What's next in the NFL lockout?
We're now just hours away from the expiration of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NFL owners and players. The two sides are meeting on Thursday morning, along with a federal mediator, but I've yet to find anyone who thinks they can get still get a deal done by the deadline, March 3rd at 11:59 p.m.
What may have a small chance of happening is an extension to the current deal. Both sides could agree to extend the current deal by, let's say, two weeks in order to give themselves some more time and work out a deal. Even then, the two sides wouldn't agree to it unless there's been some progress, and we don't know if there has been.
So if no extension is done and the deal doesn't get done, then we'll be looking at a couple of things. Various reports say the union will likely decertify on Thursday. The deal expires at midnight, but they'll need to decertify before 5:00 p.m. in order to A.) stay under the jurisdiction of Judge David Doty and B.) keep in line with rules in the current CBA.
At that point, reports say, the NFL may decide to lock the players out, which would bring on the lawyers, and we'd be waiting again.