The players and the owners are continuing their meetings with the goal of resolving the lockout and getting back to the game of football. So as we move closer toward the 100 day of the lockout, there is still much to be done on the business of football to make that a reality.
Sources throughout the media are mixed as to the results of the discussions, however one fact is that discussions are happening.
That’s great but as most of us know the devil is always in the details and difference of a few percentage points here or there, 16 verses 18, carve outs, thresholds or conflicts with antitrust laws are not insignificant details to resolve.
NFLPA spokesman George Atallah said yesterday via Twitter that he isn’t predicting “when a resolution to the lockout will come” and added in another tweet: “We’re focusing all our efforts on a long-term settlement, agreement and resolution. That’s what we can control.”
DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFLPA made a recent statement that might shed some insight into Atallah’s statement. “The National Football league rests on the bedrock of antitrust laws and the CBA came out of conflict from those antitrust laws and resolutions to our issues will not only involve the mediation of our differences but at the end of the day recognize some sort of solution to the antitrust laws.”
In the oral arguments before the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals both sides spent a good deal of time on the nature of the dispute with the players’ lead counsel Ted Olson arguing it was an antitrust matter and the NFL’s lead counsel Paul Clement arguing it was a labor matter. At at the end of the hearing Judge Bye said, “the parties should negotiate as a ruling will be something neither side will like.”
While both sides have said a resolution will come from mediation, they have throughout their history utilized the courts as a backstop to protect themselves. I would imagine this is a delicate issue in the current negotiations.
While it appears everyone is following the court’s advice and is working to come up with something that they will like, or can at least live with over the long term, any deal is really in the details.
