Owners split on how to end NFL lockout

A committee of NFL owners has spent several days each of the last three weeks negotiating with the locked-out players. Their next negotiations appear to be with fellow owners.

A small faction of owners is skeptical about the financial dynamics involved in the current proposals between the league and its players, and the previously scheduled league meetings in Chicago beginning Tuesday will be geared toward convincing as many owners as possible to embrace the direction of the negotiations.

For approval of any collective-bargaining agreement with the players, 24 of the 32 owners must agree. A person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press that the group of unhappy owners isn't yet large enough to derail an agreement. But it could lead to some heavy lobbying in Chicago.

The AP source said a new CBA is not imminent.

One item of contention likely is the minimum that teams can spend on salaries each year and how it is determined, a key for small-market franchises such as Buffalo, Jacksonville and Cincinnati. Under rules of the previous CBA negotiated in 2006 -- owners opted out in 2008 -- teams were allowed to spread guaranteed signing bonuses over the duration of a contract. That reduced the salary-cap hit each year.

The Bills, however, preferred to count bonuses as dollars spent for each specific season no matter the contract's length, so their payroll essentially was limited to all the salaries on their books for that one season, including potential bonuses and salaries owed to players who had been cut or bought out.

Whether teams would have that kind of flexibility in the next CBA is important to the lower-revenue franchises.

Many believe that in order for the NFL season to launch on time, a deal must be in place by early to mid-July. With AP