Games Don't Have to Stop if no CBA

Games Don't Have to Stop if no CBA
Friday, 11 March 2011
Written by Ed Bouchette


.............Thursday’s sparring between the two sides does not bode well for a new labor agreement any time soon, or even them agreeing to another week of CBA extensions. So the CBA likely will expire today and then will come all the legal maneuvering. The union will decertify and then sue the NFL over anti-trust violations. The NFL owners will impose a lockout.

Then what? No football in 2011. There really could be no reason to stop the games. The courts could decide to lift the owners lockout and permit the players to return to work. Then the proceedings would move through the courts at a pace that might not solve matters for quite some time. The players struck after two games of the regular season in 1987. It wiped out one game, three games were played with “replacement” players and then everyone came back to work and worked and worked and played games right up until the new labor agreement – six years later!

It may not take six years to get this one done, but a similar 1987-like strike won’t happen. The owners learned their lesson 24 years ago, even if new owners have hopped on board since then and some former owners are no longer with us. The lockout was designed so, after reaching a negotiation impasses, the players could not walk out during or just before the season. And if the union decertifies, there can be no union strike.

Interesting times, but no matter what happens, there should be football played in 2011.

Read More: http://plus.sites.post-gazette.com/i...stop-if-no-cba