Reports Hint New CBA Could Happen By Late June
For the first time since the lockout began 91 days ago, there appears to be genuine optimism that owners, coaches, players and fans will be able to get on with their football-loving lives, and it could happen in the next few weeks.
CBSSports.com's Mike Freeman was the first to report reasons for optimism. Way back on June 2, Freeman wrote that "There is a still a great deal of work to do ... but it appears the owners and players have made significant headway in reaching a new labor agreement, according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions.
"One high ranking member of the former union estimated to me a new deal would be reached within two to three weeks, if not sooner. 'This is the most optimistic I've been in many months,' he said."
Barely a week later, that appears to be happening.
Friday night, NFL Network's Albert Breer reported that players and owners have made substantial progress in recent days towards a new collective bargaining agreement.
And Saturday morning, Sports Business Journal's Daniel Kaplan tweeted: "Told optimism is so high in NFL, players talks over labor deal that expectation is for a framework agreement in about two weeks."
But it gets better. The Houston Chronicle's Lance Zierlein recently blogged that "According to a couple of sources, NFL lockout could be over sooner than you think."
"After lengthy discussions with both sources, they both conveyed to me a great deal of hope that a deal would be done by July and possibly as early as late June," Zierlein wrote. "Why the sudden optimism? According to one of the sources, 'both sides are focusing on the percentage of total revenue coming in (would include the first $1 billion the owners are currently taking off the top) and if that deal gets done, the other issues will probably fall into place fairly quickly according to what I'm hearing.'"
Another source told Zierlein that "I am 100 times more hopeful than two weeks ago that a deal can get done relatively quickly."
Pro Football Weekly's Eric Edholm also hears things, all positive: "Sources have indicated to PFW that June 21, which is when the NFL owners are scheduled to meet in Chicago, might be a date to circle on the calendar. The reason for the escalated talks might indicate that the owners want to have a deal — or parameters of a deal — to vote on when they all assemble for the meeting."
That makes five different sources reporting a variation on the "things are looking really good" theme. Nothing's concrete but as we stated last night: it's a start, we'll take it.
And as momentum builds toward a resolution, this becomes less about taking sides and more about finding common ground and getting a deal done. It may have taken three months to arrive at this point, but as Breer noted Friday, it's not yet the 11th hour. If a new CBA is reached, even in principle, there could be time for free agency and training camps, and the 2011 NFL season would start as scheduled.
Sure, this fight has been framed as a battle between billionaires and millionaires. That's not entirely true, but given the economic climate, fans have little sympathy for either side. (Also not helping: the occasional attempts at public relations obfuscation.) They just want football. And it finally looks like that will happen, perhaps a lot sooner than anyone ever expected. To quote Austin Powers: "Yay, capitalism!"
