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NFL owners vote to end lockout
NFL owners have approved a 10-year revenue-sharing agreement with players, Commissioner Roger Goodell announced Thursday evening.
"We will be prepared to open training facilities Saturday," Goodell said Thursday. "It is time to get back to football. That is what everyone here wants to do."
The August 7 preseason Pro Football Hall of Fame Game between the Chicago Bears and St. Louis Rams has been canceled due to time constraints, he said. The regular season is supposed to open on September 8.
The league's 32 owners, who were meeting in Atlanta, agreed to end the current lockout in a 31-0 vote.
Player representatives scheduled an 8 p.m. conference call in which they are expected to discuss recertifying their union, said Coy Wire of the Atlanta Falcons.
"I do feel good" about the prospects, Wire told CNN.
The league's owners imposed the lockout on March 11, suspending the then-labor deal in hopes of creating a new financial structure.
Players dissolved their union at that time. Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, and seven others filed an antitrust lawsuit against the league on behalf of other current and eligible NFL players. A judge in early April joined that action with another filed by retired players.
The litigation apparently has been resolved, clearing the way for the agreement to be reviewed by the players, the NFL said in a statement Thursday evening.
Since the lockout, the two sides have faced off in courts and around conference tables. The major issues have revolved around how to divide the billions of dollars of revenue reaped via the league each year, rules of free agency, a possible rookie wage scale, retirement benefits and a host of other matters.
The heart of the issue between the players and the owners is how to divide the league's $9 billion in revenue.
Under the old agreement, NFL owners take $1 billion off the top of that revenue stream. After that, the players get about 60%.
The owners say the current labor deal doesn't take into account the rising costs related to building stadiums and promoting the game. The players argue that the league has not sufficiently opened up its books to prove this.
In addition, the owners also want to increase the season by two games, which the players are against because of the risk of injuries.
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So what does this mean exactly? Still no football?
Free agents can be signed, players can talk to teams. In order for there to be games though, the players need to approve the agreement though. There is some messy legal stuff behind that, but this is an agreement hacked out by the owners and the players, so I think it is unlikely this goes on much longer. There will be football.
Ya, is this an agreement btw both sides?
They havent even set out the bowl of milk on the steps and your cats are already meowing! Lol
Screw the players, a good percent of them are a bunch of morons anyway. I like to see how much they can make out in the real world, if it was not for football or any other sport most of these guys would be working at Wall Mart.
i agree make them work for there money for a change this is the problem with this country right here
This is such a non-news event...
Meow!
@ Queen,agreed I believe the players assoc have to agree with contract..now how many lives do cats have... .?
Good, now Americans can return to the TV with their bucket of chicken wings and shut up. They were getting restless.
who cares about these whinny f****ks get rid of the nfl and cut there salarys why do we continue to pay millions of dollars to these people they dont diserve it jus like baseball players and basketball players cut all of there pay checks jus like the millions of people that dont have a job get rid of them forever
thank god its over, why'd they cancel hall of fame game though. Are you telling me these multi- millionaire players cant be ready in a couple weeks?
I agree with John. Let them go find real jobs and see how many of them are successful. Nothing but greed all around.
screw them the overpaid living in a wealthy world over grown whinnies.
In a few hours,we should know if were sitting on our butts on sundays..or mowing our lawns.
@Go Long: I'm going to be nailing chicks while you sit on your couch watching guys in spandex reenact the bachelorette on turf.
@ Go Long,ASTROTURF... .!
Wow, really? So what if we want to eat some wings while watching a sport that revolves around a bunch of 'losers'?! They make allll this $$ yada yada. Most of that revenue comes from ordinary people in the 'real world' who choose to spend their hard-earned $$ on their favorite jersey or a beer at a game. So what? The same can be said about ANY sport out there, hockey, baseball, basketball, soccer, tennis, the list goes on. So why not stop bashing the NFL and its' fans, and start bashing all the other sports that millions of fan watch every year? I'm GLAD they'll play this season!
A ride on a boat is a calculated risk. A sperm is a sacred thing.