Fire Judge's Ruling Ending NFL Lockout

U.S. District Judge Susan Nelson held that the NFL must end its lockout of the players, a move that will only add more confusion to an already messy situation.

Nelson wrote: The players "have made a strong showing that allowing the League to continue their 'lockout' is presently inflicting, and will continue to inflict, irreparable harm upon them, particularly when weighed against the lack of any real injury that would be imposed on the NFL by issuing the preliminary injunction."

There's no doubt that the lockout is damaging to the NFL, but what else are the owners supposed to do? If there is a future labor dispute in any league, it will now be far more difficult for owners to take any action that would force the players to make an agreement. This could result in more seasons like 2010, in which there was no NFL salary cap. That lead to a great deal of confusion and altered the status for many free agents. The result was that many talented players went unsigned or received far less than they would have commanded on the open market.

The NFL will obviously appeal the ruling and there are still many more legal matters left to settle before this dispute ends. The NFL owners are in the wrong in terms of many of their demands and actions (or in-actions), but they are not wrong to exercise what should be their right to lock players out. This ruling could swing the balance of all future sports league labor disputes in favor of the players. One league, MLB, knows exactly what it's like when players have all the power. In 1994 the players went on strike and ultimately got almost everything they wanted from the owners. But the sport suffered an attendance dip from which it didn't recover for about 4 years. Is that scenario any less damaging than a lockout? Nelson set a dangerous precedent with this ruling and for that she should be fired.  

UPDATE: DeMaurice Smith, head of the NFL players union that doesn't exist (wink wink), said today on ESPN Radio that: "To be in a state where the National Football League is allowing this kind of chaos to occur ... I'm not sure it's good day for football in the long run." The "chaos" has resulted from teams allowing players to enter facilities but not work out. Did the the NFL create the chaos? No! The NFL is just as confused as the players and we have Nelson to thank.