NFL owners and negotiators for players have agreed to terms on a
10-year labor deal, averting a meltdown that would have sidetracked
the nation’s most successful sports league.
Sam Framer, Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES
NFL owners and negotiators for players have agreed to terms on a 10-year labor deal, averting a meltdown that would have sidetracked the nation’s most successful sports league.
What remains is for the player representatives from all 32 teams to officially recommend the deal to their teammates, and for the league’s 1,900 players to cast their votes on whether to re-form as a union and sign off on an accord. Those are considered formalities, and the wheels are in motion for the NFL to begin the league year — marking the start of free agency — and to open training camps later this week.
The actual timeline is up for debate, with players and media largely speculating on when free agency might begin, estimates ranging from late Monday to Saturday, and every day in between.
Not up for debate is the notion that the four-month lockout is over and football is on the way.
“I’m fired up because I can see the light,” Darnell Dockett of the Arizona Cardinals said in an interview Monday morning on NFL Network. “I’m excited to get our team back together. I’m excited to go to training camp. …
“We’re ready. Where do we need to be? What time to we need to be there?”
