Though it was largely seen as an eventuality, today was the day all NFL fans have been waiting for since March 11. Today was the day that the NFLPA and NFL Owners agreed to a new ten year Collective Bargaining Agreement. Today was the day, the powers that be decided that brains were more important than testicular fortitude and the bruising of egos. Today was the day, NFL fans got their football back.
The details that have emerged so far include the following : The $9.5 billion dollars in revenue will be a 53/47 split favoring the Owners. The days of committing a third of a teams payroll to #1 draft picks appear to be over, as there is a new system in place to curb it. Players will now have less required practice time both in-season and off-season. The dreaded possibility of an 18 game regular season schedule....has been tabled for now, but can be revisited in two years.
The most amazing aspect of the deal as far as I'm concerned? No Opt-Out clause for either the owners or the players. Considering we went through all of this Lockout nonsense in the first place because the Owners utilized their Opt-Out clause in 2008, I find it remarkable that neither party wanted one for this deal? Whatever...
There's a ton of things that need to happen now. Trades, free agency, rookie signings, and the beginning of training camp, among other things. What used to take months, will now take 1 week. This is truly unprecedented, and we might not see anything this hectic again in the NFL.
Still, I can't help feel this was all a big "nothing". Even though no games were lost, the draft took place, and they eventually got the deal done, I still feel hollow about this simply because I believe this was 100% preventable.
On the surface, I tended to fall in favor of the players side in this dispute, as they were not the ones that caused this work stoppage. The Owners were the ones who opted-out of the existing deal. The Owners were the ones who tried to convince people they were losing money - which if you believe that I have some beach front property in Arizona to sell you. The Owners were the ones who technically acted "Greedy" by acting like half of $9.5 billion per year wasn't enough, and in the end it was the Owners who got what they wanted.
While I tended to favor the players, I grew quickly to resent both sides, as both the NFLPA, The Owners, and Roger Goodell said off-the-wall, ridiculously foolish things throughout this work stoppage. From Goodell disputing that the average length of a players career is 3 years, to the players getting so far off message with all their own infighting and silly lawsuits, both sides brought the Circus Of The Non-Sensible to town.
Their actions and behavior throughout the process have really soured me in terms of having faith and respect of the people in charge of the NFL. I will not forget the depths that both sides stooped to, and neither will a lot of other people.
With that said, we as NFL fans can have a return to normalcy soon enough. NFL Football maybe won't look quite the same as we remember it, but I believe that can only be a good thing, as I have noticed a significant dip in the quality of play, the dilution of talent, and the inability to establish a traditional "dynasty" over the past decade.
It's very doubtful whether or not this work stoppage addressed those issues. Be that as it may, we have the NFL back and the NFL will have our dollars back. Our respect on the other hand....that will take a while.
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