The NFL and NFLPA look to still be far apart

Up until today I was pretty positive that the NFL and its player union would get a new Collective Bargaining Agreement in place to preserve football come the fall. I still think there will be football but it looks increasingly clear that some form of a lockout, union decertification, and lengthy court battle is going to come first. There are far too many issues to work out now, and the union seems dug in on a few key issues. On top of that they do not seem to trust the owners to give them what they want.

In my mind the Union has no right to demand to see the financial books of each of the 32 NFL teams. Of course we do all have the right to see the books of the Green Bay Packers since they are a publicly held company. However the financial indicators there are not all warm and rosy but the union chooses not to accept those. None of us, in a contract dispute with our bosses, would have access to the financial papers of our company.

So far the owners have been willing to release some of those records, but the players want more and that seems to be a huge issue. The owners do not want to release their records and have them leaked to the public, or for their fellow owners to see. That is sure to happen as soon as the documents are released. The vow of silence each side took heading into this process is a total joke.

The union also seems dug in on the idea of an 18 game schedule. They say the players do not want it and that is a nonstarter. That seems to indicate that they will not bend and that this entire mess will have to be decided by a Judge.