ESPN noodleheads Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter are reporting that there is growing optimism that the labor negotiations are nearing an end. That is most certainly the good news. The agreement should be in place so that it can be ratified at the July 21 owners meeting in Atlanta. Even that part of it sounds pretty nice considering how long this hot mess has gone on. The bad news is that they are waiting until July 21. Why wait any longer than you have to? It can be ratified before the owners meeting. This sort of thing is what has bothered me from the moment the owners opted out of the 2006 agreement. Why wait to start negotiating? Why wait to ratify an agreement. There has been absolutely no sense of urgency to get this settled. They waited until late February, early March to start serious negotiations. Even then it didn't seem that anyone took these serious negotiations seriously. Even at this late date, four months into the lockout, the seriousness of both parties can be questioned. I certainly question it. The main sticking points now surround the expected rookie wage scale, more specifically the length of the first round player contracts. The owners want five year contracts. The players want no more than four. I see a compromise of four with a fifth year option thrown in. Another point of contention deals with a possible right to match any contract offered to a team's free agents. This would probably be limited to 2 or 3 of a team's free agents. This may also only be for the chaos that might happen as soon as the floodgates open this year. I actually like this rule as it would enhance the Vikings' chances of re-signing receiver Sidney Rice. The players are certainly against this as they don't want anything that might limit their free agency. It may limit movement but it's doubtful that it would limit money. This doesn't really seem like a significant hurdle. Mortensen and Schefter also reported that the league has a structure of rules for the transition into the new league year upon the lifting of the lockout. That is also some pretty dandy news. I didn't want to see another handful of days get wasted debating something that should already have been done.
Despite my angst over these clowns possibly wasting time waiting for July 21 to arrive, this is all pretty sweet news. It was made sweeter when another ESPN noodlehead, John Clayton, reported a 98-99% chance of an agreement by Friday. Get 'er done.
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