NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement and What it Means to You and Me

The one topic NFL fans are very hush-hush about as the Super Bowl gets closer is the collective bargaining agreement. Lets put it in perspective for everyone.

If you are a person like my mother and stepfather, you will no longer be annoyed that you DVR'd 60 Minutes and when you press play you are seeing the 4th quarter of a Chargers/Raiders game.

If you are the obsessed college football fan and casual NFL observer, flick to TNT and move on with your Sunday afternoon.

For the rest of us like me who live and breathe everything football, we will be needing lots of Prozac to get through Sundays come Fall 2011.

Before everyone jumps off the ledge, take a step back, take a deep breath, and repeat after me..."Their will be NFL football in 2010." After that, its sketchy.

Immediately after the completion of the 2010 NFL season, the current collective bargaining agreement will expire after the owners opted out of the current agreement in 2008. If you want an in-depth Q & A of what the particulars are for the upcoming season, please click here.

I am not interested in arguing over who wins and who loses because if their is no football in 2011, we all lose. The NFL does not need this right now. No one benefits from a cancellation or even an abbreviated 2011 season.

Certain circumstances, such as the NHL lockout of 2004-2005, constitute a work stoppage. Had the NHL not shut down the league for an entire season, the sport would not have survived in its current form. That is a fact. Even though looking back I hated not having hockey, I understand it was for the better of the sport in the long run.

The NFL and the Players Association can not allow this to happen. Both sides know what they need and what works and what doesn't. Work it out like everyone else who negotiates does. If you want an 18 game season, give up something in return. If you want a Rookie Salary Cap, give up something in return.

Also the NFL and the Players Association MUST do something about retired players. This afternoon I listened to former NFL player Conrad Dobler tell a sad story of how he had to sell his house over him and his wife's medical expenses after he had 9 knee replacements and his wife became paralyzed. Listen to the interview here.

There are hundreds of stories just like Conrad's all around the league about how the League and Players Association refuse to take care of their former players. Lets all hope this and many other issues are ironed out sooner rather than later.

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