NFL, union agree to 24-hour extension
NFL management and players convened again this morning in the offices of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, with little hope the sport will avoid a lockout.
NFL, union agree to 24-hour extension
Les Bowen, Daily News Staff Writer
UPDATED: The NFL and the players union have agreed to a 24-hour extension and will return to the federal mediation center tomorrow to keep talking.
"The parties have agreed to a one-day extension," federal mediator George Cohen said in a statement.
Reporters who had been waiting in the cold outside the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Center for the promised Cohen statement were less than overwhelmed, given that the extension had already been announced on the NFL Network, whose cameras were set up just outside the front door.
On his exit from the building, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said: "To all our fans who dig our game, we appreciate your patience as we work through this. We're going to keep working, we want to play football."
That means the union's potential deadline for decertifying moves to 4 p.m. tomorrow with a lockout possible as early as midnight tomorrow night.
The sense seemed to be that a one-day extension buys time to work through the logistics of providing a longer window, a three-day or seven-day extension, which might actually be long enough to address the substantive differences between the sides.
UPDATE: Talks continued this afternoon as the 4 pm deadline for union decertification neared, absent an extension of the league year. Multiple reports indicate the sides are discussing extending the talks.
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WASHINGTON --- NFL management and the players' union are meeting this morning in what is widely presumed to be the final dance of these negotiations, before the union moves to
decertify this afternoon, and the league presumably locks the players out when the collective bargaining agreement expires at midnight.
Jason LaCanfora of the NFL Network, pictured here amid a thicket of TV tripods in front of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Center at 21st and K streets, reported that management is expected to reveal more financial information to the union today than it has previously.
Speculation holds that the talks will break off by early afternoon, so both sides can attend to final details related to the shutdown.
Most of the other essentials can be found in my story in today's Daily News, which I am linking to here because you'd need bloodhounds and a search party to find it on Philly.com.
More coming when it happens.
Comment removed.
The NFL and their owners operate above the law, and produce poor entertainment.
The only way the NFL will become more responsive to the REAL needs of the players and the fans, will be if and when fans stop attending these games. This will never happen.— USAFirst1- Couldn't happen to a better bunch of GREEDY, GREEDY JACKA##'s---owners, coaches, & players--HA HA HA. Should be good for overall economy thou--repo men, pawn shop owners(luxury vehicles, blink) & McDonalds($1.00 menue). GO NCAA football-the real football games.— jwatson
- when u put selfish rich owners in the same room with rich selfish over paid players u get rich selfish results,,,, football doesnt need to take a step backwards like hockey did a few years back,,,they did it to save thier jobs and to save the league because it needed to reorganize the way the league was run,, this fiasco that the nfl is doing is senseless,,, both want bigger piecses of the cake,,, they both need to go to bed without any cake tonight... greedy people make me sick......— jackhanna
- Check out the "Pickle Smoocher" behind Goodell!— Geno D
- Comment removed.
- HBCU Pro Days:
Hampton – 3/16/11
SC State – 3/30/11
FVSU – 3/10/11
Morehouse – 3/9/11
CAU – 3/9/11
hbcuclassics.com— hbcuclassics - Goodell better start workin' out.— cm3737
- Looks like they're actually trying, but I still don't think the owners or players understand that the fans have most of the leverage. And if most of us decide to walk away, they're cooked. Because it's been such a pot of gold for a couple decades now, they seem to feel it'll be that way for a long time. 2010 may have been the last time the NFL will ever taste big profits.— armchairGM
ho hum. nothing to see here.— delcodanno- It's not the players money, I'm sorry, but if you get paid 8 million to catch a ball, then I have no sympathy.— wgureck
