Lance Allan: Sports Glance with Lance
Packers Murphy on the NFL Labor Mess
He's Thinking Fair Deal, All Players Don't Agree
Summing up the comments from Thursday's NFL labor situation, I asked Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy if fan sentiment crept into the owner's room, while the clock was ticking.
"There's a lot of pressure on everyone to get a deal done," Murphy says. "I think there was also a sense that the time was right to reach an agreement, without missing any games will be a tremendous positive for our fans and allow us to bring the fans back."
A great bridge building gesture to the NFL faithful. But the path to the players, might be blown up.
From Nick Barnett tweeting that the deal is not as sweet as you're led to believe, to the Saints Heath Evans saying the owners slipped things in, that were not agreed upon, it still seems like there's a lack of trust. We'll see if that changes, if a players vote goes down.
One big positive that Murphy shared on the reporters conference call is that revenue sharing and the salary cap, two large parts that helped the Packers win the Super Bowl and stay competitive, are pretty much staying intact.
And full contact 2-a-days in training camp, are a thing of the past. Not a huge change for the Packers, who under Mike McCarthy went to a 2-1-2 summer schedule...but Murphy says the NFL will not allow back to back pad, full contact practices anymore.
"No 2-a-days in pads. Coaches are going to be disappointed, but that was an important issue for the players, so we were willing to make those compromises."
Now do the players feel it's enough. The training camp clock strikes midnight on Saturday, July 30. One week to see if the players will be on the field.
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