A victory was won today by the NFL over the players non-association, as by a 2-1 count, they have voted for a permanent stay of the lockout pending an appeal. Adam Schefter has one of the money quotes from the ruling, one that will not help the odds of football being played next year:
Money phrase: On page 11 of today’s ruling, judges wrote, "Our present view is that Judge Nelson’s interpretation is unlikely to prevail.”
If the players do win the appeal? Don’t think the NFL is out of trump cards just yet. Pro Football Talk brings up a possible league-wide lockdown, which would be one legal maneuver that would avoid the union/ownership dynamic entirely.
Some are still optimistic about the union’s side in the face of the ruling. Doug Farrar thinks that the players still have a lot to gain from June 3rd, and decertification was never actually brought up as a reason for the stay, per Gabe Feldman.
As the owners and players continue to trudge down the court road to see who wins the bargaining battle in the actual negotiations down the road, fans continue to suffer as free agency is thrown aside and the threat of missing games appears greater than ever.
For more on the NFL Lockout, check out SB Nation’s NFL Lockout stream.