Are You Ready for Some Football?

Well kids, the NFL lockout is over.  And we didn't miss any football!  (The Hall of Fame game doesn't count.)  I guess the owners and players aren't as stupid as I thought they were.  In fact, they actually taught us a very valuable lesson here: if you're going to have a work stoppage, do it during the offseason.  That way, all you're going to miss while fighting over $9 billion is the stuff the players don't really want to do ("voluntary" mini-camps, etc.) without sacrificing any of the things the fans (you know, the people who pay to see the product) want to see (games).

Of course, now they have to cram an entire offseason into a week, which means a whirlwind of trades and free agent signings over the next couple of days.  But I, for one, think that could be a lot of fun.  Tomorrow, teams can start making trades, signing rookies and negotiating with free agents.  However, they can't sign those free agents until the end of the week, when the NFLPA actually exists again and the CBA goes into effect.  Then training camps start next week, 15 days before each team's first preseason game.

I give both sides credit for realizing that missing regular season games would go a long way towards making sure the $9 billion they were fighting over would decrease significantly.  Both sides also took a bit of a PR hit, but not enough for it to damage the NFL's position as king of American sports.  It would've been a different story, though, if we'd all had to find something else to do with our Sunday afternoons from September to January (let alone what CBS, FOX and NBC would have to do).  Now we're not going to have to worry about that for at least the next 10 years.

Our basketball-playing friends should take note of how this all worked out.  Of course, the situation in the NBA is completely different.  Those owners evidently seem content to sacrifice the season just like the NHL did seven years ago.  I'm sure most NBA fans will probably be disappointed when that season doesn't start on time (if at all), but sometimes that's what has to be done in order to fix a broken system.  And who knows?  Maybe the end product will end up being better, just like the post-lockout NHL.

The NFL lockout wasn't about a broken system.  It was about how to split a ridiculous amount of revenue.  I still think the owners were more at fault for the impass than the players were, but that's beside the point.  In hindsight, both sides had legitimate issues that needed to be resolved.  And with this new CBA, it looks like they both gave a little to get a little.  The owners get a greater split of the total revenue (53 percent) and a rookie-wage scale (which the veteran players wanted, too).  The players get unrestricted free agency sooner (four years), contracts that are somewhat guaranteed and a longer offseason.  Most importantly, the salary cap is back in place (which the owners wanted), but there's also a salary floor, which should help teams like Buffalo and Cincinnati stay competitive.  The ridiculous, unnecessary 18-game schedule that the owners were really pushing for was tabled until at least 2013.

Even better, it was the owners and players that got a deal done, not the lawyers.  That was the most annoying part of this whole mess.  For a while, neither side was doing any actual negotiating.  It was just a back-and-forth from one legal maneuver to another.  Once they actually sat down at the bargaining table, look what happened.  It's not being left up to a judge in Minneapolis to decide if the lockout is legal, and the Brady/Manning lawsuit has been dropped.  Of course, one slight issue remains.  But the NFLPA will be reestablished as a union within the next couple days, and that'll clear the way for the league year to officially begin.

Releasing the schedule and holding the draft at their normal times in the midst of a workout seemed really silly, but now I can see why they did it.  It would be a little difficult to plan things if they waited until now to release the schedule, and at least some rookies (those who were drafted) know where they're going to play.  Besides, now we're all free to make our plans for Thursday night, September 8, when the Packers begin the defense of their Super Bowl title against the Saints at Lambeau Field.  That's what we all wanted.  And, frankly, the way it should be.

Are you ready for some football?  Yes.  We all are.  Owners, players, and especially fans.  We don't care which side got what percentage of the pot.  We just wanted football.  The two parties actually at the table were able to get things done and avoided screwing the third.  For that, they deserve a ton of credit.  Now let's play some football!