NFL Owners Vote 31-0 To End NFL Lockout; Oakland Raiders Abstain

Well everyone, we're halfway done with putting an end to the 2011 NFL Lockout. This evening, 31 NFL owners approved a new deal between them and the NFL players. The Oakland Raiders, and Al Davis, were the one team that abstained from the vote. Why did the Raiders abstain from voting? I have no idea and nobody else seems to have one either quite yet. 

Joel breaks down the NFL owners vote a bit further over at SBNation.com:

We're now halfway there as it now comes down to the players' vote.

NFLPA leadership is conducting a conference call with the players at 8:00 p.m. (ET) on Thursday night though we're not sure if that's just an update on where they stand or whether a vote to approve the deal will happen.

The current hang up is whether the lockout will be lifted only after the players officially recertify as a union, or if the league will immediately lift the lockout under certain conditions (such as the players recertifying as a union in a certain number of days).

So, it seems like we will have more news to report soon. Stay tuned.