After knowing what was potentially coming for a full year, the National Football League players and owners apparently still couldn't come to an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement, and now it doesn't look like we're going to be getting football for a very long time.
ESPN's Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter, among other sources, have reported that the National Football League Players Association. . .i.e. the players' union. . .has filed paperwork in federal court in Minneapolis to decertify itself, opening the way for anti-trust lawsuits against the National Football League and its owners.
DeMaurice Smith said that the NFL owners had until 4 PM Central time to turn over ten years of audited financial paperwork, or the players would not agree to another extension of negotiations, similar to the one that was reached a week ago. It doesn't appear that the owners have complied with those demands, because the decertification of the players' union is, apparently, underway.
This means that we're likely in for months of legal wrangling and courtroom battles, all of which could potentially put the 2011 NFL season in some serious jeopardy.
We'll have more on this story as it develops.