official: union decertifies

[red]

From what I could glean from various media coverage, the union had a curious lack of counterproposals. They seemed to react to absolutely everything with "show us your books."

yeah, thats the feeling i got too. the union got exactly what they've wanted all along

i think this is more of a strike then a lockout, or a little of both

[Jimx29]

People in Japan dead in an earthquake, and thosands flooded out on the east coast, and these assholes are fighting over millions. The Packers can all go act like idiots at the capitol with the anarchists. What a sad end to a Super Bowl win. They're all a bunch of union tools - the owners too.

A pox on all their houses.

Zactly^^

But it's Billions, not millions

[Fritz]

And they're going to take up the time of the members of the judicial system with this obnoxious wrangling. Doesn't this country have anything better to do?

[Bretsky]

unions suck

[rbaloha1]

Players have the legal argument advantage. Owners are refusing to provide the proper business documentation since they shall be exposed for improper expenses.

With no $4 billion in tv advance revenue the owners are forced to negotiate reasonably which they are not happy about.

Thank goodness for college football.

[Fritz]

unions suck

I do not agree.

[gbgary]

If the lockout extends into the season, my interest in football will wane more than it already has the last few years. Better not fuck up a cash cow ya retards.

My interest in football will take a big hit if there is no football next year.

mine won't.

[swede]

I blame the union for hiring that *&*#(@&( lawyer Demaurice Smith who is only interested in his own ends. He is the archetypical egomaniac lawyer.

I hope the players and the owners all lose the four billion dollars they could have split. They better hope to God the standoff doesn't cause the zombie trance to break that makes the public spend hundreds on jerseys and thousands on tickets and 20 bucks on a burger and a soft drink.

[MJZiggy]

I blame the union for hiring that *&*#(@&( lawyer Demaurice Smith who is only interested in his own ends. He is the archetypical egomaniac lawyer.

I hope the players and the owners all lose the four billion dollars they could have split. They better hope to God the standoff doesn't cause the zombie trance to break that makes the public spend hundreds on jerseys and thousands on tickets and 20 bucks on a burger and a soft drink.

The zombie trance broke a month or so ago when I got my Directv bill...

[rbaloha1]

I blame the union for hiring that *&*#(@&( lawyer Demaurice Smith who is only interested in his own ends. He is the archetypical egomaniac lawyer.

I hope the players and the owners all lose the four billion dollars they could have split. They better hope to God the standoff doesn't cause the zombie trance to break that makes the public spend hundreds on jerseys and thousands on tickets and 20 bucks on a burger and a soft drink.

Mr. Smith is upholding the gains Eugene Upshaw negotiated successfully. The previous deal favored the players slightly. The owners vowed revenge -- failed to renew the recently expired collective bargain agreement and attempted to secure a $4 billion "loan" from the networks.

IMO Mr. Smith is an smart articulate black union chief that is standing "toe to toe" with white slave (oops I mean NFL) owners. The owners know the players have the courts on their side. Owner rhetoric attempts to turn the fans against players which works to an extent. A deal gets worked out since the owners do not want to be exposed for silly spending.

Stand-up and applaud the players for doing what is right.

[MJZiggy]

When the union posts their "concessions" and never mentions an extra billion off the top nor do they talk about the 9 billion that they are assuming is available etc. then it's just crap they're releasing to try to sway the opinions of people they don't think know what's going on.

[mraynrand]

white slave (oops I mean NFL) owners.

The slave accommodations these days are an OUTRAGE!

[Bretsky]

I blame the union for hiring that *&*#(@&( lawyer Demaurice Smith who is only interested in his own ends. He is the archetypical egomaniac lawyer.

I hope the players and the owners all lose the four billion dollars they could have split. They better hope to God the standoff doesn't cause the zombie trance to break that makes the public spend hundreds on jerseys and thousands on tickets and 20 bucks on a burger and a soft drink.

It was no mistake they chose this dude over reputable people who've played the game in Trace Armstrong and Troy Vincent....players who were well respected
They are going for blood and hired their hound

[rbaloha1]

The slave accommodations these days are an OUTRAGE!

My "slave" housing have changed since Thomas Jefferson's era.

[Guiness]

From what I could glean from various media coverage, the union had a curious lack of counterproposals. They seemed to react to absolutely everything with "show us your books."

It's silly to take sides here (especially for Packer fans, since our books are open), but generally when it comes to negotiations "Willingness to compromise" wins points with me.

I agree whole heartedly on the 'willingness to compromise' but I gather that the union's position is that they were playing blind baseball. They were being told the current deal wasn't going to work, they had to give something up, but were being shown nothing to prove it. They didn't have enough information to even craft a proposal, because they didn't know the lay of the land.

IMO the owners did not prove that the split wasn't working for them. Actually, I see a lot of pointers in the other direction. I can understand the position that from the player's view, nothing had to change.

The real SNAFU is that the owner's rep is claiming he gave the union all the financial information they asked for, profit/loss for individual teams, etc. The union is claiming they haven't received what they wanted. They are apparently so far apart that they don't even know what the other is asking for