In a ruling that was expected and finally came down late today, judge Susan Nelson has ruled in favor of the players, granting an injunction that will end the lockout. The big news here is not that the injunction was granted, as that was expected for awhile, but just how it happened. There was no stay, meaning the NFL will have to rush to the eighth district appellate court for an immediate stay or institute rules for free agency. If that happened, they would likely go back to the 2010 rules, when the league played without a Collective Bargaining Agreement.
The owners and players should have statements in the very near future. In the meantime, one can look at the language of Nelson’s ruling and see that it’s very clear she wanted this case and wanted to emphatically reject the owners. Doug Farrar of Yahoo! noted just how comprehensive the history is in the document. She also noted that irreparable harm was being done to the players and that the National Labor Relations Board has no jurisdiction going forward. Read the whole ruling here.
More to come as it breaks, of course. Check out SB Nation’s NFL Lockout stream for more news.