Why wouldn't both parties want to come back, save the league from itself, preserve a share in revenue, and lastly, appease a delirious crowd so fond of football, a game everybody adores as one of the most delightful events in America? It's entirely possible for the league and players to reach an agreement by Tuesday when both sides made progress towards ending the maelstrom from a lockout that almost lingered into the 16-game season.
If so, this would save minicamps, workouts and training camps of being postponed, but more importantly, it would save preseason in time as exhibition play looms ever so quickly. By now, to simply describe it, any enterprise is the tenet of politics or even a business intending to profit roughly on consistent revenue that predicates greed and ego in an industry populace anoints gracefully.
It's worth the time, perhaps a suitable moment when the season is in jeopardy, to acknowledge that fans spend religiously to witness the intense drama of football -- if you will -- whether the individual is a ticket buyer, an alcoholic in and out of local bars or even a couch potato who subscribes to NFL Sunday Ticket exclusively on DirecTV. The audiences of the NFL, in the meantime, occupy their heart and soul by investing money and endorsing football greatly with much interest devoted to their beloved franchises.
With both parties willing to compromise and increasingly enlarge optimism, in mostly the NFL's longest labor standoff, the owners appear ready to attempt to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement and end a four-month stalemate. What is the latest development is that the NFL is on the verge of lifting out of the lockout. And yet the vibes better reveals that the NFL is on the brink of a settlement as fall looms in time to salvage football.
The hardest part is realizing that the lockout is from a rift over a lack of profit and split revenues, which is absurd when owners and players are wealthy in an age where football alone has transformed into our habitude. The fame is one thing, but the dollars are another, earned from greedy owners pampering their superstars with huge paychecks for wearing a uniform, selling tickets, boosting earnings and rightfully committing their lives to a contact sport of violence and vehemence.
The point is, the glaring images of this week have not been so ugly for a pair of parties, infallibly wrangling and negotiating about salaries. The point is, the two parties are willing to compromise and terminate the labor wars when exasperated fans can elude the hullabaloo no football fan enjoyed this offseason.
If nothing else, folks were biting their nails, perturbed and worried to death, curious to know whether or not there would be an NFL season in time for the fall. It was almost laughable that two parties couldn't reach a unanimous decision, demanding weeks to finally even come close to a deal. When all is said and done, with all the damage from the football stoppage ruining much of its reputation, the league's 32 franchises won't miss training camps and contract discussions.
At the end of this long-lasting disaster, a slew of adjustments would be implemented with the NFL on the path of consideration from the frequent concussions that players sustain each season. The NFL, on the other hand, is ready to enforce safety with fewer harder hits, limited helmet-to-helmet collisions and more protection and benefits for retirees.
If not inevitable, which all of this seems reasonable for a league with perilous hits that can be harmful to athletes, the fines for illegal hits could be harsher and suspensions could be steeper. The new collective bargaining agreement, ladies and gentleman, is instrumental and pragmatic. At last, the two sides are close and the new CBA will transform the landscape of the NFL and will change the culture of football to mitigate much of the violence and enforce legal hits.
The concept we fail to realize in an industry's growth is the acerbic element of capitalism in which one side is normally greedier than the other side, begging for all the credit within the enterprise as one party isn't too satisfied with the outcome. All of this missed action has delayed all the rookies, and it often requires even more time for rookies to adjust and adapt to the playbook or pro-style tactics.
The logic is, after valiantly berating the few lawbreakers this offseason, that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell would be fully capable of punishing the likes of DeSean Jackson, Aqib Talib and Kenny Britt for their misdeeds during the NFL-imposed standstill. As for angst created by the leisure time from the historic lockout, with much on hold until the two sides reached an agreement on a settlement, Talib wasn't on his best behavior and allegedly swung a pistol at a man.
If Goodell is the NFL Sheriff, as advertised, he'd impose a punishment to Hines Ward for his recent DUI arrest and hit James Harrison with a severe fine for his stupidity and lack of character, uttering homophobic slurs earlier this week. From the positive point of view, the lockout is almost over -- if you believe it -- with the anticipation that owners will ratify a new agreement when the parties meet next Thursday in Atlanta.
It was an unprecedented lockout, but as it stands, the two parties have made powerful strides on several issues, including one of the removals of one of the roadblocks to the new collective bargaining agreement -- finally successful in finalizing the rookie salary scale system. That means the wage scale includes a fifth-year option in the contracts of players selected in the top 10 overall in the NFL Draft. It certainly is true that the NFL and players have reached a tentative agreement at $120 million for 2011, in addition to $21 million in benefits, according to sources.
The cultural business is fast-approaching a new era -- a contract that would, in fairness, benefit the owners and players in many ways, no longer undermining the integrity of a likable sporting league. As such, it is reportedly known that the sides figured out how to divide $9 billion in revenue, after all, more shrewd and considerate. In a few days, under a theory that both sides almost reached a full agreement, NFLPA executive leader DeMaurice Smith is expected to speak with Goodell presumably in person.
Near the end of an ugly fuss heard publicly, owners and players, although the parties are somewhat malcontent but tired of the long-lasting drama, have inched closer finishing a round of intensive talks Friday. It took eight hours of negotiations in New York, determined to play football next season.
To be clear, there'll be an NFL season come fall.
--Jonathan Mathis
