The pending National Football League lockout is becoming more and more realistic as the days go by and little progress is made between the players union and the owners. The two sides have been struggling to agree on a new collective bargaining agreement to replace the one that expired at the end of the previous season.
The issue is becoming so tense that the United States judicial system is getting involved.
Wednesday, in St. Paul, Minnesota, Judge Susan Richard Nelson oversaw the stances of lawyers representing players who are currently in the NFL, as well as those who are retired. The players are trying to get Judge Nelson to order to the league to end the lockout so the 2011 season would not be affected anymore than it already has.
Going into the hearing, the players knew that even if the judge sided with them that the NFL would be more than likely to appeal the decision and only continue to further the matter without true resolve.
Also, a group of ten NFL players led by Tom Brady and Peyton Manning have come together representing their fellow players in the league to sue the NFL to end the lockout as well. They are also seeking to see if the lockout is violating the federal antitrust laws.
The case of Brady v. NFL is going to be heard in conjunction with Eller v. NFL. Eller v. NFL is a group of retired players suing the NFL. Therefore, those players cannot be accused of having their motives influenced by the collective bargaining agreement talks, thus making their views against the league based on actual insight and not an attempt to make more money.
The National Football League is a nine billion dollar industry. The amount of money available appears to be more than enough to leave everyone happy. The owners of the teams get one billion dollars of the money that the league makes. Then the players get just over five billion dollars.
Owners want more money to promote the game and upgrade and rebuild stadiums. They also want more money to take the regular season from 16 games to 18 games.
The players do not like that idea as they know that in such a physical game that pays the average player less than $1 million a year and the average career is barely four years long that careers would be shortened and players would make less money to take into retirement.
The NFL Draft is still set to go on the weekend of April 28th as planned. The season, which begins on September 8th, continues to sit in jeopardy.
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