Most people have been assuming that if the courts forced the owners to end the lockout and start the league year, the NFL would use the same set of rules in 2011 that it used in 2010. But the NFL has now confirmed that it’s considering a number of options beyond just going back to the 2010 rules.
“Our goal has at all times been the same -- to operate under a negotiated set of procedures that are agreed to by the clubs and the NFLPA,” the statement said, via Jason La Canfora of NFL Network. “The current litigation has created a significant amount of uncertainty and we are therefore considering a wide range of alternatives depending on developments.”
Basically, that means the league is saying it hasn’t decided what it will do -- and confirming the report from Daniel Kaplan of Sports Business Journal that alternative plans are on the table.
So if the players succeed in getting the lockout lifted, they’ll go back to work in an NFL whose rules are yet to be determined. Which just adds one more layer of uncertainty to this most uncertain of years in the NFL.