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Leagues and Governing Bodies

NFL Lockout Watch, Day 118: Handshake Agreement On CBA May be Days Away

A handshake deal on a new NFL CBA is "unlikely by Friday but could come by the end of the weekend or early next week if talks last that long," according to sources cited by Mark Maske of the WASHINGTON POST. The deliberations "are at a sensitive stage" as NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith rejoin negotiations today in N.Y. A handshake deal by "early next week would ensure that a full preseason would be played and probably guarantee that teams could report to training camps as scheduled beginning July 23." During two days of meetings this week, lawyers for both sides have been "crafting language for a formal agreement, hoping to have parts of it ready to go if negotiators can settle the remaining issues." Maske notes while it "appears that progress has slowed this week without Goodell and Smith directly involved" in the talks, "significant progress apparently has been made over the central financial issue of how the two sides will divide pro football’s approximately $9.3 billion in annual revenue." There are indications that the players "will receive just less than half the total under a simplified salary cap system." That system "might require each team to spend at least 90 percent of a specific annual figure." Previous proposals have included "expense credits for owners and targeted year-by-year salary cap figures," and it is "not clear if those elements would be part of any resolution." There also has been "recent tension over a rookie pay system and retiree benefits." However, it "seems likely that most other solutions will fall into place if key money issues are resolved" (WASHINGTON POST, 7/7).

WORKING THROUGH THE DETAILS: ESPN.com's Paolantonio, Mortensen & Clayton reported NFL and NFLPA lawyers yesterday "negotiated details for free agency and training camps once the NFL is re-opened for business." The players "have so far rejected any deal that allows teams to have a right of first refusal on offers for up to three of their own free agents." One agent said, "That punishes the top guys." In addition, teams "would be allowed to bring in 80 to 90 players to training camp to allow for injuries and rust because of the lockout" (ESPN.com, 7/6). NFL.com's Albert Breer reported the legal teams "met for nearly 11 hours Wednesday, going into the evening with larger meetings looming." Goodell, Smith, owners, players and U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan will rejoin talks today, and the "clock is ticking to reach a labor deal that would save the preseason." Sources said that during yesterday's negotiations, the sides "took small, incremental steps necessary to completing a deal." The idea is to "get legwork out of the way to smooth the process for the owners and players, who will handle the larger issues." Boylan is "scheduled to go on vacation Saturday," but sources said that it "doesn't make the next two days more vital, citing the preseason revenue as the primary motivator to quickly finish a settlement." Breer noted the "deadline sits around July 15 to save the preseason schedule in its regular form and avert the possible loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue" (NFL.com, 7/6).

HEADING TOWARD THE END ZONE: SI.com's Don Banks reported Goodell will be joined by five owners today and tomorrow, and Smith by five players, which is a "very positive sign, because it's the six-on-six, face-to-face formula that has resulted in most of the progress that has been made in these talks." The negotiating earlier this week is "another indication that significant progress has been made for a while now, and that once the big question of the overall revenue split between owners and players gets set in stone, many other dominoes involved in the deal will quickly fall in line." One GM said yesterday, "It does feel like we're at the 5-yard line, and we're right there. But it's like Jerome Bettis has the ball, and I've seen him fumble on the 1-yard line before. If there's a fumble now, hopefully either Goodell or Smith plays Ben Roethlisberger and stops the whole thing from falling apart" (SI.com, 7/6).

IN THE NAME OF THE LAW: In Buffalo, Matthew Spina reports New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman "has launched an inquiry" into whether the NFL lockout "violates the state's antitrust law." Schneiderman appears to be the "first attorney general from any state to wade into the dispute between NFL owners and players." He said that he is "acting on behalf of New York's many businesses and workers whose incomes are threatened by the loss of games and the idling of upstate training camps conducted" by the Bills, Giants and Jets. An NFL spokesperson responded in a statement, "We will review the letter with our attorneys and then respond to the assistant attorney general" (BUFFALO NEWS, 7/7).

IF YOU FILM IT... The AP's Jake Coyle noted the website Funny or Die yesterday debuted a three-minute "mock movie trailer" of an NFL lockout-themed sequel to "Field of Dreams." The video, "Field of Dreams 2: Lockout," debuted on ESPN's "SportsCenter" and is "one of Funny Or Die's most ambitious undertakings yet." The website "pulled together a number of famous actors, gathered some dozen currently out-of-work NFL stars and utilized filmmaking techniques seldom employed for Internet videos." In the clip, actor Taylor Lautner "builds a football field that attracts locked-out NFL players," including Ravens LB Ray Lewis, Falcons TE Tony Gonzalez and Bills LB Shawne Merriman. NFL Network's Rich Eisen "shows up to broadcast the action." Director Eric Appel said, "It is safe to say that this is definitely the biggest Funny Or Die video" (AP, 7/6). In Atlanta, Jeff Schultz wrote, "It’s actually pretty entertaining. The funniest scenes involve Ray Lewis (playing Ray Lewis) and Dennis Haysbert, who fills the Terence Mann/James Earl Jones part, except that he’s trying to explain CBA talks to a bored audience." Original "Field of Dreams" actors Kevin Costner and Ray Liotta "also have cameo roles" (AJC.com, 7/6).

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