Well, today is supposed to be 'the big day.' We either have these knuckleheads shaking hands on a deal, or we start losing preseason games at a rate of $200 million per week of preseason lost. It seems the owners, faced with the very real possibility of losing this kind of money, are taking negotiations seriously. Today in NYC, up to eight owners are present at the negotiating table with player representatives De Smith, Jeff Saturday, and others.
From Albert Breer:
So we saw 8 of the 10 members of the labor committee go in the building. That's 3 more than any of previous 6 weeks, 2 more than yesterday.
Green Bay Packers CEO Mark Murphy is also at today's meeting, possibly to represent the one team that does not have an owner (which, in my opinion, should be the model all NFL franchises follow). Eight of the ten members of the owner's labor committee are in the room. the only two missing are Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen and Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown.
We could take this as yet another positive sign, or we could just say that the big guns are now flying in desperately trying to get something done before all hell breaks loose.
As Dan Kaplan tweeted this morning:
Bob kraft just arrived, said, "I hope we are getting near the end," as he got out of a town car.
If you want to get it done, Bob, then stop playing chicken with the players. Compromise, shake hands, and let's get this league year started already!