Andrew Brandt, who is the founder of NationalFootballPost.com and former front office executive with the Green Bay Packers and the Philadelphia Eagles made an appearance on Comcast Sportsnet’s Daily News Live and unlike most of the experts, he believes there will be a NFL Labor 
agreement in place by March 4th.
He’s optimistic because he feels that there are serious consequences for both sides if they don’t get an agreement done before the deadline.
Right now Brandt doesn’t feel there’s any pressure on the participants until it gets close to the deadline. Once it gets close to that deadline, Brandt feels the owners and players will start getting serious because both team will start losing money after that date.
“Everything comes down to the deadline which will be near the end of the month of February, the 27th and 28th, then March 1st…”, said Brandt to Michael Barkann.
He pointed out that the teams start losing money because the ticket holders won’t be paying on ticket packages, the sponsors stop paying on sponsorship deals and other parts of the business suffers because the fans will sour to squabbling by millionaires and billionaires.
According to Brandt, there are over 500 NFL free agents on the market which is a huge number. He believes that the high number will give the players tremendous incentives to get a deal done. If so many players are left in limbo with no team, they will be pressuring the Executive Director of
NFLPA, DeMaurice Smith to get a deal done.
He made a great point that players make a lot of money now on off season workouts. Many of the players are pocketing over $100,000 during the off season on workouts, so they’re not going to want to lose that money.
Brandt informed us that the motivation for a work stoppage by a number of the owners because they feel that a nine-billion dollar a year business like the NFL should be making more profit than the NFL is.
The former Packers exec thinks some of the walking out by the owners and canceling of meetings is choreographed. He feels they’re doing nothing but playing games.
Brandt says they’re bogged down with the slicing up of the nine-billion dollars coming into the NFL and who is going to get it. He feels the 18 game schedule and other bargaining areas are negotiable once the billions are agreed upon.
He’s concerned about the March 4th date going by because once it does pass, there’s no incentive to get together and negotiate.
He thinks the players will agree to the increase in the number of games because that will mean more money to be spent in player salaries.
Brandt who was with the Packers when they drafted Rodgers said that Kevin Kolb and Rodgers have a lot in common. He feels that when Kolb gets his opportunity, he’ll be able to take advantage of it.
Maybe the EAgles should have hired this guy as DC
Wonder if he’s related to Gil Brandt who was the architect and GM of those
Cowboys teams of the 70’s & 80’s up to the Jimmy Johnson era..
i wonder if jerrys super blunders last week , put any more pressure on them to get something going on.
sounds like a smart guy, id like to hear or read more from him actually
ive been saying and agree with the fact there is too much to lose
there will be a football season in the end, there will not be a missed season
its just a matter of when, the longer the wait the more injuries we will see
the more sloppy football and longer it takes for football games to look pro
everyone that cares to comment about kevin kolb knows he will be good
i was never a fan of kolb to supplant mcnabb and start over vick…never
but i am a fan of his because i think he will be more than serviceable
if we cant get good value for him this offseason, id like to keep him
let his contract playout, and if vick cant stay healthy then we have a QB
and if he comes in and plays, he may very well keep the job
he is younger, he is an unknown at the moment, but our staff has had him
he has had a few years under his belt, mostly behind the scenes
dont get me wrong, ive been one of the mcnabb die hards
im in vicks corner 100% he is a rarity and will not be cloned
i hope he finishes his career in philly as the QB that got us the ring
but…i do realize his age and that he is one strike away
i would bet on him improving after his 1st season in the game as a starter
but kolb is younger, been groomed in our system, and has mechanics
business wise, if vick cant play 14-16 games a year
the unpopular decision to move on from him maybe the correct one
and i hate the possibility but it is what it is, a business