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Representatives of the negotiating teams of the NFL and the NFL Players Association have agreed to four consecutive days of talks in the Minneapolis area beginning Tuesday and running through Friday, sources told ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen.
People familiar with the talks told NFL.com and The Associated Press that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith are meeting in Minnesota without players or owners present.
Smith planned to go to Florida later Tuesday or Wednesday morning to attend the league's rookie symposium in Bradenton. Smith plans to address the rookies on Wednesday, sources told ESPN's Ed Werder.
People familiar with the situation also told the AP that player representatives planned a conference call Tuesday to discuss the negotiations.
This is the fifth consecutive week of talks between the sides, and it's also the longest commitment to talks (four days) in those five weeks.
The talks are continuing under the supervision of U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan, who has been assigned to run court-ordered mediation. Boylan lives in the Minneapolis area.
The meetings this week are the fifth round of confidential talks between the parties. Representatives from the NFL and the NFLPA have previously met outside Chicago, in Long Island, N.Y., in Maryland and last week in Hull, Mass.
The Associated Press reported Monday that a small group of players met with NFLPA attorneys in Minneapolis without the owners present. It is unknown what they discussed.
The players have an antitrust suit against the league that was filed in Minneapolis, and the city also is where the sides met for court-ordered mediation in May.
The lockout began on March 12, and players -- except for when the work stoppage was briefly lifted in April -- have not been allowed to train at team facilities or be in contact with any of their coaches. Players on several teams have gathered on their own, trying to keep in football shape so they'll be prepared to get back to business on the field whenever the labor impasse is over.
"It's not about getting a deal done as quickly as possible, it's about getting a fair deal done," said Houston linebacker DeMeco Ryans, one of the team's representatives who worked out Monday with other Texans players. "Whenever that time comes, when a fair deal is on the table, that's when it will get done. We're not in a big panic to get something done, just for the sake of getting it done."
The key issue in the dispute centers on how to divide revenues after the league took in about $9.3 billion last year. Sources familiar with the owners' proposal told Mortensen last week that the players' share would approach the 50 percent mark the NFLPA has said it has received throughout the last decade. But the expense credits -- about $1 billion last year -- that the league takes off the top would disappear.
Also, there no longer would be "designated revenues" from which the players would share. Instead, the players would share from the entire pool of income, which both sides project will grow significantly over the course of a new collective bargaining agreement.
A salary floor requiring teams to spend close to 100 percent of the cap in cash also would be included, sources told ESPN.com's John Clayton.
Training camps are scheduled to open in about a month, and the first preseason game -- Chicago vs. St. Louis -- is scheduled for Aug. 7 at the Pro Football Hall of Fame inductions in Canton, Ohio.
"Hopefully, everything gets worked out quickly so we can get to training camp on time and get guys back to work and have a full season," Giants quarterback Eli Manning said in a telephone interview with the AP. "That's what the fans want. Obviously, they are the ones that make this possible, so hopefully we can get it done for them."
Source: AP
People familiar with the talks told NFL.com and The Associated Press that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith are meeting in Minnesota without players or owners present.
Smith planned to go to Florida later Tuesday or Wednesday morning to attend the league's rookie symposium in Bradenton. Smith plans to address the rookies on Wednesday, sources told ESPN's Ed Werder.
People familiar with the situation also told the AP that player representatives planned a conference call Tuesday to discuss the negotiations.
This is the fifth consecutive week of talks between the sides, and it's also the longest commitment to talks (four days) in those five weeks.
The talks are continuing under the supervision of U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan, who has been assigned to run court-ordered mediation. Boylan lives in the Minneapolis area.
The meetings this week are the fifth round of confidential talks between the parties. Representatives from the NFL and the NFLPA have previously met outside Chicago, in Long Island, N.Y., in Maryland and last week in Hull, Mass.
The Associated Press reported Monday that a small group of players met with NFLPA attorneys in Minneapolis without the owners present. It is unknown what they discussed.
The players have an antitrust suit against the league that was filed in Minneapolis, and the city also is where the sides met for court-ordered mediation in May.
The lockout began on March 12, and players -- except for when the work stoppage was briefly lifted in April -- have not been allowed to train at team facilities or be in contact with any of their coaches. Players on several teams have gathered on their own, trying to keep in football shape so they'll be prepared to get back to business on the field whenever the labor impasse is over.
"It's not about getting a deal done as quickly as possible, it's about getting a fair deal done," said Houston linebacker DeMeco Ryans, one of the team's representatives who worked out Monday with other Texans players. "Whenever that time comes, when a fair deal is on the table, that's when it will get done. We're not in a big panic to get something done, just for the sake of getting it done."
The key issue in the dispute centers on how to divide revenues after the league took in about $9.3 billion last year. Sources familiar with the owners' proposal told Mortensen last week that the players' share would approach the 50 percent mark the NFLPA has said it has received throughout the last decade. But the expense credits -- about $1 billion last year -- that the league takes off the top would disappear.
Also, there no longer would be "designated revenues" from which the players would share. Instead, the players would share from the entire pool of income, which both sides project will grow significantly over the course of a new collective bargaining agreement.
A salary floor requiring teams to spend close to 100 percent of the cap in cash also would be included, sources told ESPN.com's John Clayton.
Training camps are scheduled to open in about a month, and the first preseason game -- Chicago vs. St. Louis -- is scheduled for Aug. 7 at the Pro Football Hall of Fame inductions in Canton, Ohio.
"Hopefully, everything gets worked out quickly so we can get to training camp on time and get guys back to work and have a full season," Giants quarterback Eli Manning said in a telephone interview with the AP. "That's what the fans want. Obviously, they are the ones that make this possible, so hopefully we can get it done for them."
Source: AP