I rec’d it and I think you should almost make it the main part of this fanshot, or start another fanshot to get all the interesting tidbits out.

But here is the key thing, the two most important words to keep in mind as this lockout plays itself out: Aggregate dollars.

Right now, the owners have offered the players slightly more than $12 billion in total compensation over the next six seasons. The players are seeking just under $15 billion.

Somewhere in between $12 and $15 billion lies the settlement number, and they’ll get there one way or another. Once that happens, it’ll take only a few days to tweak other aspects of the CBA – pensions, the anti-drug policy, the draft, the age limit, group licensing — that have barely even been touched upon in negotiating sessions thus far. It would then take approximately two weeks to put the agreement into writing, and then the business would reopen.

You can read it here, if you’re interested.

While Sheridan wasn’t my least favorite of the bunch, he’s still pretty bad.

Now, if only ESPN would clear out some more of its dead weight by firing Chris Broussard and Ric Bucher.

I’m very glad to see a small group continuing to talk. As Henry Abbott noted a few weeks ago, it’s tough for a group of people to be creative when there’s deadline pressure. If this deal is going to get done without warfare, it’s going to take some creative thinking. Perhaps exploring side topics (like the draft) can lead to new approaches to the bigger problems.

Interesting side note: This time around, the group included a MacArthur “genius grant” winner (economist Kevin Murphy).

Corvid, you should consider updating the fanshot and resetting the date, since there’s new info.