Time is Running Out for NFL Negotiations

With a little over 12 hours left for the collective bargaining agreement to come up with a solution for to split the $9 billion in annual revenue. Judy Batista from the New York Times came up with two likely options:

• The players union is prepared to decertify Thursday afternoon (it has to be done before the end of the business day), essentially dissolving itself and ending its ability to bargain collectively on behalf of the players. It does, though, allow players to sue the N.F.L. on antitrust grounds. If the union takes this route, it may also immediately seek an injunction — probably with a big-name player as the plaintiff — to try to block the N.F.L. from locking players out. A big key here: the union wants to be able to stay in the Minneapolis courtroom of United States District Judge David Doty, who over the years has issued several rulings favorable to players, including the decision this week not to allow owners to have access to $4 billion in television revenue during a lockout. Doty’s jurisdiction ends when the collective bargaining agreement expires, and owners would like to get out from under his purview. But if the union files for an injunction in Doty’s court, he stays in control

• The owners are likely to lock players out anyway Thursday evening, essentially shutting down operations at midnight. Owners do not want to impose their own rules and continue playing while the players take them to court — they view that as paying players to sue the league — so the two sides will engage in what will most likely be a long, expensive, contentious fight about what happens next. Can the league be forced by the courts to impose what are known as work rules — and essentially expose themselves to treble damages if players sue to attack those rules (like the salary cap) and win? It could take years for those issues to work their way through the court system, unless the two sides can reach a settlement before then

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