NFL talks end with no agreement in sight

Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS

The NFL and its locked-out players wrapped up another round of court-ordered mediation Tuesday without any signs of a new agreement and the clock ticking on the 2011 season.

Officials and attorneys for both sides said they will return for more closed-door talks with U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan on June 7, four days after a key appeals court hearing in St. Louis on the legality of the lockout.

NFL lead negotiator Jeff Pash and Hall of Famer Carl Eller both said the talks went well, but there was no indication of any significant progress toward a new collective bargaining agreement. Pash said he thought Boylan had done a good job of “pushing the parties,” but he said he doesn’t believe the dispute over the future of the $9 billion business will be settled in court.

“The only way we’re going to solve this is by sitting down together,” Pash said, echoing the NFL’s preference for traditional negotiations in a collective bargaining setting.

The two sides met for 16 days before talks fell apart March 11 and the lockout began. Boylan, who presided over four days of mediation last month and two more days this week, also had lunch with DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFL Players Association, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

The two sides are not scheduled to meet again until June, just a month before training camps typically begin and just eight weeks before the first preseason game on Aug. 8.

“I feel we really got some movement between last night and today,” Eller said.

Linebacker Mike Vrabel, one of the plaintiffs on the antitrust lawsuit against the league, questioned the NFL’s commitment to striking a deal outside the courthouse after mediation concluded.

“I don’t know if there’s any sense of urgency on their part,” Vrabel said.

There are some huge court matters looming, including the June 3 hearing before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on the legality of the lockout, with a ruling likely a few weeks after. The same three-judge panel handling the hearing has already ruled twice in favor of the league, keeping the lockout in place.

U.S. District Judge David Doty is also deciding whether to award players more than $707 million in damages and to bar the NFL from using $4 billion in broadcast revenue. Doty has already said the league failed to secure the most income for the players when it re-negotiated those broadcast contracts.

Also, the federal antitrust lawsuit filed against the NFL by the players is still pending.