NFL Players Association Decertifies and Lockout Ensues

The NFL Players Union has opted to decertify and labor negotiations will no longer continue. The union has cited the lack of financial transparency between the owners and the players. This marks the first work stoppage since 1987.

After 16 days of mediation, the owners and the players couldn't reach an agreement regarding the distribution of revenue. Apparently both sides were hundreds of millions of dollars apart in their ideas.

The NFLPA now no longer represents the players and will not be collectively bargaining. Now players must file class-action lawsuits against the NFL. Players such as Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and Osi Umenyiora have volunteered to be the leading plaintiffs as well as 6 other players.

As a result of the decertification, the owners locked out the players at midnight. That means no trades, no contracts, no training or workouts at team facilities, or any team meetings. The players have to do all of their offseason workouts elsewhere. The only thing that will continue is the NFL Draft in April. However, this will greatly impact the rookies drafted as they won't be able to do anything or start the development process with their respective teams. Teams looking for an immediate impact through players acquired in the draft probably won't have much success.

But I am and am not surprised about the outcome of this situation. I can't believe how greedy the owners are being, seeing as they already have an immense wealth that everyone less fortunate would be willing to have, and these owners are so protective of the money they make by running a team playing a game. I was optimistic that some progress was getting done with all the talk between the two sides, but when you only have a little over 2 weeks of talks what can you really expect? That's like studying for a test the night before or writing a paper or doing a project in one night. The results aren't going to be exactly what you wanted. What angers me the most is that they had 2 years to get a deal done and nothing was done until recently. That's not the way to get anything done. At this point all we can hope for is that we don't lose any of the regular season to this lockout.

Then there's the issues that appear to have not been addressed yet:

1. The Proposed 18 Game Season
2. Retirement Benefits
3. Rookie Wage Scale
4. The Division of Revenue