CBA Talks DEADLOCK......

IS THIS THE FUTURE OF A GREAT AMERICAN GAME. Well the NFL/NFLPA thought that today would bring an end to the Collective Barging Agreement, however the NFL labor talks broke off Tuesday three days before the start of free agency, leaving teams and players in a quandary about negotiating new contracts.

This is bad, real bad if your a NFL fan, let alone a Buccaneer fan. The NFLPA, Gene Upshaw has been in New York meeting with Commissioner Paul Tagliabue.

We're deadlocked. There's nowhere to go," Upshaw said. "There's no reason to
continue meeting."

This is going to be a bad year in the NFL, can you imagine stars like Derrick Brooks and Edgerrin James not being able to find a team because their is no money this year. This is a reality folks, with 2007 being an uncapped year, teams take a huge inflated salary hit this season on roster bonuses. Therefore some of the stars we all love and know may not even be able to sign with a team this season.

Take the Buccaneers, who are one of the teams who will have a $19 million salary cap hit this season with no new CBA contract. This means Mike Alstott is done, he will be forced to retire (no money to sign him), Rice and Brooks could both be out due to salary cap, and Bruce Allen can blame it on the CBA. The scary thing that ESPN and the NFL reported on is that in 2008 there will be no more NFL Draft and more then likely a NFL strike or the owners locking the players out.

Without an extension, the 2007 season would become a so-called uncapped year with no spending limit and no minimum, and players could potentially face a lockout in 2008.

Team officials and player agents have said that doing business without an extension -- particularly with the free agent signing period set to begin Friday and the draft on April 29-30 -- will prove virtually impossible. Because of the extreme circumstances that would exist with an uncapped year on the horizon, it would be difficult to meet the financial expectations of free agents and high-round draft choices.

There is one last shot, Commissioner Paul Tagliabue has called a league meeting in New York for Thursday to explain to NFL clubs why the sides have been unable to come to an agreement. This would be the last chance for them to come to an agreement. Tagliabue has also said that no matter what the new NFL year starts Friday, March 03, 2006. This will start free agency period for the last time as we know it.

Accoring to Len Pasquarelli from ESPN,

Salary cap managers from several franchises are readying themselves for what one
general manager suggested late Tuesday will come to be known as "Bloody
Thursday."
Translation: Because so many teams are up against the projected
cap limit of $95 million to $96 million for 2006, and the lack of a CBA
extension means there are few options for relief, some big-name players will be
jettisoned by Thursday, when teams must be in compliance with the spending
limit.

"This year? People are going to be stunned -- not just by the quantity of players who are cut by Thursday, but by the quality, too. It's going to be ugly. There's going to be blood in the streets and, compared to past years, it's going to be from some bluebloods, guys who can still play." Tuesday night in Atlanta, there were rumblings the Falcons, who aren't in nearly the dire straits some other franchises are, might be forced to release tailback Warrick Dunn, who rushed for a career best 1,416 yards in 2005. Tagliabue will convene a Thursday meeting of all owners. By that point, though, the mechanisms for an "uncapped" season in 2007 will already be in place. And Upshaw has reiterated throughout the talks that, if the NFL ever plays without a salary cap for one season, players will never permit one to be reinstituted.
There also exists the possibility that players could be locked out before the 2008 season, by which point the current collective bargaining agreement will have expired. "