NFL News & Rumors Digest

If you have in no way heard of Joe Siclare, you’re not alone.  If I’d previously heard of him before reading Peter King’s recent Sports Illustrated blurb on the NFL’s treasurer, I’ve forgotten.

But when you are sinking into that couch on Sunday, September 11 and attempting to process nine games at when, you can thank Siclare for helping to make that occur.

On the thorny problem of splitting up the revenue pie, the two sides had been getting nowhere.  Citing an unnamed exec in the room, King writes that U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan was blunt.  “Look,” Judge Boylan mentioned, “you’ve got to come up with some new thought.  You guys keep talking past each other rather of to each and every other.”

So Siclare had an concept.  Give the players a bigger cut of the simple cash, and much less of the funds that takes more cash to make.

Particularly, the players get 55 percent of the broadcast income, 45 percent of the money generated via NFL Ventures (that is merchandise and promotions), and 40 percent of nearby team revenues (tickets and stadium stuff).

“It wasn’t like inventing cold fusion in the sink,” Sinclare told King.  (Or, as the case may possibly be, discovering plutonium by accident.)  “It’s just frequent sense.  For the owners, it recognizes the revenue areas that will need the additional investment to grow the game.”

In the finish, it helped break a logjam that allowed the two sides to devise a simple, transparent formula that needs no trust or guesswork.

Related Posts:

• T.O. moves closer to 100 percent
• Tom Brady is “relatively confident” labor deal will be reached
• Chiefs owner Hunt: Labor peace not close
• Goodell: NFL to insist new labor deal includes HGH testing
• Goodell wants HGH tests in labor deal

With the folks who run the show returning to the labor talks on Thursday, the lawyers went overtime — a small — to set the table for what could be a final push toward an agreement in principle.

Albert Breer of NFL Network reports that the lawyers met for 11 hours on Wednesday in Manhattan, working on the crafting of language that will appear in the new CBA, if/when a new CBA is finalized.

Breer also reports that the parties don’t believe Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan’s looming vacation requires a deal to be reached ahead of Boylan bolts.  Citing two unnamed sources, Breer says that the preseason revenue remains the main motivation for working out a new labor deal.

Either way, Thursday looks to be the biggest day to date in determining regardless of whether this deal can be worked out in a manner that salvages the whole normal season and preseason.

Related Posts:

• Players, owners return to talks on Wednesday
• NFLPA Attempts to Explain August 4 Letter Agreement
• Little progress reported in labor talks Wednesday
• Raiders Reach Agreement With Packers’ McKenzie for GM Role
• Your Wednesday labor starting lineup

On different prior occasions this year, the NFL and the players have gotten together for mediation.  Previously, each meeting was met with a sense of optimism, albeit increasingly muted.

This team around, as the parties return to Minnesota today for further negotiations with U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan presiding, no one is thinking that any progress will be created.  A lot of simply aren’t even paying attention.

And for excellent reason.  The two sides appear to be committed to waiting for a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, with the players and the league equally confident they’ll win.

The players knew the decertification-litigation chaos strategy would, if productive, end the lockout and allow the players to continue negotiations even though operating from a position of ultimate strength — preventing the league from twisting the players’ arms until they accept the owners’ terms.  If that approach fails, the players will be needed to return to the drawing board and devise a plan for digging in and missing game checks in order to have a hint of leverage at the bargaining table.

For the owners, losing at the Eighth Circuit means the doors will be forced open (assuming the unlikely total shutdown choice isn’t pursued), and the owners will have to choose on a set of rules for 2011, understanding that any rules other than the Thunder Road approach (i.e., “the rules are there ain’t no rules”) will be challenged as a violation of the antitrust laws.

Each side seems to have accepted the risk of losing, although still pushing for victory.  It is their right to approach the situation this way, but it makes mediation at this point a total waste of everyone’s time.

Related Posts:

• Time to strike a deal is before, not after, Eighth Circuit rules
• As mediation approaches, gap between NFL, players possibly has grown
• Sides hope to build on ‘some progress’; Smith rejoins mediation
• Goodell, five team execs at mediation; Smith tends to emergency
• Eighth Circuit rules that lockout is legal

Rich Eisen, host of “NFL Total Access,” asked NFL Network legal analyst Gabe Feldman about U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan’s decision Wednesday to adjourn court-ordered mediation until May 16. Eisen also asked Feldman about how the legal and negotiation process might play out between the league and players.

Related Posts:

• What now? Q&A with NFL Network legal analyst Gabe Feldman
• Judge, NFL legal team convene for pre-mediation session
• Labor negotiations won’t slow down Super Bowl XLVI prep
• NFL Coaches Association files legal brief in support of players
• Chiefs owner Hunt: Labor peace not close

NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith is expected to rejoin the mediation between the NFL and the players before U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan on Wednesday.

Related Posts:

• Goodell, five team execs at mediation; Smith tends to emergency
• Family emergency will keep NFLPA head Smith from mediation
• NFL, players complete second day of mediated negotiations
• McCoy hosting some Browns for workouts
• Broncos executive Elway learning ropes of draft in new role

The NFL and players began the third day of court-ordered mediation on Tuesday morning in the downtown chambers of U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan.

Related Posts:

• Family emergency will keep NFLPA head Smith from mediation
• Sides hope to build on ‘some progress’; Smith rejoins mediation
• Goodell, Minnesota governor meeting Tuesday
• Goodell expects 25 rookies at the draft
• Amani Toomer: Roger Goodell uses Gestapo-like tactics

The NFL and players are scheduled to resume court-ordered mediation Tuesday at 10 a.m. CT in the downtown chambers of U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan, but a NFL Players Association spokesman said executive director DeMaurice Smith won’t attend because of a family emergency.

Related Posts:

• NFLPA’s Smith to miss labor negotiations
• NFLPA executive director Smith to forego salary until settlement
• Goodell, NFLPA leader Smith meet
• Goodell, five team execs at mediation; Smith tends to emergency
• NFL, players complete second day of mediated negotiations

The NFL and players met for a second day before U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan on Friday morning, continuing the mediation ordered by U.S. District Judge Susan Nelson.

Related Posts:

• Judge orders NFL, players to try mediation again in Minnesota
• Letters detail how NFL, players want mediation to proceed
• NFL, players’ union agree to mediation
• Report: Group of players want to intervene into mediation
• Family emergency will keep NFLPA head Smith from mediation