Your NFL Lockout Update: Almost there (Rich vs. Rich)--Day 5,912

NFLPA Head DeMaurice Smith/File

((ht: breer/nfl.com))

It may soon be over. We could be back to a world with only one Pro Sports league is in the midst of a lockout.

We think.

The NFL, its owners and players are inching ever so much closer to a collective bargaining deal that will reinstate the most popular of all U.S Pro Sports leagues.

It's officially been 112 days now, though it seems like roughly 5,912, since we last had a Pro Football game and there wasn't a lockout involved and as we get closer to the normal opening of training camp and a season, it appears there's movement.

Both the Owners and NFLPA (not a union), realize if they don't do something soon, the oh-so-important revenues they are chomping at the bit to split, will start getting smaller. And they don't want that.

Albert Breer from NFL.com tells us more RIGHT HERE

They will do this, we think, soon. They have to. Still, there are a good amount of details that need to be finalized before it happens and it almost all collapsed last week.

But it didn't.

Neither side in this argument is stupid. They finally realize that if they don't do this soon, they hurt themselves more than they will hurt us. The only financial stake we have in this is buying tickets and concessions, which just so happens to be one of the bigger ways they get money. Of course, the fact they won't get any T.V money dwarfs our needs, but we had to get that out there.

And just for those curious, no, the suit filed by the NFL Alumni, won't affect any of this. While we get the point and agree that the NFLPA (not a union) and the owners should do more for former players and shouldn't be sacrificing their piece of the pie so the active players can get a few more bucks, the suit is essentially meaningless.

You can read about their "Class-action" complaint in the New York Times RIGHT HERE

Don't worry. Judge Nelson isn't going to add the retired players to the negotiating table. Not now.

Either way, kind of keep an ear open in the next 10-days because we believe there will be a tentative agreement by then. We think both sides have bridged enough of the gap to make this happen. They've met so frequently the past couple of weeks, that could be the only reason why.

So stay tuned.