The latest issue being discussed as we wonder how and when the lockout will end: How soon can the NFLPA* recertify?
“Hearing the timing of the NFLPA recertification is the latest issue now to crop up,” Daniel Kaplan of the SportsBusiness Journal writes. “League wants right away, players saying needs two weeks.”
Mark Maske of the Washington Post echoed the sentiment. Meanwhile, Ron Borges of the Boston Herald reports on the process that needs to happen to recertify.
“Nearly 1,000 recertification cards have to be signed and returned, approving recertification before the union can re-form. And that takes a lot longer than 24 hours, according to the union,” Borges writes. (Apparently they have never heard of the internet.)
So why does that matter?
SI’s Jim Trotter notes that the union needs to re-certify before collectively bargaining issues like drug testing and discipline. (For example, can arrests during the lockout incur punishment?)
Could this process hold up the start of a league year? The reality is that no one knows.
“I feel like we’re watching Charlie Brown and Lucy,” Judy Battista of the New York Times writes. “Just when Charlie is ready to kick the football, Lucy pulls it away at the last minute.”