Hypothetical: new CBA is announced, Jerry resigns the big names...

[pstall]

much like reading your posts

thanks merkin

[Fiz]

And you did?

yep i generally took 21-24 credit hours a semester in college because im incredibly intelligent and could handle the workload.

[Kevin Greene]

Quite frankly, the owners are terrified by the idea of the player decertification. It would open them up to a billion anti-trust lawsuits they wouldn't have a chance of winning.

According to Bob Kraft, one of the main four leading the owners' charge, there's now a feeling that the CBA can get done.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/10/12/kraft-says-labor-deal-will-could-come-before-end-of-season/?related=1

Let's suppose that the CBA is finalized next week, and the next day Richardson announces new contracts for Kalil, Beason, DeAngelo, and Anderson, who in my opinion has earned it.

Does that change your opinion of him this season?

Depends who he hires as Head Coach.

[Zaximus]

Depends who he hires as Head Coach.

This.

I think he'll need to hire a coach that people know. I'm not saying I WANT it, but if he brings in someone like Cowher or Gruden, people may let some things slide.

He should seriously bring in someone like Parcells or something.

[PantherExpress]

I'm hoping/expecting him to do this when a new CBA is in place. My opinion would only change for the worse if we didn't get these contracts done.

Get the resigns done. Keep Double Trouble together, don't trade Smitty, and next year we will have a lot to offer a new coach and along with a top pick, this team will get back on track.

[Darth Bobo]

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled against the NFL in an antitrust lawsuit leveraged by American Needle. The reason for the lawsuit was that the NFL acted as one corporation attempting to make an exclusive deal with Reebok to make all apparel with a NFL logo, this illegal act shut out any possibility for American Needle competing to make that apparell for any of the 32 teams.

The Supreme Court ruled that the NFL is not one corporation, but 32 distinct enterprises, and that the NFL cannot make an exclusive deal with Reebok that prohibits any of the 32 teams from using American Needle to make its merchandise. The verdict also affects the negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement.

If the players for the NFL's 32 teams succeed in decertifying the NFLPA then the NFL cannot negotiate a salary cap or compensation which are have been defined in the current CBA, because that would be illegal according to antitrust law. In other words, decertifying doesn't empower the union at the beginning of a meaningful CBA discussion, rather it is THE END OF IT.

Without a certified player's union, there can be no CBA. The negotiations for a new CBA could not begin until a new player's union were formed.

There is a second problem of great significance. Decisions among NFL owners are made this way: The first three votes can only pass with a 75% majority of the owners saying AYE. The 4th and final vote can only pass with a simple majority.

It is fair to assume that nationally renowned teams which make a lot of money off of apparel and TV will not support any course of action which results in a lockout of players that spans the regular season. These owners have a priority is to see the game played on time, no matter what including yielding to the players union, their roster moves this season speak to that end.

However, teams which operate on a smaller profit margin, like the Panthers or other extension teams will be more likely to support a lockout which may include regular season time and beyond, since they have committed to an entrenched position against the union which threatens decertification. This means that there could be a showdown between owners like Jerry Jones and our Big Cat, and that if these owners cannot agree to the terms they expect from players by the third 75% vote, then there is likely to be some form of tyranny of the majority among owners. If the "financially endangered" franchises lose in the 4th simple majority vote, is it not conceivable that some of the 32 teams may opt out of the 2011 season?

Finally, universities are already anticipating, or at least exploiting the threat of, a lockout at least through March, and have been advising their junior players to remain in college for another year, and not to plan on entering the NFL draft. Add to that, that USC has been ruled out of the NCAA championship, and NFL fans are looking at a weaker draft class if there even is one. That means that having a lot of picks, like the PAtriots do, will not necessarily be that great, but having an early pick may be more important in this draft than it normally would be, due to the relative lack of participants.