Navigation: Jump to content areas:

Network Bar & Login Section Navigation Main Blog Content Secondary Sidebar: Links to Recent Stories, FanPosts and FanShots Masthead

According to Adam Shefter of ESPN. com,chanel 5090, Judge Susan Richard Nelson has announced to the NFL and the NFL actors that she ambition tax forced mediation ashore them early this week. This comes behind her efforts to get the employers and players to proceed mediation earlier final week didn't result in many besides more posturing, bickering and whining - at either parties.

The owners would strongly care for resume negotiations under George Cohen, the federal referee who had handled the previous sessions in Washington, for they desperately absence to get out from under judicial oversight as the afterward CBA, as the oversight Judge Doty invested for the last CBA over 18 years was generally penetrated as unlucky for the owners.

The players on the other hand would strongly favor to keep the negotiations beneath tribunal supervision, where they feel they would have the upper hand based on their successes in the elapse.

Judge Richardson is expected to rule on the venue early this week.

Peter King draws one interesting collateral and adds some other illuminating facts to the labor quagmire in his MMQB column:

Before there was a system of real free agency in location in the NFL, United States District Court Judge David Doty, overseeing the case from Minneapolis, told the players and owners if they didn't reach an agreement on the issues, he would impose 1 that neither side would like and an side would ascertain extremely onerous. That led to both sides coinciding to players creature free after four seasons if their contracts had expired, with an franchise-player exception per group, and a hard salary crown.

Now Judge Nelson is saying both sides are at risk and telling them to get back to the table.

While this sounds like good news,chanel 5183, don't obtain your hopes up fair yet. Mike Florio from ProFootballTalk explains that it's entire just portion of the process:

The fact is that magistrates routinely force parties to engage in mediation. It doesn't average namely the parties are necessitated to perch the case. Instead, they have to simply participate in the process in nice belief.

Don't expect this circular of mediations to be much more productive than the last round. This is just a minor struggle in the overall war to acquire leverage by both sides. The more crucial battles will be Judge Nelson's verdict on the injunction against the lockout (which she is very presumable to acknowledge - yeah, the lockout will be over in two or three weeks), and the assured appeal by the losing side that will emulate that ruling. Once the ruling on that appeal comes via,chanel 5070, negotiations will begin in earnest on a new CBA, though probably not ahead early to mid summer.