It’s sounding like the NFL player lockout is over!
Sources close to the negotiations are saying the the NFL players have reached a deal for this upcoming season. No formal announcement has been made because the negotiations are supposed to be secret and private and all of that.
“We have every reason to believe it’s going to be a good day,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello wrote in an email to the AP.
If players sign off on the agreement Monday, NFL clubs would be able to start signing 2011 draft picks and rookie free agents on Tuesday. Conversations with veteran free agents also could start Tuesday, and signings could begin Friday.
Under that tentative schedule, training camps would open for 10 of the 32 teams on Wednesday, 10 teams on Thursday, another 10 teams on Friday, and the last two teams on Sunday.Eventually, all 1,900 players would take a majority vote to approve returning the NFLPA to union status. When talks broke down in March, allowing the old collective bargaining agreement to expire, the players dissolved the union, turning the NFLPA into a trade association. That’s what allowed the players to sue the owners in federal court under antitrust law.
Things might get a little more complicated during the players’ votes, but, it looks like things are going to work out! Which is great, because honestly we don’t know what we and the rest of the world would do without football this fall!
Though, to be REALLY honest, we weren’t too worried that some kind of agreement wouldn’t be found. It’s the NFL, and it’s a huge part of everyone’s fall life. Also, the Super Bowl. Come on!
Ha!
[Image via AP Images.]