When the NFL lockout ended last week we all thought that was the end of any labor strife for the next ten years. But unfortunately, there were some not-so-small details that had to be worked out and according to the NFL, the timeline for those to be done was August 4.
The process is really pretty straightforward in theory, but, of course, any time you leave things up to negotiation between owners and player it has the potential to go bad.
Once the new CBA was agreed to by both sides, the next step was the players reforming the official NFL Players Association which is the legal union authorized to negotiate work place rules. The union would then finalize the last few details and the deal would be actually done.
Until that happens, veteran free agents like Arizona Cardinal's new quarterback Kevin Kolb is unable to practice with the team. Everyone has been assuming that it would all get done and Kolb and the other vets would be on the field Thursday. But according to various media reports there could be a hold up.
Arizona Cardinals kicker and player representative to the union explains, "As of yesterday (Tuesday), I was told it's still going to be tomorrow (Thursday). Hopefully, but we haven't got anything definitive yet.
"There were certain issues that because of labor law you couldn't negotiate until you were a union again. Those issues are anything in the work place. So, drug policies, benefits, enforcement of any penalties that (NFL commissioner) Roger Goodell fines, things of that nature."
It would seem that it's exactly those disciplinary issues and policies that are holding up the pace of progress. Let's just all hope this gets resolved so the teams and players and fans can be done with this mess and football can resume full operations.