Lockout Updates-Owners Bickering Among Themselves

So much for progress? 

It appears we are not quite as close to a new CBA as we thought we were.  Heeding Judge Kermit Bye's warning that neither side will like the 8th Circuit's ruling to block the injunction issued by Judge Susan Nelson in Minnesota, owners and players have made quite significant progress (secret meetings usually produce positive results) towards a new CBA.  However, some of the owners who were unsatisfied with the previous CBA (**cough cough ** Ralph Wilson  **cough cough**) are starting to rear their naysaying heads yet again.  The owners have called for at least one day of internal meetings where they will discuss whether or not the CBA currently being negotiated actually addresses the orginial issues the owners had with the first CBA.  Mostly, the owners feel like the CBA favors the players too much (of course) in that it gives them too much of a percentage of the league's revenues. 

It appears as if both sides have made significant progress in addressing the peripheral issues that go into this CBA (rookie wages and retiree benefits...although some hall of famers beg to differ).  Nevertheless, the core issue remains how to divide $9 billion in revenues.  The owners want at least $2 billion off the top before splitting the rest with the players to cover operational costs.  The players believe that $1billion is enough for those costs.  Now, the negotiations probably have bridged that gap considerably, but is that enough to satisfy the small market owners who were able to get the league to void the CBA in the first place?  One of the purposes of this meeting (allegedly) is to determine if Goodell is actually representing the best interest of the league (i.e. the owners) in negotiations.  Hmmm, if I may opine here for a second, it certainly isn't in the best interest of the league to have a prolonged work stoppage, no matter what kind of war chest they may have.  If Goodell is honestly negotiating to make sure there is football in 2011, he is negotiating in the best interest of the league.  He's not there to negotiate on behalf of Ralph Wilson (did I just say that?).

Owners believe that in order to have a regular training camp and season (at least one that starts on time), a deal must be done by the Fourth of July.  However, contingency plans are already in place as many of you probably know.  Right now, it looks like the deciding factor in whether or not the season will start on time (if at all) is not what the 8th Circuit says...we're beyond that it seems.  It is whether or not the Jerry Jones and Daniel Snyders can tell the Ralph Wilsons and Al Davis's to swallow a deal they didn't want in the first place.