Thread: Bears players can't work out at Halas

so players can workout friday and get playbooks( and by refencing the 2006 CBA, looks like going with 2010 rules, which sucks for all the RFA's).. but owners "win" by saving $1.6 billion for 2011

NFL statement on post-injunction operations



The NFL clubs have been notified that we have requested from the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals a stay of the preliminary injunction issued late Monday afternoon by the Federal District Court. Pending further guidance from the Eighth Circuit, we believe it is appropriate for clubs to take additional steps in response to the preliminary injunction. The clubs were informed of the steps below that will be effective on Friday at 8 am ET following tonight’s first round of the NFL Draft. Clubs are free to contact players immediately to advise them of the hours that the facility will be open for their use, to schedule medical and rehabilitation activity, and to arrange meetings with coaches or related activity, such as film study or classroom work.

1. Players will be permitted to use club facilities for physical examinations, rehabilitation and medical treatment, as scheduled by the club.
2. Clubs will be permitted to distribute playbooks, game film and other similar materials to players.
3. Coaches may meet with players for the purpose of discussing any materials distributed to players under item 2 above, as well as the club’s off-season workout program, its schedule of mini-camps, Organized Team Activities (“OTAs”), and other similar matters.
4. Voluntary off-season workout programs, including OTAs and classroom instruction, may begin subject to the rules in Article XXXV of the 2006 CBA and Appendix L. Participating players will be paid $130 per day, provided the player fulfills the club’s reasonable off-season workout requirements. Such workouts will count toward the requirements of any off-season workout bonus in the player’s contract.
5. On days during which no official off-season workouts or OTAs are scheduled under item 4 above, nothing shall prevent the club from permitting any player to use the club facility to work out on his own on a voluntary, unpaid basis during normal business hours, or such other hours as may be set by the club, provided: (i) there is no participation or supervision by any coach, trainer or other club personnel; and (ii) the club has first verified that the player has an existing medical insurance policy in place. Players without such personal coverage should not be permitted to work out at the club facility on an unsupervised basis under this item 5, but may do so under item 4 above. Unsupervised workouts will not count toward the requirements of any off-season workout bonus in the player’s contract. This item 5 will apply both prior to and after the commencement of the club’s official off-season workout program.
6. Mandatory and voluntary mini-camps may begin subject to the rules in Article XXXVI of the 2006 CBA.
7. The league office will promptly make arrangements to resume counseling, rehabilitation and treatment activities in connection with the substances of abuse and steroid programs. We will advise clubs as to when and on what basis testing will commence.
8. Players may participate in club-sponsored charitable and community relations events.

With respect to player transactions (such as signings, trades of player contracts, terminations, tryouts, etc.), we plan to distribute to all clubs, likely tomorrow, a comprehensive set of procedures governing such transactions. This will include the timing for the commencement of the 2011 League Year, free agent signings and other customary player transactions.

http://nfllabor.com/2011/04/28/nfl-s...on-operations/

Originally Posted by dabears54

As keep saying Soul, think this is just a "set up" and as Sun-Tzu said sometimes better to lose a battle to win a war. Think the league is forcing the Judge's hand and want her to rule on all the boundries and clarifications, before opening fully, and as many suspect, she will rule that the league year starts at "X"( be it tommorrow, friday, next week etc)..and because she isn't familiar or not her expertise to change the rules, she will make them open year , based on last years rules and clarification for simplicity and 'status quo".. which then the union, when realizes screwed out of roughly $1.6 billion in revenue and new contracts( again 270+ F/A go back to RFA) and lower revenue teams can again go way below what would be a cap floor again- the owner's then will just rase hands and say to the union, "just doing what you wanted and got in court"....Do not think its any kind of a "nanny nanny boo" thing, but a smart legal stragety to back the union into a corner they arrogantly do not see coming and as usual so about the "win" they aren't lookign past what it actually means, and the teams want the court to put it in writing before lowering the hammer and having it ruled different

Guess that's wrong too because she didn't order them to do anything but end the lockout. She told them how they do it is up to them. If they were trying to manueveur her into issuing contestable orders then she didn't bite. Basically what she told them was to grown up and act like any other industry in America. I guess you see it differently because you give the owners far more credit for being smart than they deserve. Judge Nelson wacked their dicks pretty hard on this one.

