

Rooney 'optimistic' for deal

NFL owners and players have yet to agree on where labor talks will resume, but Steelers president Art Rooney II remains "optimistic" the 2011 season will not be interrupted by the league's first work stoppage since 1987.

"It's only April, so there's certainly time to get it done," Rooney said. "But the other side of the coin is sooner or later we've got to get serious, and I hope it's sooner."

A federal judge in Minnesota conveyed a similar sentiment last week.

Judge Susan Richard Nelson prodded the sides to resume mediation for the first time since collective bargaining agreement talks broke off in March, prompting players to dissolve their union and owners to institute a lockout.

The players' lawyers argued Wednesday that the NFL is an illegal monopoly and pushed for an injunction that would end the lockout. The owners contend the players decertified their union in name only and still are acting as a collective bargaining unit.

Nelson made it clear it is in both sides' best interests to resume negotiating while she writes her order, which could take several weeks.

When asked the significance of Wednesday's hearing, Rooney said, "It's hard to read much into it at this point. We just have to wait and see what the result is. Hopefully it leads us back to the bargaining table. Sooner or later that's what has to happen. There can't be a resolution without that happening."

Management and labor have been deadlocked for two years on a number of issues, most notably how to split revenue from an enterprise that generated more than $9 billion last year.

The latest difference between the players and 32 owners, in a sense, is over home-field advantage.

The players want negotiations to recommence under supervision of the Minnesota court, in which the judge "would have the power to bind the agreement," according to their spokesman, Carl Francis.

The league wants to go back to federal mediators in Washington, D.C., where players left the bargaining table March 11 after claiming the owners weren't seriously negotiating.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league "will follow the direction of the court."

Read more: Rooney 'optimistic' for deal - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/s_731589.html#ixzz1J6Ox9UVc

BGSU A Dub wrote:

At the bar, I was with a couple of guys (one is a Bengals fan and one is a Browns fan [he wore his Browns jersey to watch the Super Bowl at my place]) and they both had opposing views of what side they were taking on the lockout issue. I was pretty hammered and don't remember the conversation, but I do remember which side each person was on. Any guesses?

I'd guess they both support the lockout. Neither of them has much to look forward to with the start of another NFL season.

Wallace108 wrote:

BGSU A Dub wrote:

At the bar, I was with a couple of guys (one is a Bengals fan and one is a Browns fan [he wore his Browns jersey to watch the Super Bowl at my place]) and they both had opposing views of what side they were taking on the lockout issue. I was pretty hammered and don't remember the conversation, but I do remember which side each person was on. Any guesses?

I'd guess they both support the lockout. Neither of them has much to look forward to with the start of another NFL season.

Judge orders NFL sides back to negotiating table

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The NFL and its locked-out players have been ordered to start talking again.

The federal judge handling the lawsuit against the league told both sides Monday they will participate in court-supervised mediation, saying she still is considering whether to grant the players' request to lift the lockout that's been in place for a month.

The players got their wish, with the talks held in the federal courts in Minnesota rather than the collective bargaining setting where the sides unsuccessfully met last month.

U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson said formal mediation will begin Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan at his office in the Minneapolis federal courthouse. Boylan will meet with representatives for the players today, then representatives of the NFL on Wednesday.

Read more: Judge orders NFL sides back to negotiating table - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/s_731790.html#ixzz1JHmQO2kD

NFL's Goodell 'looking forward' to mediation
Thursday, April 14, 2011
By Dave Campbell, The Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS -- Different state. Different mediator. Same disagreements.

One month and two days after the NFL and its players cut off negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement and put the 2011 season in peril, the two sides will return to the table for court-ordered mediation Thursday with a key legal ruling on the lockout still pending.

NFL executives met with U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan on Wednesday for five hours the day before the first talks between the league and the players since the middle of March.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11104/1139361-66.stm#ixzz1JTaJU1gh

If either side was actually listening to the fans this is what they would settle on:

1) Do not make an 18 game season
2) Reduce the price of the pre-season tickets to half price
3) Make a rookie salary cap
4) Leave a greater percentage for the athletes who prove themselves instead for the instant idiots like Ryan Leaf or Vince Young
5) Share the revenue 52% owners, 48% players, afterall the owners are more on the hook for the stadium (well unless the city signs some dumb ass agreement - see the Saints), as well as staffing the place (assuming those salaries come out of that revenue which I believe they do)
6) Lower ticket prices across the board
7) Make the Super Bowl affordable and available to the true fans in the league instead of corporate sponsors.
8) Have Roger Goodell and DeMaurice Smith retire immediately after the new CBA is signed.
9) All the rules that Goodell attempted to put in place during his tenure become null and void
10) QBs are now considered football players again
11) WRs can now still hit defensive players
12) Defenseless players (WRs) rules are still in affect
13) Tom Brady must remove his skirt if he wants to play in the NFL
14) Each NFL city will have an opportunity to host a Super Bowl
15) All NFL committees will consist of owners, players, coaches, and fans
16) A standardized concession menu will be in place and prices will no longer cost you an arm and a leg.

Yeah, that's just a start.

If I were the owners, I'd simply start over. Make my own sallery cap agreement and pay structure between ownership. Any player that wants in can get in any that doesn't get in is done for good. They'd have all the players back pretty quickly and even if all the players quit they could simply charge half price for tickets for a couple of seasons. After 3-4 seasons the product would be very good again anyways.

