ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL? For real?

[SkinBasket]

Adam Schefter reporting the deal's been agreed to...

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/6797238/2011-nfl-lockout-owners-players-come-deal-all-points-sources-say

[Iron Mike]

Great, now we can move on from this:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5brPQYt8TF8&feature=related

[pbmax]

Glazer said they wrapped it at 3 AM last night/morning.

[SkinBasket]

Now the not-union just has to become a union again so they can work out those details that can only be worked out with a union.

[pbmax]

Now the not-union just has to become a union again so they can work out those details that can only be worked out with a union.

Worse, even. First, one vote by Exec committee to recommend deal to player reps. Then player rep vote. Then sign union cards and count to reform. Then leadership has to sign off on union only, CBA-only items. Then vote on complete CBA by both players and owners (I would think each would need to approve the final version again). With one contact practice per day, the players will spend more time in meeting rooms than the practice field for the first week.

[SkinBasket]

Worse, even. First, one vote by Exec committee to recommend deal to player reps. Then player rep vote. Then sign union cards and count to reform. Then leadership has to sign off on union only, CBA-only items. Then vote on complete CBA by both players and owners (I would think each would need to approve the final version again). With one contact practice per day, the players will spend more time in meeting rooms than the practice field for the first week.

At least they said Smith was helping to expedite this stuff. Of course, he did a pretty shitty job of presenting the deal to the players last week, so maybe that won't much help after all.

[Ballboy]

It will be interesting what TT does with the FA's that we got. I really think Cullen, College and Crosby are a must, Cullen is more sentimental than anything. I heard that each team will be able to "borrow" $3 million this year from future years to help resign players...anyone able to confirm or make sense of the use of it?

[pbmax]

Peter King labels that $3 million (a loan from future cap space, there is also a 3.5 million exception from performance based pay) as intended for veterans. But he doesn't mention the other figure at all. PFT has both available for vet salaries.

[vince]

PB (or anyone else), do you have any info that itemizes any terms the players changed from what the owners ratified last week? In terms of the CBA, it looks like the players actually got less than what they were holding out for by comparing the "open" items listing from last Wednesday to the only summary of the final deal that the players accepte that I’ve seen (below from PFT).

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/07/25/highlights-of-final-deal/

Highlights of final deal
Posted by Mike Florio on July 25, 2011, 2:16 PM EDT

PFT has obtained a summary of the labor deal that was approved today by the NFLPA* Executive Committee and board of player representatives.

We’d ordinarily think of some funny or poignant turn of phrase right here, but time’s-a-wastin’.

Regarding the issue of the minimum per-team cash spend (something for which Saints quarterback Drew Brees recently told teammates via e-mail he would be fighting), the two sides agreed that each franchise will spend at least 89 percent of the cap, on a four-year average from 2013 through 2016, and from 2017 through 2020. (Across the entire league, the NFL has committed to spending 99 percent of the cap space in 2011 and 2012, and 95 percent for the rest of the deal.)

Teams will be allowed to have a whopping 90 players on the roster during training camp.

The timeline meshes exactly with the timeline we posted earlier today. (It was never revised due to the slight delay in the voting process.)

The league year will begin August 4, unless the CBA is ratified sooner than that by the players.

Workout bonuses will be paid in full if a player is not waived before 4:01 p.m. ET on July 29. If the player is waived before then, the full amount will be paid if the bonus was less than $50,000. From $50,000 to $100,000, the player will get $50,000. For bonuses over $100,000, the player will get half, up to $100,000.

Roster and option bonuses to be earned during the lockout will be earned if the player is on the roster at 4:00 p.m. ET on July 29. (That could be called the Vince Young rule.)

As to injury protection, a player will get half of his salary, up to $1 million, in the season after a catastrophic injury. In the second year, he’ll get 30 percent, up to $500,000.

As to the workers’ compensation forum-shopping issue, the question of whether players will be permitted to file claims in California despite never playing for a team headquartered there will continue to be subject ongoing litigation on that point. (There goes the league’s desire for a clean courtroom slate.)

There is no opt out, as previously reported by Albert Breer of NFL Network. It’s a firm, 10-year contract.

Stay tuned for more details as we try to digest the paperwork that already is flooding the PFT e-mailbox.

[vince]

I found one thing that appears not to have been in the owners' version of the agreement - 5 days off during the bye week.

[SkinBasket]

I found one thing that appears not to have been in the owners' version of the agreement - 5 days off during the bye week.

Jesus fucking Christ, you would think these fucking guys work at walmart for minimum wage.

No! We are not guys! You are the guys!

[pbmax]

No list on changed terms except what I have read and pieced together: opt-out (that went from not in, to in, to a dual option, to out) by Monday morning and the settlement for the TV lockout case was not for the benefit money (or any cash at all) but for an uncapped year (Peter King had that and did not list the year - assume its the last year of the deal, but who knows)? And the California option/loophole closre for workers compensation cases was punted.

There were other decisions made on the open ended items, but its not clear which, if any, were written into the owners version.

I think Berthelsen's email, highlighting that the owners either placed their position into writing OR created a fall back position of adopting 2006 CBA terms if no decisions could be reached. The players expected additional negotiations, the owners did not want to produce a document they approved to have literal blank spaces or either/or terms. Thusly, a Twitter fit.