Cincinnati Bengals Send Email to Season Ticket Holders Stating NFL Lockout Is Over — When It’s Not

After the NFL  owners approved a proposal for a new collective bargaining agreement with the players by a 31-0 vote Thursday, there was buzz that the end of the lockout was all but a formality.

However, the player’s representatives pushed back on that assumption Friday, and decided not to even vote on whether to ratify the deal.

This rejection caught the Cincinnati Bengals flat-footed. On Thursday night, the team sent out an email to season ticket holders declaring that a collective bargaining agreement had been reached, thus ending the lockout.  Here is the first few lines of the presumptuous note:

You Ready for Some Football?

Dear XXXXX,

We are excited to let you know that the NFL has reached a new Collective Bargaining Agreement that allows the entire NFL season to be played this year.”

While the NFL lockout could end any day now, making the Bengals’ email sort of prescient, it’s mostly just the latest in a long line of PR setbacks for the franchise not-so-affectionately called the Bungles.

[Shutdown Corner]