The NFL and its players making progress

The NFL and representative of the players (remember they are no longer a Union) have made significant progress towards a deal, and it appears that the owner opposition to a new deal is not as strong as we once believed. It seems very likely now that the NFL lockout will come to an end before the month of August and that the 2011 NFL season will be held with minimal cancellations of the things we are use to.

Of course, there will be a load of new rules, and the most significant of those will be that the players will get 48% of all revenue, and that teams will be required to spend very close to 100% of their allotted salary cap. It also looks like the Unrestricted Free Agent rule will be knocked back to four years meaning players with an expiring deal will be unrestricted free agents after four years of service. There is also talk that the franchise tag will remain, but there will be a limit possibly on how many times one team can apply it to any one player.

Since the players are going to take less overall money they are going to demand that the NFL does a few things (if they are smart). They should demand a date for the NFL to get a team into Los Angeles. Since having a team there will likely greatly increase overall revenue. There is also some talk of expanding the Thursday Night Football schedule to a full 16 weeks and selling off all of half of hat package to help the league maximize its revenue.

For the first time in a long time I think the framework of a new CBA is in place, and that all of this will be over in the next few weeks.