#NFL #Football: #Lockout OVER, Let the Games begin

The deal means the Green Bay Packers will start the defence of their NFL Championship on 8 September as scheduled

BBC Sport 

NFL owners and players have agreed a new deal which ends fears of a strike blighting the coming season.

The two sides reached agreement - which will be in force for the next 10 years - after months of thorny negotiations on issues including how annual revenues of $9bn (£5.5bn) are divided.

The NFL Players' Association decision to accept the deal comes after the clubs' owners backed it last week.
Green Bay will host New Orleans in the regular season's opener on 8 September.

The players' union and the owners worked throughout the weekend on a mutually acceptable settlement, and the Associated Press reported that the final deal was reached on Monday morning.

Key to the agreement was exactly what proportion of the NFL's revenue should go to the players.

The old deal - which expired in March after the league's 32 owners decided to opt out of it back in 2008, and saw players being locked out for the first time since the 1987 strike - saw revenues split roughly 50-50.

It is understood that the new agreement will see the owners keep 53% and the players 47%.

There will also be a team salary cap, which includes bonuses, of about $120m (£73.6m) in place for the 2011 season, and something similar for 2012 and 2013.

A new salary system will also be introduced to deal with the issue of rookies' pay.

And players will be granted unrestricted free agency after four seasons with a club, rather than three under the old deal.

 

"Our guys stood together when nobody thought we would. And football is back because of it."

-DeMaurice Smith NFL Players Association chief

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said of the long-awaited deal: "This is a long time coming, and football's back. And that's the great news for everybody."

And NFL Players' Association chief DeMaurice Smith said: "We didn't get everything that either side wanted... but we did arrive at a deal that we think is fair and balanced.

"I know it has been a very long process since the day we stood here that night in March.

"But our guys stood together when nobody thought we would. And football is back because of it."

Preparations for the coming season will now be accelerated, with clubs scrambling to sign young players who were picked in this spring's draft, as well as rookie free agents.

Talks with veteran free agents could also start on Tuesday, with signings beginning on Friday.

The Associated Press reports that training camps will open for 10 teams on Wednesday, 10 teams on Thursday, another 10 teams on Friday, and the last two teams on Sunday.

The deal makes it likely that the latest NFL International Series game between Tampa Bay and Chicago at Wembley will go ahead as planned on Sunday, 23 October.

The lockout of NFL players lasted 132 days before the sides reached a full agreement on the new collective bargaining agreement on Monday.

The deal ends several court battles and a war of words between labor and management.

Here’s a look at how the spring and summer of discontent came to an end:

Date	Description
Feb. 6	Super Bowl XLV: Packers 31, Steelers 25
March 1	Minnesota district Judge Dave Doty ruled owners illegally created a $4 billion lockout fund by redoing TV contracts and sought to “harm” players
March 9	Sources claim agreement reached on rookie pay scale. Cole story
March 11	NFL Players Association decertifies as a union
March 12	Owners officially lock out players
March 15	Vikings RB Adrian Peterson says NFL is "modern-day slavery" in interview with Shutdown Corner.
March 28	Retired NFL players file antitrust lawsuit against NFL
April 11	NFLPA announces Rookie Debut lineup, confirming it won’t boycott/interfere with NFL draft
April 20	"Mid-tier" players reportedly demand seat at negotiating table. Wetzel story
April 25	U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson rules the lockout should be lifted to save players irreversible damage.
April 26	Date that NFL free agency would have begun
April 28	NFL draft still commences, but fans boo commissioner Roger Goodell
April 29	8th Circuit panel puts Nelsons ruling on hold four days later
May 16	U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals grants NFL owners a stay. Wetzel: NFL players must decide how long to battle
May 25	NFL Coaches Association files brief with Eighth Circuit expressing support for players
June 3	Full appeal scheduled in Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for legality of lockout.
June 7	Owners, players meet secretly at a New York City hotel
June 14	Owners, players continue secret sessions near Baltimore
June 21	Owners meet in Chicago
June 22	Owners, players meet outside of Boston for the first of two days
June 28	Goodell and Smith fly together to attend rookie symposium, a sign of “progress” in the labor talks
July 4	Cited as date needed to insure normal season Cole story
July 7	Owners, players meet at Manhattan law firm
July 8	Eighth Circuit Court rules that lockout is legal
July 11	Legal teams representing owners, players meet in Manhattan
July 13	Owners and players join talks
July 21	Owners vote 31-0 to ratify CBA proposal.
July 25	Players vote 32-0 to ratify CBA agreement.
Aug. 11	First week of preseason (Thurs-Mon.)
Sept. 8	First regular season game: Saints at Packers
Sept. 11	Week 1 Sunday games