In a development that can only be described as a victory for the players, US District Court judge David Doty ruled that a special master mistakenly allowed the NFL to keep $4 billion in TV revenue for the upcoming season, despite the threat of a lengthy work stoppage. The money is considered an advance as the various TV networks would be owed additional weeks to match the contract. based on how many weeks of the season are eventually played. The money has been in escrow while this issue was waiting for resolution, and the league looked at the funds as a potential warchest.
While the league is expected to appeal, the possibility that the owners would not have access to these funds is a huge hit to their offseason strategy of hoping to break the union over time by having a financial advantage (not that they don’t already have one). It’s possible that there will be more pressure on them to make a deal should the ruling stand.
newballpark.org 
This is a good thing….Now the owners have to bargain from a more fair position. The players had a legit beef on this one and they won….good for them.
Otherwise why play a season if you are the owners if you can pocket all the TV revenue still?
Never could happen to a nicer group of bastards. Economic reality finally creeps up on the NFL for just one bit.
Really happy about this. I’m with the players on this one.
A fine ruling by judge David Doty. Hopefully this ruling will stand and the NFL owners will have to provide some better reasons for why they want to lockout the players to the general public.