The NFL Players Association and team owners have agreed to extend the deadline of allowing the Collective Bargaining Agreement to expire for an additional 24 hours. Originally scheduled to expire at might night Thursday night, now it will continue through midnight tonight.
One would hope that the reason for a 24 hour extension would be because hard-core negotiations are going on and that the additional time could be what is needed to get a deal done.
However, the probable answer is more like the knowledge that if this goes to court, Judge Doty has intimated that he will rule that the 2011 NFL season must be played under 2010 rules of the CBA, which the owners do not want to see happen. A ruling like this virtually assures that there will be football as scheduled and free agency will begin immediately. Not so great for the owners, not bad for the players, yet great for us fans.
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