CBA talks...things got better

[rayzor]

very good read from breer. there is a video in the link where breer goes beyond what is said in this article where he says the revenue split may actually not be an issue anymore.

whole thing is well worth the click, imo.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d82092fd4/article/sides-make-progress-on-revenue-split-with-ny-talks-on-tap

excerpt:

Sides make progress on revenue split with N.Y. talks on tap

MINNEAPOLIS -- At 4 p.m. Thursday, the NFLPA conducted a conference call with its player reps and executive committee members that painted a grim picture as the labor situation made a turn for the worse.

Then everything changed.

As it turned out, the call, made after seven hours of negotiations at a downtown Minneapolis law firm, came less than halfway through the day's talks. And after those talks finished just before 1 a.m. CT and another set was staged on Friday morning, a different story was emerging.

The owners and players still have much work to do, but major progress was made to fix the revenue split, the overriding issue in the labor battle, on Thursday night and Friday morning. One source said that if smaller pieces connected to it don't shift the numbers too much, it "might not even be a stumbling block going forward."

In addition, the parties took strides to work out disagreements over how to define "all revenue" in the model they plan to use, and they also discarded some terms in the deal the other side found unacceptable.

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.

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U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan proved a pivotal figure when things were at their darkest Thursday. Boylan was able to rein the parties in, narrow their focus to what was important on the revenue split, and forge a very productive evening.

This was after issues that arose last week in Massachusetts (over the rookie salary system) and Monday (over what the players perceived as a deception play by owners on the revenue system) resurfaced and again proved explosive, with players and owners re-entering the room after legal teams handled the earlier part of the week.

Things went so well Thursday that Boylan implored the sides to keep going past 1 a.m. The players and owners convinced the judge -- who ran court-ordered mediation in April and May, but has no binding power in these talks -- that they were spent, but the positive momentum continued into Friday morning.

And realistic hope remains that the league will be able to stage the preseason in its natural form, without the cancellation of any games, which would save hundreds of millions of dollars. Internal deadlines to have a deal done in order to save the preseason sit around July 15, and part of the ratcheted-up sense of urgency is the acknowledgement by both sides that a settlement will be exponentially tougher to reach if significant revenue is subtracted from the equation.

[4Corners]

I don't know who, what, or where to believe.

I think it's a safe assumption that nobody outside the people heavily involved truly know what is going on.

[rayzor]

I don't know who, what, or where to believe.

I think it's a safe assumption that nobody outside the people heavily involved truly know what is going on.

breer isn't the only one that has talked about how things improved from the report that things went south halfway through the marathon meetings on thursday.

problem seemed to be more a result of lawyer tinkering than anything, but the mediator did damage control and moved things along.

he's probably the only one earning his pay.

[rayzor]

work still going on despite no meetings between the two sides this weekend.

just saw these tweets...

gregaiello Are the NFL-NFLPA negotiators "taking the weekend off?" Most definitely not. What are they doing? Lots...

Greg Aiello about 26m ago via UberSocial for BlackBerry

gregaiello Lawyers are drafting language for potential agreement, sharing it with PA. All kinds of phone, email exchanges going on. Work continues.

Greg Aiello about 23m ago via UberSocial for BlackBerry

[bleys]

I think it's safe to say: until a deal is reached, take everything with a grain of salt, go outside and enjoy your life.

[rayzor]

too hot outside to enjoy much of anything....esp. mowing.

[Chaos]

Thanks, Judge Boylan.

[jim stone]

They should go ahead and call the season this year. Give them a year to work things out. Both sides will be more cooperative after a year with no pay.

[rayzor]

They should go ahead and call the season this year. Give them a year to work things out. Both sides will be more cooperative after a year with no pay.

didn't mean to pie that...just quote it.

why in the world would they do that?

wouldn't benefit anyone...esp. since they are so close to having a deal done.

just don't see the sense in this at all.

[d-run]

problem seemed to be more a result of lawyer tinkering than anything

As much poo as everyone gives Florio, he nailed that one back when everything was peachy

[Lumps]

So millionaires and billionaires can agree on who splits the extras, maybe there is hope in humanity yet.

[Davidson Deac II]

I don't know who, what, or where to believe.

I think it's a safe assumption that nobody outside the people heavily involved truly know what is going on.

Same here. I don't believe any of them.

[Mother Grabber]

Edmonton Eskimos vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders on tomorrow at 4PM. Fug the NFL!!!