No one forced anyone to be an NFL player. They don't have to do it. If they don't like their jobs they should do what every other working joe has to do. Either find a new job, start a different career or deal with it because the alternative options simply are not as good.

The players need to play or move on, IMO. No excusses.

Associated Press

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- The on-again, off-again NFL lockout is on again.

Hours after NFL players reported to work for the first time in nearly two months, the league announced late Friday the lockout would resume immediately, thanks to an appeals court ruling in the league's favor.

"Looks like we're unemployed again," tweeted Jets wide receiver Braylon Edwards, scheduled to become a free agent.

The move capped a chaotic week that began with U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson lifting the 45-day lockout on Monday. She denied the NFL's appeal on Wednesday and the league took halting steps toward getting back to football Friday.



(Read More:) http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6451701

BGSU A Dub wrote:

I just loved that Goodell got boo'd at the draft.

"I got you" he says.

Yeah, how funny was that? He was visibly irritated and taken aback like he didn't understand why he was being booed. Pure fuckstick.

BGSU A Dub wrote:

I also noticed that instead of doing the traditional handshake he started doing the "bro" handshake.


Real professional Goodell.

You've gotta remember... he doesn't have many friends these days. He's got to try to look cool somehow.

BGSU A Dub wrote:

Cool or Tool?

Cos he definitely was rocking the Tool.

He was rocking Tool?

He may be cooler than I thought!





Of course, I would have just stink PALMED him.

ESPN.com news services


MINNEAPOLIS -- A federal appeals court agreed Tuesday to fast track the NFL's request to put its labor lockout in place until a new deal is finally worked out.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis set a June 3 hearing, with 30 minutes of oral argument for each side, before Judges Duane Benton, Kermit Bye and Steven Colloton.

U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson issued her injunction stopping the lockout on April 25 and denied the NFL's appeal two days later. The league appealed to the 8th Circuit, and the same three-judge panel issued a temporary stay of Nelson's order on Friday.

The lockout was put back in place by the owners a few hours later. The 8th Circuit is still deciding whether to make the stay more permanent, until the appeals process can play out.


(Read More:) http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6472988

5/16/11

MINNEAPOLIS -- The NFL's lockout remains in place, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. That means the league likely won't get back to business until at least next month -- and maybe much longer than that. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the lockout can stay until a full appeal is heard on whether it is legal. That hearing is scheduled for June 3 in St. Louis, before the same panel that issued this 2-1 decision.

The appellate court said it believes the NFL has proven it "likely will suffer some degree of irreparable harm without a stay." The court also cast doubt on the conclusions of U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson, who ruled April 25 that the lockout should be lifted to save the players from irreversible damage. The 8th Circuit panel put her decision on hold four days later.

Read more

Link, BG?

Buddha Bus wrote:

Link, BG?

It's there, you just have to click "Read more".

I keep it clean

BGSU A Dub wrote:

Buddha Bus wrote:

Link, BG?

It's there, you just have to click "Read more".

I keep it clean

Ooooooh... tricky!

ESPN.com news services


MINNEAPOLIS -- The court-ordered mediation between the NFL and its locked-out players ended early Tuesday afternoon but the league's lead negotiator said progress is continuing to be made in mediation.

The sides will resume talks June 7 just days after a June 3 hearing in a federal appeals court regarding a lower court's ruling that temporarily lifted the lockout.

Jeff Pash, the NFL's lead negotiator in the ongoing labor talks with the former players' union told ESPN's Sal Paolantonio that he was happy with the progress made in Tuesday's talks.

"We had a good discussion today," Pash told ESPN. "I've said it many times the only way we're going to get this accomplished is face-to-face dialogue and really digging into the issues and I think we had a good step in that direction today. And I hope that we'll continue, confident it's going to continue and we'll be back early next month to continue that process."



(Read More:) http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6559848

Quote :

"We had a good discussion today," Pash told ESPN. "I've said it many times the only way we're going to get this accomplished is face-to-face dialogue and really digging into the issues and I think we had a good step in that direction today. And I hope that we'll continue, confident it's going to continue and we'll be back early next month to continue that process."

Here's an idea ... lock them in a room with Casey Hampton and no food until a deal gets done. Eventually, Casey is going to get hungry and we'll need to eat ... something. That should be an incentive to speed things up a little. They'd have about 10 minutes to come to an agreement.

This is not good news.

Court arguments paint bleak lockout picture

ST. LOUIS – The venue was standing-room only and the performances were brilliant, quick and skillful on both sides.

But if you’re a fan of football as opposed to the law, a lot of what was said Friday was disheartening. If the arguments between attorney Paul Clement, who represented the NFL owners, and Ted Olson, who represented the players, were any indication, there is still a long way to go before football gets played.

Particularly if Clement and the owners are correct.

In front of a three-judge panel at the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, Clement and Olson exchanged their widely differing views on how the varying labor laws and the NFL’s expired collective bargaining agreement should be interpreted. From Olson’s view, what the players have done by decertifying as a union and filing an antitrust case should be allowed to proceed.

From the owners’ standpoint, they still need time to figure it out. Lots of time. Specifically, perhaps a full year of time as Clement suggested at one point. Ultimately, the NFL is trying to make it clear that it can shut down the game for at least a year if that’s what it takes to get the deal it wants from the players.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AvtiygoT16PZsRmANTIWeh1DubYF?slug=jc-cole_bleak_nfl_lockout_picture_painted_at_appeals_court_060311