The Start Of Free Agency To Be Delayed? (CBA Extension Talk)

[ice grillin you]

yeah mort was saying that 80% of the players cut were gonna be cut anyway...it looks more and more like this bloody (day) was an overblown media creation...deal or no deal very few if any big time players are gonna be cut

[SunMo]

when the extension 1st came down yesterday, i was positive a deal would get done.  that was because i was sure it was the NFLPA that conceeded something.  however, yesterday it was said by a couple of people that it was actually the owners that told the NFLPA that a new offer would be coming and asked them to agree to extend the deadline.  i'm not so sure a deal will get done now.  the NFLPA is dead-set on getting 60.3% of the revenues and unless the owers give that to them i'm not sure something is going to get done.

[qwert246]

It looks like I was wrong about a last minute deal.  Now things get interesting. 
It'll all come down to the language of the original contracts.  If they're written in such a way to allow flexibility to convert and prorate bonuses, then cap numbers can be reduced in compliance with the 30%.
If not, then the league will reject the restructure, like they did with the colts.

Snyder will look like a genius if that's how he set up some of the contracts.  We'll have to see.

wow, an idiot up until the very end.

All reports are that they were ready for the 10PM deadline, and they restructured the deals of Portis, Thomas, Springs, Brunell, Wynn.  And they're working with Jansen and Arrington currently.
But you know things, and they're going to have to cut players.
Toolbag.

[PhillyPhreak54]

Vikings center Matt Birk, has taken aim squarely at NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw.

Birk was candid in his comments with The Minneapolis Star Tribune regarding the union and Upshaw's leadership of it in conjunction with the ongoing CBA negotiations.

"Don't put this in the paper ... no, wait, go ahead and put it in," Birk said. "Gene Upshaw is a piece of [insert colorful language here]."

And Birk isn't just some garden-variety pissed-off lineman spewing venom.  Birk's pedigree gives him plenty of credibility.  The dude went to Harvard, and he didn't get a six or a seven or a 16 on his Wonderlic. 

He's smart, he's perceptive, and he's very dangerous to guys who hope to manipulate others through emotion.

As to the status of the on-again, off-again labor talks, Birk said:  "It's a joke, it really is.  Everyone is making money.  A lot of money.  You think anyone wants to hear about the money problems of the NFL owners or players?  It's bad pub for the league.  It's bad for all of us."

Birk told us a few weeks back that the union has left the players "[p]retty much in the dark" regarding the status of the talks.  "One thing about the union, in my opinion, they're always watching out for the union," he told us.

Per Friday's story in The Star Tribune, Birk was at one point a player representative to the union, but he quit due to what he called "propaganda and poor leadership."

"When you go to those CBA meetings, you always feel like you're being sold something instead of being given the straight facts," Birk told The Star Tribune.  "Through all the meetings leading up to this, it was always:  'The owners don't want an uncapped year.  We'll get a deal, and if we don't, so what?  There will be an uncapped year and there will be crazy money out there.'  The reality is that's not the case.  And you're seeing that it's not the leverage we were told it would be. . . .

"Instead, you go there and it's like some kind of religious revival.  You don't feel you're getting the true message.  And they're always talking too fast."

With all that said, we're still convinced that the deal between the league and the union will get done in a heartbeat as soon as the owners figure out what to do with revenue sharing.  But if Upshaw really is willingly playing the bad guy as cover for the owners in the hopes that he'll be the next Commissioner, the owners might want to ponder the wisdom of an Ivy Leaguer before making a selection based on gratitude.

Gratitude, after all, is just another emotion.

I am now a Matt Birk fan.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

He's absolutely right.  The system was working for everybody, and Upshaw's trying to increase the power of the players/agents/union beyond the balance that was already in place.

Upshaw (and his sidekick Tom Condon) are pieces of garbage.  It takes a special piece of garbage to make NFL owners look somewhat intelligent and down-to-earth.

[ice grillin you]

if matt birk is so in the dark on everything thats going on then how can he comment so strongly on it?

[Feva]

if matt birk is so in the dark on everything thats going on then how can he comment so strongly on it?

I was listening to the Dan Patrick show about an hour ago and they had Birk as a guest.  He said ont of the things that frustrates him most is how the union "tells them" what's best for them... and that there's little to no communication coming from the union to the players.  They feel "along for the ride" instead of a part of the fight alongside the NFLPA.

He also conceded that he's had issues with Upshaw in the past that may have led to him speaking out so strongly against him.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

It's obvious that Birk's problem is racism.

[ice grillin you]

hugh co hosted the midday show today and ike was on for about an hour....both said what i said last week...that this is 90% about post playing career benefits for the players

[PhillyPhreak54]

hugh co hosted the midday show today and ike was on for about an hour....both said what i said last week...that this is 90% about post playing career benefits for the players

That was a great show today with Hugh on. And when Ike called in it was even better. I actually enjoyed listening to the station for once today.

FWIW..Comcast reported that the owners have upped thier offer to 58.5% of the DGR. Upshaw still says he wants 60%.

56.2% to 58.5%

The owners have come up. The players should accept that.

[PhillyPhanInDC]

That two plus percent is what? Like 130 million per year, right? farging players union better take that shtein so we can get this show on the road. Christ.

[ice grillin you]

That was a great show today with Hugh on. And when Ike called in it was even better. I actually enjoyed listening to the station for once today.

it really was...everything youve everheard about hugh in the locker room is true...in small doses i always thought he was kinda corny...but today he was absolutely hilarious in an everyman kind of way...and what else needs to be said about ike...hes fo rilla fo rilla

FWIW..Comcast reported that the owners have upped thier offer to 58.5% of the DGR. Upshaw still says he wants 60%.

56.2% to 58.5%
The owners have come up. The players should accept that.

FWIW are the key words....but if true i agree...thats a huge jump by the owners

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

If Upshaw doesn't agree to 58.5%, the CBA not getting done is 100% on his shoulders.

[PhillyPhanInDC]

According to Schefter on NFL Total Access, the NFLPA and the owners are still hung up on some other issues. Something to the effect of, "both sides are firmly entrenched, and are attempting to wait out the other." He said several of his sources give the likelyhood of a either a new or an extension CBA about a 25% chance by the deadline. He did mention that regardless of whether or not one is in place, free agency will start on 12:01 Monday morning.

[PhillyPhreak54]

According to ESPNews the labor talks have broken off again

NFLPA lead lawyer said the talks are dead as a doornail.