So what if they do play under 2010 rules. The point is that they will play and that gives the players more time to return to the table knowing they'll be getting their paychecks and bonuses and to continue to press their legal issue through the courts. I said from the beginning that owners did not in any way want this before the courts and this is just one reason why. They can't squeeze the players into a bad deal by witholding from them their right to earn a living.

I also don't think they'll get the sympathy from the more "pro business" 8th Circuit Court as you do. Reversals on appeal aren't all that frequent and it's hard to see where Judge Nelson may have overstepped her authority or made a bad ruling based on the law.

Originally Posted by thekmann

If that is what the league is now asking this Judge or any other court to decide then that is completely asinine and I can't see any Judge in their right mind even entertaining such a request. THAT is completely out of the scope of a courts jurisdiction. At this juncture if I were the Judge I would tell the NFL it is your responsibility to make up the rules and regulations for your business operations and since your employees have decertified and are no longer a collective union they will have to abide by the rules set forth by their employer.......boy I bet you THAT would bring both sides to the table in a heartbeat......

Which is precisely what she did. The NFL tried to lure her into setting the rules in order to have further grounds for an appeal and she outsmarted them and said,no, do what you want. It's your business and I'm not going to tell you how to run it.

54 is needlessly complicating this whole thing just the same as the NFL is with it's foot dragging. They can very simply revert to 2010 rules until an agreement on a new CBA is reached. All of this nail biting we don't know what to do is just so much posing for affect. You can't tell my that a multi-billion dollar business didn't have a contingency plan to use in case to went this way. They're just dragging their feet hoping to get a more favorable ruling from the appeals court now that they've lost the biggest stick they had to use against the players.

It wouldn't take more than 48 hours or even less to decide on how to open the doors and go forward with FA under the 2010 rules. The court has given them the right to set whatever rules they want right now.

Originally Posted by dabears54

WHEW!!

Free agency unlikely on Thursday

April, 27, 2011
By Kevin Seifert


Some of you night owls might be aware that U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson has denied the NFL's request for a stay on the injunction that lifted its lockout earlier this week. Technically that means the league is open for business, including trades and free agent signings, on the eve of the 2011 draft.

, however, it appears Thursday will evolve much like Tuesday and Wednesday. ESPN's Adam Schefter reports the NFL will tell its teams to hold off on all offseason business, with the exception of the draft, while it files a stay request with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis. ESPN analyst and National Football Post president Andrew Brandt concurred, tweeting that the NFL won't effectively open its doors for business unless it fails to receive a stay from the appeals court.

Bottom line: If you were hoping your NFC North team would sign a free agent or two before the draft begins Thursday night, or would like them to include players in trade offers during the draft, I'm sorry. As of late Wednesday night, at least, that doesn't appear likely. We're back at it in the morning.

Completely as expected. No surprise at all.

Originally Posted by dabears54

soul, the below is why will not be trades today... :

http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/...ay-denied.html

No contracts?
Curiously, Judge Nelson emphasized that her order does not mandate the NFL to pursue any specific course of conduct (other than end the Lockout). She specifically states that, "nothing in this Court's Order obligates the NFL to even enter into any contract with the Players." However, it is not totally clear how the NFL can proceed.

All 32 owners cannot agree amongst themselves to refrain from signing players — this would be a clear violation of the antitrust laws. However, each individual owner, acting on his own initiative, could decide to not sign any players. These individual actions are not scrutinized under the antitrust laws.

Now, how one determines the difference, is the real question. The underlying conduct is the same (i.e., no players are signed to contracts).

