NEW YORK – After all the time spent on the CBA negotiations and numbers, the owners and players still couldn’t get anything done by the deadline which has now come and passed. This opens up a whole different can of worms. There are more questions then answers now and it looks like lawsuits are unavoidable. The biggest question of them all is how long will the lockout last and when can the players get back to work? Trust me, all that the fans care about is when the players will go back to work. If this drags into months instead of days (it should be only days), then the NFL risks losing a bunch of fans who were on the fence to begin with. Do not be as arrogant as Rome and watch your empire crumble under the weight of greed and power.
What can they do now? Apparently, nothing will interfere with the 2011 NFL Draft “schedule” but how do teams plan for the draft with an uncertain future surrounding so many players? The Giants for example had 21 free agents this off season. How does this effect the targeted area of need for coaches and GM’s? One thing is for certain, both sides will be losing a ton of money for each day that this lingers on. Nobody wants to give up the kind of money these guys mess around with. I sincerely believe the lockout will amount to nothing more then a speed bump. My measuring stick is the 2011 NFL Draft. I believe something will happen before the draft or on the day of the draft. If it goes beyond that, then the fans should start to get concerned. That starts to run into the conditioning and all of that. Not good.
My advice to the fans would be to sit back and relax and let both sides work it out. I would be shocked if this turned into something really ugly and dragged on for too long. We are now about six weeks away from the draft, as I mentioned, consider that the true marker to keep an eye on. Once this line gets crossed, now you’re talking about physical workouts being interrupted and could it possibly mean, the return of the scabs?
How long do you think the 2011 NFL Lockout will last? Are you on the players side or the owners side during this mess?
RD – nygreporter.com
Please support the Eric LeGrand charity walk this June 4, 2011! Check it out at http://www.awalktobelieve.org