The NFL and the Players Union are currently in a lock out. The previous Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) expired March 3rd. Neither parties have agreed on another CBA for this upcoming or future seasons. Due to this, there is currently a lockout where NFL players and teams have no ties to one another. This is a very general breakdown of the situation, but basically, both sides cannot come up with an agreement on how the $9 billion NFL industry should spend its money. Obviously, the players want more than what the NFL is willing to part with, and vice versa. Since both sides say that they want an NFL season next year (even though there is a lot of evidence to argue that), the parties have agreed to a mediator to resolve these problems. Using a mediator did not work as well as planned, and the players have taken the case to a federal judge to “oversee the case.” March 6th was the day both parties defended their case. It was a five hour session and the judge requested “a couple of weeks” to evaluate and make a decision.
The sole purpose of this first meeting was for the judge to have “the lockout be immediately lifted on the grounds that their careers [players] are being irreparably harmed.” Unfortunately, little was resolved during this five hour meeting. When the judge does make her decision, the “winner would have leverage whenever talks resume on a new CBA.” This of course would be appealed, so on and so forth, wasting a lot of time. This current system is will not be effective in getting both sides to agree to a new CBA is a timely manner.
I personally find this whole situation to be a tad ridiculous. I completely understand both sides of the argument, and I will not take one side or the other because important information was never released to the public. But what I can say is that both sides have agreed to certain contracts in the past. Both sides have to be flexible on their demands, losing some battles while gaining ground in other areas. The general feel from these meetings is that both parties are holding strong toward their case.
I personally believe that if neither side can reach an agreement by this summer, the government will ultimately step in and make both sides cooperate. The NFL and the Players Association are fighting over the rights of the $9 billion industry, but that does not include the billions of other dollars affected by this decision. Our current economy is in a recession, meaning people are not spending money, therefore halting money flow. If there was no NFL, businesses like local restaurants, sports bars, and television sports packages would all lose business. And these are just a few; there are hundreds of other jobs that would lose money with no NFL season. Our current economy needs money to be spent to help the US get out of the recession it is currently facing. The NFL is such a large business, that it could seriously affect the future growth of the US economy.
So while both the NFL and the Players Association are arguing over who gets what and at what price, there is such a larger factor that is being affected. Us sports fans must hope that the two sides come to an agreement before things get out of hand.
