I have listened to a few sports commentators and read a few articles on how the power has shifted to the players union in connection with the lifting of the lockout imposed by the NFL owners.  Shortly, Judge Doty will be ruling on whether the owners $4 billion strike insurance deal with the networks violate the former collective bargaining agreement.

If the judge does not stay her ruling (of the lifting of the lockout) and Judge Doty rules in favor of the players in connection with the $4 billion payment of the networks, then the NFL owners will have lost almost all of their leverage with the players.  If they win on both lawsuits, then leverage will swing back to them in a big way.  If I were a betting man, I would say that the best they can achieve is a split in these court cases.

As a result, I would say that the owners are incented to make a deal now.  If they wait to see what develops they may be in such a bad negotiating position that they would lose a lot more (especially if the antitrust case moves forward).  The question that I would be asking is whether it is worth the risk for the additional millions to wait to see what develops.  I would say probably not. 

If they do wait, I believe that they believe their own hype and have definitely drank the Koolaid. 

On the players side, they too should be incented to strike a deal sooner rather than later.  The owners are going to appeal to a conservative court which is typically adverse to union rights.  If they do not reach agreement soon they this negotiation could drag out for 6 months to a year and that could damage the sport significantly and impact the players in unforseen ways.

I still believe that the major challenge is that there is no trust between the owners and the players.  Without that, neither side is willing to take a risk.  I would suggest that the two sides go out for drinks and negotiate a easy item.  they can build from there.