I never said that they would. Judge Nelson ordered the lockout lifted and allowed the teams to do as they will and set whatever rules they want to. I'm only dealing with what they do with players under contract. Those players should be allowed to begin using team facilites and fulfilling the conditions or their contracts regarding offeseason conditioning and workouts. That part is simple.

Now, the league can do whatever it wants with players who are no longer under contract. They aren't compelled to let them use team facilities because they are no longer employees of the team. They aren't compelled by court order to re-sign them, trade them, or anything else. What they do with non-contract players is entirely up to them. To make it easy why don't they just delcare that the league will operate the 2011 season under 2010 rules have already been established. Then both parties can get down to business and they can continue to negotiate a new CBA which governs 2012 and beyond. Why does it need to be anymore complicated than that?

Originally Posted by dabears54

so players can workout friday and get playbooks( and by refencing the 2006 CBA, looks like going with 2010 rules, which sucks for all the RFA's).. but owners "win" by saving $1.6 billion for 2011

NFL statement on post-injunction operations




The NFL clubs have been notified that we have requested from the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals a stay of the preliminary injunction issued late Monday afternoon by the Federal District Court. Pending further guidance from the Eighth Circuit, we believe it is appropriate for clubs to take additional steps in response to the preliminary injunction. The clubs were informed of the steps below that will be effective on Friday at 8 am ET following tonight’s first round of the NFL Draft. Clubs are free to contact players immediately to advise them of the hours that the facility will be open for their use, to schedule medical and rehabilitation activity, and to arrange meetings with coaches or related activity, such as film study or classroom work.

1. Players will be permitted to use club facilities for physical examinations, rehabilitation and medical treatment, as scheduled by the club.
2. Clubs will be permitted to distribute playbooks, game film and other similar materials to players.
3. Coaches may meet with players for the purpose of discussing any materials distributed to players under item 2 above, as well as the club’s off-season workout program, its schedule of mini-camps, Organized Team Activities (“OTAs”), and other similar matters.
4. Voluntary off-season workout programs, including OTAs and classroom instruction, may begin subject to the rules in Article XXXV of the 2006 CBA and Appendix L. Participating players will be paid $130 per day, provided the player fulfills the club’s reasonable off-season workout requirements. Such workouts will count toward the requirements of any off-season workout bonus in the player’s contract.
5. On days during which no official off-season workouts or OTAs are scheduled under item 4 above, nothing shall prevent the club from permitting any player to use the club facility to work out on his own on a voluntary, unpaid basis during normal business hours, or such other hours as may be set by the club, provided: (i) there is no participation or supervision by any coach, trainer or other club personnel; and (ii) the club has first verified that the player has an existing medical insurance policy in place. Players without such personal coverage should not be permitted to work out at the club facility on an unsupervised basis under this item 5, but may do so under item 4 above. Unsupervised workouts will not count toward the requirements of any off-season workout bonus in the player’s contract. This item 5 will apply both prior to and after the commencement of the club’s official off-season workout program.
6. Mandatory and voluntary mini-camps may begin subject to the rules in Article XXXVI of the 2006 CBA.
7. The league office will promptly make arrangements to resume counseling, rehabilitation and treatment activities in connection with the substances of abuse and steroid programs. We will advise clubs as to when and on what basis testing will commence.
8. Players may participate in club-sponsored charitable and community relations events.

With respect to player transactions (such as signings, trades of player contracts, terminations, tryouts, etc.), we plan to distribute to all clubs, likely tomorrow, a comprehensive set of procedures governing such transactions. This will include the timing for the commencement of the 2011 League Year, free agent signings and other customary player transactions.

http://nfllabor.com/2011/04/28/nfl-s...on-operations/

Sorry, should have read this one first before responding to the others. Doesn't this prove the judges point that any chaos would be self generated. Just like I said, the owners already had a contingency plan in force and within the 48 hours I alluded to they have stated or will state under what circumstances this season will be conducted.

Apparently we'll know what those are later tonight. Plain and simple the NFL's delaying tactics didn't work this time nor will they with the appeals court IMO.