Image via WikipediaAmerica's long national nightmare is over. No, we're not talking about the debt crisis. The four and a half-month work stoppage in the National Football League has ended with owners and players agreeing to a new deal.What was at stake was the $9 billion in league revenues, and how it was going to be divided. It turns out that the owners will be getting most of the money, but the players got some concessions in terms of onfield safety. The new agreement lasts through the 2020 season.
Through all this, only one preseason game was canceled (the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio) and the start of training camps for some teams had to be delayed. So the preseason games everyone seems to dislike except the owners and TV networks will actually be necessary this year, because players did not have structured off-season workouts during the lockout. They might be in great physical shape, but not football shape.
It also means that, starting now, there'll be a brief period of signing free agents and rookies who were drafted last spring. The fates of teams could be altered depending on how many free agents choose to either stay where they are, or go elsewhere. Or they might not.
As for the Minnesota Vikings, who will once again be training at MSU-Mankato, things are pretty volatile. New coach Leslie Frasier will either start Joe Webb or Christian Ponder at QB, or surprise everyone and bring in Donovan McNabb from the Washington Redskins. But we do know one thing: Brett Favre is not coming back. Or is he?
The lockout is over, and football fans no longer have to worry about how to fill their Sundays and Monday nights. Now we can go back to discussing concussions.
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