By Jason Bryden
Assistant Sports Info Director
For almost a quarter of a decade the NFL has not lost a game due to a labor stoppage. However with the collective bargaining agreement set to expire March 4, games could be lost for the first time since the 1987 Strike (which wiped out a week of games and three weeks were played by replacement players) as the owners will lockout the players if a new agreement is not reached before the 2011 NFL Season begins.
If a lockout occurs, the players cannot sign free agent contracts or extensions. If a lockout goes into the summer, it will lead to a frenzy in free agency and making integration into new teams more difficult due to less time in getting to know the new team.
About 25 percent of the players will be free agents this offseason.
Here are some of the major issues entering the lockout.
The owners want an 18-game schedule (nine home and away) to gain an extra home game, but cut two preseason games out. The owners want the extra game to increase their revenue.
The players do not want to add two extra games due to health reasons, particularly concussions, which is currently the most talked about issue in regards to player safety.
The owners also want to reduce the revenue percentage the players get. Currently it is at 59.6 percent. The players are balking at this and want the owners to show their books to prove that reducing the revenue percentage is warranted.
Additionally, the players want a rookie salary scale. The veterans feel that players should have to prove their worth on the field to make money, not have it handed to them on potential. The top pick of the 2010 NFL Draft, Sam Bradford got a $78 million dollar contract. The NBA currently has a salary scale for its draft picks.
There will be an NFL Draft beginning April 28, but if there is a lockout, there cannot be any draftees signing contracts and going to mini camps.
While the CBA is set to expire six months before the beginning of the 2011, the sooner a deal is struck; the better off it will be for everybody.
February 11, 2011
Volume LXXXI Issue 14
>.> spot on?
and, hello person with the exact same name.