During the mediated labor talks between the NFL and NFL Players Association that preceded a seven-day extension of the collective bargaining agreement, both sides general adhered to mediator George Cohen's request for a media blackout.
Now that the two sides are less than 24 hours from the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement, which will undoubtedly result in the union decertifying and taking the league to court, executives from both sides of the labor war are unloading through the media and, of course, on Twitter.
After NFL general counsel Jeff Pash conducted a conference call with 31 owners--New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who has been optimistic that a deal would get done if lawyers were kept out of the room, is in Israel and not on the call--the league's chief negotiator questioned the NFLPA's commitment towards reaching a deal.
"I don't know if both sides have an equal commitment (towards negotiating a new CBA)," Pash told reporters. "Obviously, we have the commitment."
Upon hearing those comments, NFLPA Assistant Director of Executive Affairs George Atallah responded by saying that "Jeff Pash was part of an executive team that sold the networks a $4 billion ticket to a game they knew wouldn't be played. The only thing they've been committed to is a lockout."
Earlier, Atallah solicited song requests involving the term "waiting" from his followers on Twitter while the union was waiting for talks to resume. When talks were called off for the night, Atallah said "I would like to request an expense credit from the owners on the last 3 hours of my life."
Pash's comments also drew an immediate response from NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith, who pulled a u-turn on his commute home to address the media.
"I understand that there's probably some things that Jeff Pash has to say," Smith said according to Sean Jensen of the Chicago Sun-Times. "But this is the truth. We know that as early as March of 2009, from the discovery in the television case, that the National Football League, engaged in a strategy to get $4 billion of television money to lock out our fans, lock out our players, even if the games weren't played."
Smith also quoted an NFL document that stated the league's plan to secure television money "for cash during a lockout".
The two sides are scheduled to meet on Friday.
Should be fun.
source: Mac's Football Blog
Posted by Brian McIntyre
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