while a final deal is not inked, the concepts are all pretty much agreed upon. it will take another 2-3 weeks to write the contracts, get the votes and sign off. here are the things we are going to see:

the players will get no less than 46.5% and no more than 48% of total league revenue. (this is down from roughly 51-53% )

4 years of service for UFA (this put 450 players in play? not sure the exact amount but it is a high number) and they will only have 2-3 weeks to get deals done before training camp. talk about musical chairs!

thursday night schedule will go to 16 games starting in 2012, this will increase overall revenue and help blunt the % hit the players are taking.

The projected increase in revenue from new TV deals starting in 2014 is making this % cut in revenue for the players easier to swallow. they will take a relatively small decrease with the prospects of a huge increase over time. To also help make it go down smoother, the owners will fix the salary floor at 90-93% of salary cap.

The rookie wage scale will a be in the deal but this is easy b/c both sides agree that JaMarcus Russell and other draft busts hurt not only the owners but the veteran players who should be getting a bigger share. 

The players have really softened their stance here and I think it is because they told DeMaurice Smith to make a deal. The going to war comments were probably not well received amongst many of the players who cannot afford to miss paychecks. i also think the 8th circuit brought both sides back to reality that it is a business negotiation not a war.

Good for us and it will be a crazy  FA with teams maybe having only 3 days to resign before the shopping begins. wow!