The National Football League descended Friday into turmoil as negotiations between owners and players broke off, setting up a potentially lengthy court battle that could have serious consequences for both the league and the sports business in general.
After spending seven-plus hours negotiating in Washington, D.C., in a 17th day of mediation, leaders of the NFL and the players union said late Friday afternoon that talks had stalled and blamed the other side for the meltdown.
Shortly thereafter the union filed paperwork to decertify and ten players, including stars Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, filed an antitrust lawsuit against the league. The suit seeks to prevent the owners from locking out the players. Owners said Friday evening they hadn't yet decided whether to lock out the players.
When Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Drew Brees join an anti-trust lawsuit against the NFL owners, things are seriously out of control. This is going to get very ugly I think.
7 users commented in " Bye – bye 2011 NFL season… "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackI hope so, I hate football :p
Sigh. We Packer fans were looking forward to a potential repeat next year, with the team being so young and all
Two first-time negotiators, each trying to prove to his constituents that he is the right man for the job. Both have to “win,” so the negotiation is in court.
They might work it out yet.
I suppose it’s possible that they can still work it out, but the clock is ticking and the NFL season doesn’t actually start in August, it starts in March. So they are already losing time.
I think they can still do the draft since the players don’t participate in that, but there will be no tryouts, no workouts, not mini-camps and no trainers working with players from this point until they have a new agreement. Since it appears a new agreement will mean reforming a new players’ union, that doesn’t seem to be anything that’s going to happen quickly, and now with some high-profile payers literally making a federal case out of it, things are likely to get worse before they get better.
I just hope they don’t cancel the WNBA.
.. or the lingerie football league…
Amen…
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