To Draft or Not To Draft......

[NBT]

from GBN:

"September 24

(12:01 AM):To draft or not to draft ??? … With apologies to the Bard, that is one of the questions that will be facing the NFL this coming off-season if the current labor problems are not resolved. The official line at the NFL is that there will be a draft in 2011, however, as of today, no date, time or location has been set. Like other professional leagues other than baseball, the NFL is allowed to get around anti-trust legislation and draft players out of college because its part of the collective bargaining arrangement agreed to by the players. However, if as expected the CBA is allowed to lapse on March 1st , the owners lockout, and the Players’ Association decertifies itself, then the league would be open to anti-trust suits if it tried to proceed with a draft this spring or summer barring resolution of the current labor impasse. One option for the NFL would be to move the draft up and hold it before March 1st when the CBA expires. That, though, would be complicated by the fact that the annual scouting combine in Indianapolis isn't scheduled itself until the last week of February. The other related issue is how much the NFL’s labor woes will impact decisions of underclassmen thinking about turning pro this winter. In normal times, underclassmen have until January 15th to apply to the NFL for early entry to the upcoming draft. The question for underclassmen pondering entering the 2011 draft, though, will be whether they take the chance of leaving school this winter with the likelihood that there will be a lockout in the NFL next fall which would leave them in football limbo for who knows how long. And given the fact that underclassmen now make-up such an important component of the elite talent in every draft, the 2011 draft, if and whenever it is held, could be heavily impacted if an inordinate number of quality underclassmen simply decide the risk isn’t worth it and opt to stay in school through the 2011 season."

[HPF Bob]

If there appears to be no progress by December, look for the NFL to move the draft up to late February, which will make it more of a crapshoot for teams that don't prepare well.

They know such a move will probably poison negotiations so they aren't going to announce this until as late as they think they can get away with it.

[Nconroe]

The NFL is so successful right now, they really need to get this deal done and avoid the lockout.

[NBT]

So nc, you would have the guaranteed rookie contracts continue unabated? And as an NFL owner, you are already guaranteeing 60% of the money to the players? At that rate you won't stay in business very long. And therein lies the problem.

[Nconroe]

Happy New Year, in October looks like I suggested they ought to get new CBA done before it expires pretty shortly, avoid lockout, have a regular offseason schedule, but did not suggest continue existing CBA, atleast that is what I think I meant to say, maybe. Not sure if we will hear many details on discussion, when. It is going slower than I had hoped.

on those two topics -

on rookie salaries,expecially first round picks, and first 10 picks really, it seems almost everyone including owners and players think this needs to be fixed, so, expect it will.

on salary distribution, hopefully you realize statistics are just numbers. hard to feel sorry for either side on this money they make part, right. Owners are not hurting right now are they, most are billionaires. if they hurt, they can sell to another billionaire who is happily waiting to buy.

Me personally, if you said I only got 10% of my annual billion dollars instead of 40% of my annual billion, I'd be ok. but of course, if you said I get 10% of one million I would not be so happy. Current TV deals makes the money real funny.

And depends on what your other expenses are and if they are fixed or float based on total income and if talking gross or net, and when you calculate effects answer you get. I'll let those guys dig in the books pretty deep to be fair with percent they end up at.

I think on the salary distribution, guaranteed salary to contracts, ie. making it a little harder to cut someone after one day of a long contract and pay very little might be a bigger contract issue, something not maybe as extreme as NBA but something a little more fair for players.

[NBT]

The Combine will be here shortly, and right after that, sometime after March 4th., the owners supposedly, are going to lockout the players. Wait a minute, both sides agreed to a 3rd party, non binding, arbitrator. For whatever good that will do, if it is non binding. The smaller market owners say they aren't making any money with the 60-40 split the way it is now. Pretty hard to believe. The players like the way it is now, and why should they give anything back? Nobody will suffer from all this except the fans.