[sportscurmudgeon]

So far no one has lost any money in this mess - - except for the legal fees both sides have incurred for the lawsuits. That may be a lot of money to all of us, but for the NFL and the NFLPA, that is chump-change.

Actually, the owners have saved some money so far by laying off team staff - - not paying them - - and by not incurring the expenses associated with OTAs and mini-camps. Amazingly, the owners as a whole probably are ahead of the game financially as of today.

If the first exhibition game has to be cancelled, then owners lose money AND players lose money because the revenues from exhibition games are part of what they are arguing about in terms of a split. If 2 exhibition games are cancelled, more money is lost.

When revenue is lost, people start to pay a lot more attention to the solution to the problem and not to the problem areas in some kind of theoretical construct.

Someone asked about a date beyond which the regular season will be affected. The regular season will start the week after Labor Day. Teams will need an absolute minimum of 10 days to assemble rosters by signing draftees and free agents and undrafted collegiate free agents. Then they will need at least 2 weeks of "camp" to be ready to put a product on the field that might resemble NFL football. If that is all they get, look for early season games to resemble high school games in terms of execution.

That minimum time comes to 24 days. Count back from the week after Labor Day and you have your "drop-dead date".

My guess remains that a deal is done between 12 and 15 July and that camps will all be in session by 28-30 July and the regular season will start on time.