WASHINGTON, D.C. - Welcome to The NFL Lockout.
As far back as May 2008, it became a possibility.
As recently as a week ago - when owners and players agreed to extend the deadline for a new collective bargaining agreement - Commissioner Roger Goodell made it sound avoidable.
And yet here we are: The country's most popular sport - water-cooler fodder for six months of Mondays; generator of more than $9 billion in annual revenues; responsible for the two most-watched programs in U.S. TV history, the 2010 and 2011 Super Bowls - is stuck in a holding pattern, thanks to its first work stoppage in nearly a quarter of a century.
The owners imposed a lockout on the players yesterday, essentially shutting down operations. That came hours after talks broke off and the union dissolved itself, meaning players no longer are protected under labor law but instead are now allowed to take their chances in federal court under antitrust law. Nine NFL players, including superstar quarterbacks Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, and one college player headed for the pros filed a class-action lawsuit in Minnesota and asked for a preliminary injunction to block a lockout, even before it went into effect.
"I know this sort of gives us a bad name - as well as the owners - in some fans' eyes," said Minnesota Vikings defensive end Brian Robison, one of the plaintiffs in the case that forever will be known as Brady et al vs. National Football League et al. "Some fans are more upset with the owners, and some are more upset with the players."
The lockout, a right management has to shut down a business when a CBA expires, means there can be no communication between the teams and current NFL players; no players - including those drafted in April - can be signed; teams won't pay for players' health insurance.
They took the term "lockout" rather literally at the Tennessee Titans' headquarters in Nashville, where a metal chain secured the main gate to the parking lot's front entrance, an extra bit of security normally not seen there.
The NFL has enjoyed labor peace since a 1987 strike by the players, but now next season could be jeopardized, depending on what happens in court.
Fans really will be upset if regular-season games are lost. No Sundays on the couch or at a bar, scanning television screens for the latest "Did you see that?!" plays. No fantasy football leagues or office pools.
So what happened?
With so much at stake, why did everything fall apart?
Despite 16 days spent in face-to-face talks at the office of a presidentially appointed federal mediator, how did it come to this?
In terms of the key bargaining issues, there really was one that stands out: Put simply, owners and players couldn't figure out a mutually palatable way to split all those billions of dollars that come from TV contracts, ticket and merchandise sales, sponsorship deals, etc.
By Friday afternoon, when mediator George Cohen declared "no useful purpose would be served" by asking the parties to keep negotiating, it appeared the NFL and union were about $185 million apart on how much owners should get up front each season for certain operating expenses before splitting the rest of the revenues with players. That's a far cry from the $1 billion that separated the sides for months.
There also was a significant standoff on the union's insistence on seeing years of detailed financial statements for all 32 teams. The players' point, basically, was: If you say you need more money from us up front, prove it by showing us what you bring in and what you spend and what you're left with.
But this wasn't merely about numbers.
It also was about trust and respect: Each side has accused the other of bargaining in bad faith.
The NFL filed a charge against the union with the National Labor Relations Board. The union has said owners were planning for a lockout since they exercised an opt-out clause in the old CBA in 2008. Indeed, U.S. District Court judge David Doty - who has overseen NFL labor matters since the 1990s and is expected to handle Friday's filings - sided with the players in a March 2 ruling, saying the league improperly negotiated TV contracts with an eye to a lockout.
And neither side held back as the rhetoric escalated Thursday and Friday.
After talks ended, NFL Players Association executive DeMaurice Smith referred to football as a "business where two partners don't trust each other."
He said: "While the players were moving forward, thinking that this was about fairness, honesty and transparency, the National Football League was meeting in secret to talk about collusion, conspiracy, leverage and breaking our game."
Jim Quinn, outside counsel for the union, spoke about "greed on the part of these owners" and, in reference to NFL lead negotiator Jeff Pash, said: "I hate to say this, but he has not told the truth to our players or our fans. He has, in a word, lied to them about what happened today and what's happened over the last two weeks and the last two years."
Pash, for his part, noted one dollar figure Smith had mentioned to reporters a few days earlier and said it was "not close to factual." Pash also spoke of the union's "commitment to litigate, as we've said all along."
New York Giants owner John Mara chimed in, too, saying, "I never really got the feeling during the past weeks that (the players) were serious about negotiating."
The league's statement yesterday announcing the lockout called the NFLPA's decertification a "sham" and said the players' court action is "built on the indisputably false premise that the NFLPA has stopped being a union and will merely delay the process of reaching an agreement."
New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft, a member of the league's powerful labor committee, issued a statement Saturday saying, "I remain confident that an agreement will be reached and that the 2011 season will be played."
