Owners Unanimously Vote to Opt Out of CBA
 

Serve to you, player's association...

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3404596

The big question is what does this do to rookie contracts?

Since we still have an agreement through the next 3 seasons I would think it will have minimal impact this year. Next years crop though might get interesting.

I swear the owners and players collectively are going to kill the golden goose. It's a great game with plenty of money to go around for everyone. But the constant brinkmanship by both sides is getting really old.

Upshaw is really going to have to stiffen up or he's going to lose his job.

Let me tell you why I suck as a sales man. Let's say I go into a guy's office, let's say he's even remotely interested in buying something. Well then I get all excited. I'm like Jojo the idiot circus boy with a pretty new pet. Now the pet is my possible sale. Hello there pretty little pet, I love you. And then I stoke it, and I pet it, and I massage it. Hehe I love it, I love my little naughty pet, you're naughty. And then I take my naughty pet and I go
[makes ripping noises as he tears apart the roll]
Uuuuuuh. I killed it. I killed my sale. And that's when I blow it. That's when people like us have gotta forge ahead, Helen. Am I right?

From what I've been hearing, the latest CBA is murdering some of the lower income owners. The owners also all need to be on the same page here or the player's ass'n will divide and conquer.

WooWoo closer to the big owner's dream of uncapped seasons

Great. We can import the imbalanced and pathetic MLB model into the NFL, and ensure that half the league is totally unable to field competitive teams. Terrific. Keen. Wonderful.

NOT.

Yeah, if they go the MLB route, I'm out.

Bring on the strike. They need to fix the rookie salary problem.

Yay! :rolleyes: Let's kill the greatest sport in the world!

NFL owners vote unanimously to opt out of labor deal

By John Clayton
ESPN.com
(Archive)
<!-- end promo plug -->
<!-- end story header --><!-- begin left column --> <!-- begin page tools --> Updated: May 20, 2008, 11:45 AM ET
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NFL Owners Opt Out Of Labor Contract
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<!-- template inline -->ATLANTA -- The NFL officially notified its players union on Tuesday that it will opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement, which could lead to a season without a salary cap in 2010 and a possible lockout in 2011.
Owners voted unanimously Tuesday morning to opt out of the deal, which was extended in March 2006. The NFL had until November to opt out, but decided to do it early instead of waiting for the deadline.

The league, however, emphasized that it will keep negotiating with the NFL Players Association and said games will be played "without threat of interruption for at least the next three seasons."

"A collective bargaining agreement has to work for both sides," the NFL said Tuesday morning. "If the agreement provides inadequate incentives to invest in the future, it will not work for management or labor. And, in the context of a professional sports league, if the agreement does not afford all clubs an opportunity to be competitive, the league can lose its appeal."

NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw had been anticipating the early termination of the agreement. He met with owners two weeks ago, and from that meeting he asked for audited financial reports from owners to document their economic problems.

<!-- PULL-QUOTE (BEGIN) --> http://assets.espn.go.com/i/story/de.../dropQuote.gif Roger [Goodell] e-mailed me this morning [and] told me they had a unanimous agreement to terminate the deal. My response back to him? 'What a surprise.' http://assets.espn.go.com/i/story/de...opQuoteEnd.gif

-- NFLPA president Gene Upshaw

<!-- PULL-QUOTE (END) --> "Roger [Goodell] e-mailed me this morning [and] told me they had a unanimous agreement to terminate the deal," Upshaw told ESPN's Chris Mortensen. "My response back to him? 'What a surprise.' "
According to the NFL, clubs are obligated by the collective bargaining agreement to spend almost $4.5 billion on player costs in 2008. Players received around 60 percent of league revenues. Growing costs of stadium construction and operations also figured into Tuesday's decision.

"The current labor agreement does not adequately recognize the cost of generating the revenues of which the players receive the largest shares; nor does the agreement recognize that those costs have increased substantially -- and at an ever increasing rate -- in recent years during a difficult economic climate in our country," the NFL said.
"It was exactly what we expected. I'm glad they did it now because we knew it was coming," Upshaw said. "But this is no surprise and the process will move forward. We'll have more to talk about later.

<table align="right" cellspacing="12" width="127"><tbody><tr><td><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="124"> <tbody><tr><td bgcolor="#dddddd"><center>http://espn.go.com/i/sportsnation/sn05/inlinepoll_h.gif</center></td></tr> <tr><td bgcolor="#dddddd">Thanks for voting. Check back shortly for results.</td></tr> </tbody></table> </td></tr></tbody></table><!-- next two graphs from Wall Street Journal --> "When we negotiated this deal we had two stop points that you could decide to terminate, either side. Obviously, the owners have decided to take this termination early. We expected it. But it means that there is football through 2010, not through 2012." NFLPA outside counsel Jeffrey Kessler told the Wall Street Journal prior to Tuesday's announcement that if the owners were to opt out, the union "plans to ask for a greater share of revenues."

Kessler added that "Every deal we've gotten with them, we've received another increase"
"We are resolved to do our best to achieve a fair agreement that will allow labor peace to continue through and beyond the 2011 season," the league said Tuesday.

John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com. ESPN NFL reporter Chris Mortensen and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

If any team in this league has "economic problems", then they just need to go out of business.

I would have to see an example, I find it extremely difficult to believe that any owner or ownership group in the NFL is not making money.