Problems heading to the 2010 NFL Season
Uh oh.
Another round of labor talks between the NFL and NFLPA took place while the scouting combine got underway, and still there was no indication of a new collective bargaining agreement being reached, meaning a 2010 NFL football season without a salary cap seems a certainty.
Negotiating committees for the NFL, including NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, and the NFLPA that includes executive director DeMaurice Smith, Colts center Jeff Saturday and Chiefs linebacker Mike Vrabel were among several participants, met for more than 90 minutes.
Goodell said the two sides discussed ‘’setting up” another meeting, but did not establish a date. Goodell declined to discuss other topics on the agenda, but said he remains hopeful the two sides will negotiate a deal before the CBA expires.
”I think it’s natural that deadlines produce results, so I think deadlines help,” he said. ”I think there is a general desire on both sides to get a deal. But I don’t think you can create artificial deadlines.”
Smith and other NFLPA executives will meet with player representatives and some agents at another meeting where the NFLPA will address a larger group of agents and player reps. The state of labor and how they will impact players and agents will be the main subject of discussion.
Goodell ruled out any chance of the owners agreeing to a temporary one-year salary cap to avoid an uncapped season, saying that’s the reason owners opted out of the previous deal in the spring of 2008.
An uncapped year was seemed inevitable for months. If that’s the case, there will be no spending cap, or floor, in terms of how teams pay players. Free agency will be far more limited as a result, and teams can also dump contracts of players who haven’t lived up to them without suffering any penalties that could have been triggered under the old salary cap rules.
The current CBA expires in 2011. If no deal is reached by then, a work stoppage is possible. Smith has said the NFL has positioned itself for a lockout by securing television deals that would pay it during a work stoppage. Goodell said it would be unwise to think that owners want to not have football.
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Dallas Cowboys 12-1
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