(Image source: Media Day LA)

BY TOM MARTIN

ANCHOR AUSTIN KIM

You're watching multisource business news analysis from Newsy.

Ten days from a deal? That’s the latest rumor to emerge from NFL lockout talks. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports:

“There is a growing sense from people that have been involved in these talks that they can get this deal agreed to and then essentially ratified on July 21, which would keep alive most of the preseason games. Essentially, this is another key week - we’ve heard this so many times - where we really are up against the clock right now if they want to preserve the length of the preseason.”

July 21st is no random date -- it marks the next league meeting in Atlanta, where a vote on the proposed collective bargaining agreement could signal the start of the season.

So what nagging issues remain? Yahoo! football blog Shutdown Corner explains:

“Right now, the rookie wage scale is the main sticking point between the two sides, but just about everybody involved in the process... believes that a July 21st deal is as close to reality as it can possibly be.”

If the owners and players do strike a deal in ten days, the league will operate under The Transition Rules -- a sped-up version of a typical off-season transaction period. In this scenario, only the August 7th Hall of Fame game would be in jeopardy. But that assumes negotiations leading up to July 21 will go smoothly.  Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio believes that’s wishful thinking:

“Most simply assume that, once the more challenging task of getting the league and the NFLPA* to agree on a revenue split, a rookie wage scale, and the terms of free agency, everything else will fall into place.  In the end, it may not be as easy as it looks.”

The rumored deadline is old news for others who have grown tired of false hope, like Philadelphia Eagles blog Bleeding Green Nation:

“Remember when all the stories came out that said both sides targeted July 15th as the last possible day a deal could get done to allow training camps and preseason to go on as normal?... Apparently July 15th was just BS... Now, [ESPN] has another shovel full for us to swallow that blogs and other media are jumping on like sheep.”

Apparently, it’s not just the media who have jumped on the news -- so too has President Obama.

“I would rather be talking about stuff that everyone welcomes like new programs or the NFL season getting resolve 

Should 24 of the NFL’s 32 owners vote in favor of the proposed CBA, The Transition Rules point to July 28 as a key date: the start of free agency.