The good news emerging from the most recent collective bargaining session between the NFL and the players union is that, according to a source with knowledge of the talks, the two sides agreed to quit talking to the media about the negotiations.
The bad news, from our perspective, is that they agreed to quit talking to the media.
But, in balance, we'll take the good news. We want to see a deal get done; even if it means that the information will slow to an enlarged-prostate intermittent trickle, we'll take it.
Meanwhile, the source tells us that, finally, the two sides began to discuss financial terms, which surely will be the battleground in the broader effort to maintain 22 years of labor peace.
League, union agree to media blackout
Posted by Mike Florio on November 6, 2009 11:27 AM ET
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12 Comments 
Latest stories in: Latest News and Rumors, NFL Mobile Exclusives - Rumors, Top Stories, Union and CBA
Latest stories in: Latest News and Rumors, NFL Mobile Exclusives - Rumors, Top Stories, Union and CBA
Talk to Tom "Killer" Kowalski about news trickling out to slow. He is about to lose it with Schwartz being so quiet.
I hope that the players wake up to the economic realities of what many people are going through.
In this economy most people cannot afford to go to football games anymore.
I am just happy to have a job and these players should be too.
I hope that a strike (or lockout) is avoided 18 months from now and that both sides can come to an agreement.
If not, I am sure that the owners can find plenty of replacement players just like they did when the players went on strike during the 80's.
So what you're saying is that the media, when healthy, floods us with effluvia?
Only knuckleheads would disagree with that.
It's really all dirty laundry anyway. The average fan could care less about labor agreements. I can understand why Florio with his legal background, gives it so much coverage, and that's kind of why we come to this site.
However the reality is that most football fans could care less about all the back-and-forth, and just want to know when their team will be on the field again.
Love the site Mike. Been visiting it for a few years now, congrats on the huge success you've made of it.
How about a story on the petition that Chiefs fans are floating around regarding Larry Johnson? LJ, Little Johnson, is 75 yards away from breaking the all-time Chiefs' rushing record, and the fans obviously don't want to see it happen. Over TWENTY EIGHT THOUSAND signatures as of this morning.
http://www.petitiononline.com/StopLJ/
Love the prostate quip. You're on fire today with the metaphors and sarcasm. Keep it up.
There's so much at stake for both sides should a lockout happen that I have a hard time believing someone won't blink as the zero hour approaches. Baseball still hasn't recovered from the strike and that's going on 15 years ago. Hockey only has because they implemented rule changes that made the game more fun to watch. Otherwise, that strike might've killed the NHL entirely.
In this atmosphere, if forced to choose between (perceived) spoiled millionaires vs. spoiled billionaries....most people will choose finding something else to do.
# jamaicamecrazy says: November 6, 2009 11:41 AM
I hope that the players wake up to the economic realities of what many people are going through.
In this economy most people cannot afford to go to football games anymore.
I am just happy to have a job and these players should be too.
I hope that a strike (or lockout) is avoided 18 months from now and that both sides can come to an agreement.
If not, I am sure that the owners can find plenty of replacement players just like they did when the players went on strike during the 80's.
who cares about the people? Its all about the money, not only in football but everywhere.
As the Patriots have shown us this last decade, keeping the media as far out of the loop as possible is probably good for success.
Let the bottom feeding media do their own legwork and figure things out on their own.
Its important to keep the media involved. Despite the criticisms about the media these days, and they are abundant, it is they who are the of communication between teams and their fans. And so, when a team abandons the media, they abandon their fans - that is bad. Keeping fans keen and interested means at least throwing them nuggets of information, if not fully informed. Completely closing of fans like the NFL and the NFLPA are doing now, never leads to good relations with fans, or the media.
"Its important to keep the media involved."
"And so, when a team abandons the media, they abandon their fans - that is bad."
Why am I not surprised that Satan is speaking on behalf of the media?
I think this is a good thing and bodes well for a new CBA being done sooner rather than later.
Bickering in the media can only hurt both side's positions, slow the process and prevent and agreement from being done before the uncapped year.
This is a good thing. It's a sign that both sides want to work out a deal instead of gaining public sympathy for some excuse that the other side is not being reasonable. This is purely private sector stuff so they have every right & lots of reasons to do things in secret.