Wash Post claims close to deal- ESPN says

[burmafrd]

Just now on ESPN Sportscenter. Now frankly I do not have any respect for any newspaper, especially the sports side. We shall see.

 

[burmafrd]

ESPN News says Mort says that they are talking on the phone- will not meet face to face unless its to close the deal. So if we hear of a face to face MEETING then it is close. Otherwise its all hot air.

 

[big dog cowboy]

From one source or another we have been "close" to a deal for what.....3 or 4 days now??????

At this point I am more anxious to see what happens with our Cowboys tomorrow regardless of the CBA status.

 

[Richmond Cowboy]

OH the drama! I'm tired of all the posturing and media spinning, just freaking tell us at the end of the day if it got done or not!

 

[fanfromvirginia]

ESPN also quoted Upshaw as saying he thinks they're getting quite close. Maybe it's a different type of posturing or maybe something's gonna get done. Mortensen predicted another delay until Tuesday when the owners would get together to iron out the kinks. To cover his ***/hedge his bets, he also quoted an owner/management source as being decidedly less optimistich than Upshaw.

 

[HardHittin'Witten]

here's the article:

The NFL's labor negotiations took a dramatic turn overnight. After the talks faltered yesterday, representatives of the team owners and the players' union agreed to resume negotiations, and participants said the two sides were close to completing a deal.
Gene Upshaw, the executive director of the NFL Players Association, said via e-mail early this morning that the parties had scheduled another meeting in New York and were "now in the area where we will get a deal. I think it may be there. It comes down to a few final points.

The negotiations broke off yesterday with Upshaw saying the owners were unable to compromise, and he left New York and returned to Washington. But the owners were meeting via conference call when Upshaw departed, and league spokesman Greg Aiello said the owners expected negotiations to resume today.
The talks ended yesterday with the owners offering 56.6 percent of an expanded pool of league revenues to the players as compensation under a salary-cap system. Upshaw had dropped his demand that the players receive at least 60 percent, but he would not specify exactly what percentage his latest proposal called for.
Upshaw has maintained that any labor deal between the players and owners would have to be accompanied by an agreement among the owners to increase the degree to which the 32 NFL teams share locally generated revenues. Otherwise, Upshaw has said, lower-revenue clubs could not afford the salary commitment they'd be making to the players. Owners have said they could complete a labor deal with the players without finishing a revenue-sharing agreement immediately.
The compromise might be a provision in the labor deal to limit the amount of money that teams can spend above the flexible salary cap. That would address the concerns of lower-revenue teams that the high-revenue clubs could gain a competitive advantage by using their wealth to consistently outspend the salary cap and get better players. The sides had been negotiating about such "cash over cap" before talks broke off Saturday.
The league's free-agent market is scheduled to open at midnight. Unless there is a new contract, teams must be under next season's $94.5 million salary cap by then. If they need to release players to get under the cap, they must do so by 6 p.m.
But Upshaw and NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue facing a similar deadline Thursday agreed to push back those deadlines by 72 hours, and they could agree to another postponement if more time is needed to complete the deal. Tagliabue has told the owners to leave Tuesday free for a possible meeting in Dallas to ratify a labor deal.
The current labor deal keeps the salary-cap system in place through the 2006 season, then there would be a season without a salary cap in 2007 before the deal expires. Tagliabue said Thursday, just after the owners had a 57-minute meeting in New York to officially reject a players' proposal, that the owners had proposed an extension that would run through the 2011 season.
A labor settlement would push next season's salary cap as high as $108 million per team and would alleviate the salary-cap crunches being experienced by many teams.

 

[Ashwynn]

Personally I no longer care. So long as they dont strike. Wake me up when they have an agreement, otherwise, your just wasting my time with this 'talks on, no, there off, wait, there back on, no there not, hang on, there on, no there back off again' crap. Either sit down and come to an agreement or quit talking. Damn, I thought women had a hard time making up their minds, Tags and Upshaw got women beat without trying. They're silly.

 

[HardHittin'Witten]

Personally I no longer care. So long as they dont strike. Wake me up when they have an agreement, otherwise, your just wasting my time with this 'talks on, no, there off, wait, there back on, no there not, hang on, there on, no there back off again' crap. Either sit down and come to an agreement or quit talking. Damn, I thought women had a hard time making up their minds, Tags and Upshaw got women beat without trying. They're silly.

I agree with you. It is getting old. I want it to end because 1. no strike or lockout in 08, and 2. we can start signing players.

Free agency and the draft is one of my favorite times of the year. With no football, this is all we have.

 

[sago1]

I'm fed up with all the media's talk about they close, they not close, they meeting again, etc. I'd like to ban Mort & comments from all the other media darlings. It simply means they don't have a clue what's going on either. Adjusting the agreement to ensure all teams have same spending money to add/sign players seems okay (I always thought that was the way it was anyway). Does that mean if we gave someone a signing bonus the entire bonus must be accounted for in the year he signed? What about incentive clauses, etc.? Of course all this probably doesn't matter to owners like Bidwell & a few others cause they just keep good portion of the money for themselves instead of spending on team.

 

[Ashwynn]

I'm fed up with all the media's talk about they close, they not close, they meeting again, etc. I'd like to ban Mort & comments from all the other media darlings. It simply means they don't have a clue what's going on either. Adjusting the agreement to ensure all teams have same spending money to add/sign players seems okay (I always thought that was the way it was anyway). Does that mean if we gave someone a signing bonus the entire bonus must be accounted for in the year he signed? What about incentive clauses, etc.? Of course all this probably doesn't matter to owners like Bidwell & a few others cause they just keep good portion of the money for themselves instead of spending on team.

with public scrutiny of the situation and almost a back pocjet perspective, no one can afford to cave and save face. With all the demands being broadcast and then the other side calling them unrealistic, how can either side back down.

If it was done all behind closed doors and in 1 weekend with cigars and beer, then the announcement made on a monday with everyone smiling. We all win.

Sometimes the media can create a problem where there should not be one.

 

[burmafrd]

Just happened to catch Mort again talking- he says that RIGHT NOW the owners are trying to reach agreement on the revenue sharing and above cap%- and if it looks close Tag will ask for another extension on FA beginning. Will this ever END??????!!!!!!

 

[Wheat]

If there is no agreement. Then a strike in 2008 is very possible. Actually, its likely.