We're just over a month until the first scheduled preseason game is supposed to take place, the Hall of Fame game. We're under two weeks away from the supposed deadline to ensure no time on the field is missed. And all this comes with a lack of progress as of late. The players and owners seemed to be making progress in negotiations agreeing in principle to a revenue sharing agreement. This all changed when the owners apparently reneged on their deal, moving from the agreed upon 48% with no money off the top to $500MM off the top, amounting to a split of approximately 45%.
There are still several other hurdles to be cleared in the talks that haven't even been discussed. While the revenue sharing is still the main obstacle, Chris Mortensen, among others, has noted that there has been little progress in the length of the schedule, benefits to retired players, and salary cap numbers. It seems every time there is a step forward, a step backwards is taken about a week later.
So here we sit a few months after all this started and I'm not sure we're any closer to NFL football than we were in March. Mid-July is almost here and with no agreement on the horizon, each day that passes brings the fact that we may miss meaningful football.