Injunction Granted
United States District Court Judge Susan Richard Nelson granted an injunction lifting the lockout of NFL players. Whoo hoo! ♪♪ Ding dong! The witch is dead! The lockout witch is DEAD! ♫
ALRIGHT! So now players can get back to practice. But there are no practices yet. Well at least free agency can start; time to see our teams make the moves to bring them to the next level. Unfortunately, I have not heard about anyone on the phones or being flown in. Certainly, teams can start strategizing draft day trades. Or not…most analysts are suggesting that it is very unlikely that teams will attempt any transactions involving active players.
I don’t get it. If I am a player, I would think that a victory in court is cause to prance around and shout, “WE WON! WE WON!” instead of, “What the HELL did we win?”
So What?
Even under the rosiest, best case scenario, the injunction of the lockout leaves a ton of unanswered questions about how to proceed in the absence of a new collective bargaining agreement. The worst case scenario is that the owners do the absolute minimum, within the boundaries of the law, and there is a functional lockout instead of a physical one. Until the players and owners come to terms on a collective bargaining agreement for the 2011 season, there will be no useful, functional National Football League as we have known it.
Just because football operations are not back to “normal” does not mean that the players did not score a significant victory. By enjoining the lockout, the owners have lost a substantial bargaining chip: the ability to out-wait and out-sweat the players. With a lockout in place, players were eventually going to miss paychecks.
As I have pointed out countless times, the average, typical NFL player makes more money than I do or you (likely) do in a year, but is not rich or set for life. Like you or me, they have bills and need to get paid in order to maintain their standards of living. The Tom Bradys and Drew Breeses of the league aren’t starving, but I would guess that about 40 of the other 52 guys on their teams need every paycheck in order to build their lives and their nest eggs. Owners know this and, until the injunction was granted yesterday, the owner’s worst case would have been to play the waiting game.
With the injunction lifted, players under contract, making good faith efforts to execute the terms of their contracts (like coming to the facility to work out even if the weight room is locked and the running track is closed) need to be paid according to their contracts. This puts the heat back on the owners to come to the table and iron out a deal, tipping the bargaining advantage more toward the players.
Back to the Drawing Board
With all of the drama and maneuvers in court, the leverage and the playing field have shifted their balances between the two sides. Still, nobody is playing football. The owners are currently going through a process to appeal the injunction, so it may be several more weeks before the stage is completely set for the two sides to negotiate a final deal. Both sides can jockey for position, infinitely, in court. But if either side is serious about bringing this unpleasant situation to a close, it is time to put forth serious, agreeable proposals, come to an understanding, and then get back to work.
Until that day, all the players and owners are doing is lining up in the best possible formation, but the ball has still not yet been shifted.
1) Image from onbeingablacklawyer.com
2) Image from dinuguan.tumblr.com
3) Image from espn.com
United States District Court Judge Susan Richard Nelson granted an injunction lifting the lockout of NFL players. Whoo hoo! ♪♪ Ding dong! The witch is dead! The lockout witch is DEAD! ♫
ALRIGHT! So now players can get back to practice. But there are no practices yet. Well at least free agency can start; time to see our teams make the moves to bring them to the next level. Unfortunately, I have not heard about anyone on the phones or being flown in. Certainly, teams can start strategizing draft day trades. Or not…most analysts are suggesting that it is very unlikely that teams will attempt any transactions involving active players.
I don’t get it. If I am a player, I would think that a victory in court is cause to prance around and shout, “WE WON! WE WON!” instead of, “What the HELL did we win?”
 |
| Even the NFL can't escape the long arm of the LAW! 1 |
Even under the rosiest, best case scenario, the injunction of the lockout leaves a ton of unanswered questions about how to proceed in the absence of a new collective bargaining agreement. The worst case scenario is that the owners do the absolute minimum, within the boundaries of the law, and there is a functional lockout instead of a physical one. Until the players and owners come to terms on a collective bargaining agreement for the 2011 season, there will be no useful, functional National Football League as we have known it.
Just because football operations are not back to “normal” does not mean that the players did not score a significant victory. By enjoining the lockout, the owners have lost a substantial bargaining chip: the ability to out-wait and out-sweat the players. With a lockout in place, players were eventually going to miss paychecks.
As I have pointed out countless times, the average, typical NFL player makes more money than I do or you (likely) do in a year, but is not rich or set for life. Like you or me, they have bills and need to get paid in order to maintain their standards of living. The Tom Bradys and Drew Breeses of the league aren’t starving, but I would guess that about 40 of the other 52 guys on their teams need every paycheck in order to build their lives and their nest eggs. Owners know this and, until the injunction was granted yesterday, the owner’s worst case would have been to play the waiting game.
With the injunction lifted, players under contract, making good faith efforts to execute the terms of their contracts (like coming to the facility to work out even if the weight room is locked and the running track is closed) need to be paid according to their contracts. This puts the heat back on the owners to come to the table and iron out a deal, tipping the bargaining advantage more toward the players.
 |
| I didn't expect the players to be high rolling like Tron during the lockout. 2 |
With all of the drama and maneuvers in court, the leverage and the playing field have shifted their balances between the two sides. Still, nobody is playing football. The owners are currently going through a process to appeal the injunction, so it may be several more weeks before the stage is completely set for the two sides to negotiate a final deal. Both sides can jockey for position, infinitely, in court. But if either side is serious about bringing this unpleasant situation to a close, it is time to put forth serious, agreeable proposals, come to an understanding, and then get back to work.
Until that day, all the players and owners are doing is lining up in the best possible formation, but the ball has still not yet been shifted.
 |
| Roger Goodell and DeMaurice Smith are on their way to killing the goose that lays the golden egg. 3 |
2) Image from dinuguan.tumblr.com
3) Image from espn.com
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