NFL OWNERS END LOCKOUT, BUT PLAYERS DON’T RETURN

NFL football players, owners, television executives, and — most of all — fans, were waiting for the other shoe to drop today (Friday) after the owners on Thursday voted 31-0 (the Raiders abstaining) in favor of a 10-year agreement that would end the current lockout. Whether the players would go along with the deal remained an open question. NFL Players Association head DeMaurice Smith sent an email message to the 32 player representatives late Thursday observing that several “issues that need to be collectively bargained remain open. … There is no agreement between the NFL and the Players at this time.” Shortly afterwards they announced that they had not voted on the settlement. “Our leadership isn’t going to sign anything just because it’s time to go to training camp,” Ravens linebacker Jarret Johnson told the Baltimore Sun. “They need to quit screwing around.”