He added that he hopes the sides will "return to the negotiating table very soon."
That's theoretically possible, and it echoed what Goodell said when he left the mediator's office Friday.
Then again, the previous Friday, Goodell pointed to the decision to delay the expiration of the old CBA and said: "The fact that we're continuing this dialogue is a positive sign."
The signs were more ominous a week later.
REACTION: Owners, players, NFL executives, it didn't matter who you asked: yesterday was a dark day for pro football.
In the wake of the players' union decertifying Friday, then filing antitrust lawsuits, followed by the league staging a lockout, it took some searching to find any brightness.
The optimism came in trickles, focusing on the amount of time remaining before the 2011 season is scheduled to kick off.
"Going into these union negotiations, I was very optimistic that an agreement could be reached before the end of December if both sides were committed to the negotiations," said Patriots owner Robert Kraft, a member of the league's labor committee who has been visiting Israel while talks collapsed. "The same was true as we approached the end of the NFL calendar year. We are fortunate to be operating in an industry that is thriving and I know that there was a deal to be done that was a win-win for both sides.
"While disappointed by (the NFLPA's) action to decertify, I remain confident that an agreement will be reached and that the 2011 season will be played. For the sake of all involved, the owners, the players and most importantly, the fans, I hope we return to the negotiating table very soon."
So does Hall of Famer Mike Ditka, who sees nothing but losers right now.
"I don't know who wins," said Ditka, a prominent voice for helping retired players. "Decertificiation, I disagree with it. I think there is enough in the game they can split it up and be happy. But evidently they don't feel that way."
Obviously.
Many teams issued statements Saturday about the league's first labor stoppage in 24 years. In about a week, some teams were set to begin offseason workouts. While they will continue their preparation for April's draft, which was protected under the collective bargaining agreement that expired Friday, there isn't much other business to do.
Still, those clubs tried to reassure fans that they wouldn't be idle.
"Some aspects of this offseason may look different," Bears president Ted Phillips said, "but our commitment to winning remains the same. We need to build off the success we had in 2010. We will do our best to create opportunities for Bears fans to ask questions and keep them informed of what is happening with their team and the labor discussions."
Players already are scattered throughout the country and generally were kept informed of proceedings in Washington by their union representatives. The players overwhelming approved decertification in team votes last year.
So while there was discouragement with the impasse, there wasn't shock.
Dolphins quarterback Chad Pennington, recovering from right shoulder surgery, called decertification "the last option for players to be able to work if there was no agreement."
"Some unions would not have made such a bold move because they are about the 'union' and not its workers," he added. "I still think that a compromise will be reached. This is just the nature of the situation, and that's why they call it 'business."'
A business whose news paled compared to elsewhere.
Clark Hunt, owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, spent time Friday night watching coverage of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
"As I watched that catastrophe unfolding," Hunt said, "it certainly put in perspective how insignificant the NFL Players Association dispute is compared to a tremendous tragedy like that."
PAY CUTS: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and league general counsel Jeff Pash are slashing their salaries to $1 each during the lockout.
Goodell and Pash promised in January they would take salary cuts if there was a work stoppage. Goodell earns about $10 million a year, including bonuses, and Pash nearly $5 million.
Goodell also has asked the league's compensation committee to delay any bonus payments to him until there is a deal with the players' union.
Also taking cuts will be all league personnel at the New York headquarters, NFL Films in Mount Laurel, N.J., and at NFL Network and NFL.com in Culver City, Calif. For now, salaries for those league employees will be reduced by 12 percent, an amount equal to two weeks' pay.
If the work stoppage continues into August, salary reductions for management-level employees will range from 25 percent for executive vice presidents to 20 percent for senior VPS and 15 percent for VPs. Directors will take a 10 percent cut and managers will be reduced by 5 percent.
In 2009, Goodell took a 20 percent pay cut and the league staff was trimmed by 15 percent.
Several teams have instituted furloughs and pay cuts because of the lockout, which began yesterday morning after the players' union decertified and the owners locked them out.
The Kansas City Chiefs have a plan to reduce salaries by less than 10 percent during a prolonged labor stoppage while letting all personnel keep their jobs. Those making the most money, including general manager Scott Pioli and coach Todd Haley, are taking the biggest hit, but no employees will be laid off or furloughed. If there is a full 2011 season, employees would be reimbursed for money lost.
The New York Jets have said business-side employees were asked to take one week's unpaid furlough every month during a work stoppage. They also will make reimbursements should the entire 2011 season be played.
"While we have every reason to believe that the season will go on as planned, it makes sense to adjust our policies to reflect that uncertainty around exactly when an agreement will be reached," Jets executive vice present of business operations Matt Higgins said.
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