NFL Labor Discourse

Right now representatives from the NFL and the NFL players association are meeting to hammer out a new collective bargaining agreement by the new deadline of Friday at 5. There are a lot of issues that will be discussed and I will give you a basic overview of the main issues at hand. Later this week I will discuss what I think needs to be done for a deal to be completed and the disaster scenario of no 2010-2011 season occuring or a shortened season
The first issue is the proposed 18 game schedule. The owners and commissioner Goodell really want the 18 game regular season which would also mean the preseason would now only be 2 games.
The players have a few problems with this and a few things they want for this to occur.
First of all, they are concerned that an extended regular season will shorten the players careers and increase the frequency of major injuries occuring. Also, they want some financial compensation for this increase in the number of regular season games. Going along with that they want expanded roster size as the increase in injuries will necessitate it.
Another issue is the desire for a rookie wage scale as currently top picks get around 50 million dollars up front (more then superstars like Big Ben, Brady, Chris Johnson, Clay Matthews) without ever playing a down. Not only does this cause cap issues and make it real difficult for teams with top picks to find a trading partner if they so desire. It also is slap in the face to 10 year vets who see rookies fresh out of college making more then them.
Then there is the compensation for retired players who made the NFL what it is today. A lot of retired players are suffering from crippling injuries and mental health problems that ruin their quality of life once they retire. This issue has come to the forefront after the recent focus on concussion and the concussion related suicides of former players. The players want this increased while owners are somewhat reluctant to do so.
Last but most certaintly not least is the division of the 9 billion dollars in revenue between the players and owners. This is one place that the owners were not happy with when it came to the last CBA and is a major reason why they opted out a few years ago and we are in this current situation. While I don't know how this problem will be resolved I do know that if the owners are not happy with the solution to this issue then no deal will be done.