WASHINGTON (AP) — Sorry, football fans.
The NFL is
stuck in a holding pattern, with work still to be done to end the
lockout. Heck, the players haven’t even scheduled a vote.
People
from both sides of the labor dispute planned to talk through the weekend
— although not face-to-face — to try to resolve the differences
preventing players from accepting the owner-approved proposal that would
put the league back in business.
After the NFL Players
Association decided not to vote Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, it’s
possible it won’t make any decision until next week. It all comes down
to how long it takes to resolve the remaining issues.
As it is, clubs won’t open their facilities to players Saturday, when owners wanted to unlock the gates.

"Now
it’s just waiting," Carolina Panthers general manager Marty Hurney said
at an Atlanta hotel where team executives were briefed Friday on new
rules for next season. "Be flexible, and wait and see what happens."
Owners
ratified the tentative terms 31-0 — the Oakland Raiders abstained — on
Thursday, provided players would give their OK, too, and re-establish
their union within a certain timeframe.
But players decided later Thursday not to hold a vote, saying they hadn’t had a chance to see a finished
product.
By Friday, it was in hand.
"Player
leadership is discussing the most recent written proposal with the NFL,
which includes a settlement agreement, deal terms and the right process
for addressing recertification," NFLPA president Kevin Mawae said in a
statement released by the group. "There will not be any further NFLPA
statements today out of respect for the Kraft family while they mourn
the loss of Myra Kraft."
Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA head
DeMaurice Smith attended Friday’s funeral in Newton, Mass., for the
wife of New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft.
Even when players
decide they’re OK with a final agreement, their approval process is more
complicated than the owners’ was. The 32 team reps will have to
recommend accepting the settlement. Then the 10 named plaintiffs in the
players’ lawsuit against the league — including Tom Brady, Peyton
Manning and Drew Brees — must officially inform the court of their
approval.
Eventually, all 1,900 players would take a majority vote
to approve returning the NFLPA to union status. When talks broke down
in March, allowing the old collective bargaining agreement to expire,
the players dissolved the union, turning the NFLPA into a trade
association. That’s what allowed the players to sue the owners in
federal court under antitrust law.
Only after the NFLPA is again a
union can it negotiate certain parts of a new CBA. Among those items
that are of most concern to players:
—the league’s personal conduct policy;
—drug testing;
—benefits,
such as pension funds, the disability plan, and the "88 Plan," which
provides money for care of former players with dementia or Alzheimer’s
disease.
The major economic framework for a 10-year deal was
worked out a week ago. That included how the more than $9 billion in
annual league revenues will be divided (about 53 percent to owners and
47 percent to players over the next decade; the old CBA resulted in
nearly a 50-50 split); a per-club cap of about $120 million for salary
and bonuses in 2011 — and at least that in 2012 and 2013 — plus about
$22 million benefits; a salary system to rein in spending on first-round
draft picks; and unrestricted free agency for most players after four
seasons.
One item in the document ratified by owners that Smith
said caught players by surprise because it hadn’t been discussed during
negotiations between the league and players: a supplemental
revenue-sharing plan for clubs.
Goodell and the owners expressed
hope Thursday night that their vote would lead to a speedy resolution to
the NFL’s first work stoppage since 1987. They called it an equitable
deal that improves player safety and allows the sport to prosper even
more.
"It is time to get back to football," a weary Goodell said.
Already,
one game is sure to be lost: The league called off the Hall of Fame
exhibition opener, scheduled for Aug. 7 between the Chicago Bears and
St. Louis Rams.
As of Friday evening, the NFL still aimed to start the league year next Wednesday.
But for the time being, the league’s labor impasse officially dragged on.
"We
were told there’s a lockout still in place," Denver Broncos chief of
football operations John Elway said after the four-hour session for club
executives in Atlanta. "We’re still in the same place we were."
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AP Sports Writer Charles Odum in Atlanta contributed to this report.
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Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.