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The Importance Of June 30 For The Bears-Rams Hall Of Fame Game

CHICAGO (WSCR) On the heels of the NFL owners meeting in suburban Chicago, there seems to be a mixture of positive and negative thinking towards the league and players being able to reach an agreement before football is missed.

As the two sides continue to negotiate, there's one key preseason game they have to keep in mind.

"Hall of Fame Game, Bears-Rams, August 7. Training camp opens August 22," Mike Florio, of ProFootballTalk.com, said on the Danny Mac Show. "To have a meaningful free agency period, you'd want to have two weeks from the start of free agency to the opening of camp."

According to an Associated Press report, the basic structure of the revenue sharing is in place. However, the deal has yet to be officially agreed upon, and once it is, football activities won't be able to resume immediately.

LISTEN: Mike Florio On The Danny Mac Show

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"The way Jeff Pash explained it [on Tuesday]," Florio said. "There's a lot of stuff that the NFL is going to want to have done before they can open the doors. An agreement in principle isn't going to be enough. They're going to want some blessing from the courts. They're going to want some tentative approvals. They're going to want a lot of I's to be dotted and T's to be crossed.

"Can you really get that done in a week? I don't know. And, even if you can get it done, is a week enough time for the teams to digest the new rules for free agency? I don't know, but, you know, I've been saying June 30 is the day they're going to surprise us all and say they've got an agreement in principle.

"And I'll tell you what, anything after June 30 is going to make it impossible for the timetable to unfold the way that it needs to, to give the Bears and Rams a fair shot at having a crack at free agents before they open camp."

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