NFL owners may opt out of labor deal next week (1 Viewer)

[kooldak]

By DAVE GOLDBERG/AP Football Writer

NEW YORK - NFL owners could opt out of their agreement with the players union next week, leaving open the possibility of a 2010 season without a salary cap. The labor agreement is on the agenda for the league meetings in Atlanta on Tuesday.

"If they don't do it next week then it will be soon after that," Gene Upshaw, the executive director of the NFL Players Association, said Friday. "They want to opt out and we don't."

In the agreement signed in March of 2006, both sides were given the right to get out of the deal by Nov. 8, 2008. League officials noted that doesn't mean that a decision could not be made earlier.

That contract was due to expire at the end of the 2013 season. If the owners nullify it, a move that has seemed inevitable for a while, it would end after the 2011 season with 2010 being uncapped.

The end of the agreement does not necessarily mean that there will be a work stoppage, although Upshaw has predicted that the owners could lock out the players in 2011. But the early opt out also could lead to earlier talks on a new deal, which the owners feel has leaned too far toward the players - Upshaw already has had several preliminary meetings, including one recently with Jerry Richardson of Carolina and Pat Bowlen of Denver, two of the owners expected to be involved in the negotiations.

Full Story - Houma Courier

 

[raginsaintsfan]

How does this affect the small market teams? Could it remove the parody and stockpile talent for a team like Dallas b\c an owner like JJones loves to flaunt his stack of chips. I feel the salary cap gives every team a chance to compete with only a small core of really good players, To me the Talent pool in the NFL is relatively weak and it's the salary cap that keeps teams from buying championships (Like Dallas did in the 90's) I much prefer that good management, good coaching and good team chemistry should be the formula for deciding who is the best team not the amount of Cash laid on the table. This to me is exactly the kind of thing that Forces small market teams like the Saints to sell to larger market areas. I don't like the thought of that at all.

 

[DadsDream]

MSNBC
NFL owners opt out of labor agreement
But there is no 'threat of interruption for at least the next three seasons'
updated 1 hour, 23 minutes ago

ATLANTA - NFL owners voted unanimously Tuesday to end their labor agreement with the players’ union in 2011. The league and union, however, insisted the next three seasons won’t be interrupted by a contract dispute and both sides are working toward a new deal.

“We have guaranteed three more years of NFL football,” commissioner Roger Goodell said after the owners used the opt-out clause built into the agreement signed more than two years ago. “We are not in dire straits. We’ve never said that. But the agreement isn’t working, and we’re looking to get a more fair an equitable deal.”

The decision by the owners was anticipated, although not this early. The 2006 agreement allowed either side to negate the contract by Nov. 8. Godell said the owners acted early “to get talks rolling.”

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