NFL lockout lifted; NFL is back in business

The bottom line is, football is back!

After the longest lockout in National Football League history, football is back. The NFLPA (National Football League Player Association) decided to unanimously accept the new 10-year Collective Bargaining Agreement, and the lockout was lifted. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said it best: “Football is back.” Commissioner Goodell and NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith announced the great news to an abundance of NFL fans and players, effectively ending a lockout that has been hanging over the league since March. The new CBA will last for ten years. The deal was felt to be fair for both sides, owners and players, after months of negotiations. Owners won part of the battle when the players agreed to the new CBA as owners receive 53% of all revenue and players 47%. The previous CBA that had ended after this past season was at a closer margin, which was better for the players. The players won in that they got new in-game and in-practice rules that would make them less susceptible to injury. For now, the season will stay at 16 games for each team, but that matter will be refocused on in 2013, and the players have full control of if they want to expand the season to 18 games. Now, what ESPN NFL Analyst Adam Schefter called “the busiest two weeks in sports” begins. By 10 AM ET today, NFL teams will open their facilities for use and can also sign their draft picks and rookie free agents. They can also start trading players. On Wednesday and Thursday, teams can start their training camps and prepare for the preseason and regular season. A few teams have decided to open camp a few days later. The only game canceled due to the lockout was the Hall of Fame Game scheduled to be on August 7th from Football’s Hall of Fame site, in Canton, Ohio. No preseason or regular season games were lost. Now, the National Basketball Association is the only league still in a lockout, and looks to be in one longer than the NFL. On Thursday, starting 4:00, teams can release players. Owners approved the deal Thursday, but the decision from the NFLPA ran through the weekend because the members and players wanted to make sure the deal was fair for them before approving. Otherwise, they’d be stuck with a deal that lasts until 2020, with a no-terminate clause. The NFL Lockout began March 11, and the previous CBA allowed players or owners to terminate it, and the owners did that. This lockout was the longest in NFL history, at 132 days. The last labor stoppage in the NFL was in 1987, but that one was brief compared to this latest lockout. The NFL regular season begins with New Orleans playing Green Bay on September 8th. We NFL fans won’t see a lockout in the NFL for at least 10 years. And best of all, FOOTBALL IS BACK!