Lockout update thread

[Sez.EJ]

Judge orders end to NFL lockout, appeal expected - Yahoo! News



Judge orders end to NFL lockout, appeal expect


By DAVE CAMPBELL, AP Sports Writer Dave Campbell, Ap Sports Writer – 12 mins ago
ST. PAUL, Minn. – A federal judge has sided with NFL players and granted their request for a preliminary injunction to lift the lockout.
U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson issued her ruling late Monday. The ruling gives the players an early victory in their fight with NFL owners over a new collective bargaining agreement in the $9 billion business.
Owners imposed the lockout after talks broke down on March 11 and the players disbanded their union. The players say the lockout is causing irreparable harm to their careers. A group of players filed the injunction request along with an antitrust lawsuit against the league.
The owners argued it was their right to institute the lockout. They are expected to appeal Nelson's ruling.

[Brown Warrior]

The owners have no "stay" from anybody as of yet, so at least some players are showing up for work in the morning...

Ryan Clark to Steelers: Show up for work tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. | ProFootballTalk

[Sez.EJ]

The stay will be issued tomorrow from what I heard on NFL network. It's great new overall. However, teams still cannot sign anyone as there are no rules in place to sign players. I think that's the next step/ruling depending upon what happens. The main thing is..the courts are pushing it forward and we will have some agreement in the future. Hopefully soon.

[PlaygroundLegend]

Sounds like now that the dirty league, and the dirty owners are going to violate the judges direct orders and not let the players in tomorrow.

Now I with the players 100 percent, the league doesnt give a shit if a deal gets done....

as long as there is still a season and a draft im happy

[Sez.EJ]

I hear some players with this new will show up to work tomorrow. They can with this ruling.. Maybe they will just lift and stretch, who know. Maybe they will be banned from the facilities pending the appeal.

No unsigned playerscan be signed who is not under contract as there are no rules on that. The guys who are under contract may show up though. If I'm a player..I'm coming to work and making the owners do something.

I'm just glad it's getting a push in the right direction and the courts are forcing things to move despite the stubborness of both sides.

[TheBestPlayersPlay]

One of the reporters on Twitter said this was meaningless and will only continue to go into endless appeals.

[plumcrazy73]

The Coaches need to hurry up and pass out the playbook while they can

[YtownBacker]

In most cases the Appeals court will issue a stay immediately until everything can be sorted out. Then if the csae has merit they will continue the stay until a decision is passed down.

You are looking at a month to six weeks if it's expedited.

[Brown Warrior]

Some of you may have read about the "secret meeting" of a handful of owners from the negotiating committee, which many believe has been given a "raised ceiling" by the rest of the owners. In a big twist, it now turns out De Smith was in the gathering in Chicago and the lawyers may not have been present.

Sounds like they're finally getting serious. I would have to think Smith is hearing from the players now that it appears very unlikely the lockout will be lifted. I think next week could end up being pretty huge. I'm sticking to my sense that the doors will reopen soon after the Fourth of July holiday.

Reports: De Smith attended not-so-secret meeting with owners
Posted by Mike Florio on June 2, 2011, 9:13 AM EDT

Initial reports of the clandestine Chicago-area meeting involving multiple owners and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell omitted reference to one key attendee.

Per multiple reports (including one from Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen of ESPN and one from Albert Breer of NFL Network), NFLPA* executive director DeMaurice Smith was present, too. Other NFLPA* officials also were there.

Per Schefter and Mortensen, the two sides met into the evening in an effort to bridge some of their various and sharp differences. The meeting was so secretive that some owners didn’t even know it was happening.

Though a potential agreement continues to be a long way away, there’s some hope that the foundation could be in place for a deal to be reached later this month.

The key, in our view, will be for the two sides to use the uncertainty hovering over the Eighth Circuit’s consideration of whether the lockout will be lifted as motivation to control their destiny. Helping that effort could be questions or statements from one of the two judges believed to be leaning toward allowing the lockout to remain in place indicating that one or both of them quite possibly could go the other way.

UPDATE: It’ll also be interesting to know whether the talks occurred without the lawyers present. If so, there could be cause for real optimism, given the belief that the lawyers have been dragging down the process and/or providing affirmative obstacles to making a deal.

[Brown Warrior]

This really keeps getting better and they're continuing to negotiate today (they weren't scheduled to do so until next Tuesday).

Not-so-secret meeting was lawyer-free (except for De)
Posted by Mike Florio on June 2, 2011, 11:02 AM EDT

For months, key figures on each side of the NFL’s labor dispute have called for negotiations to occur without the lawyers present.

Finally, it has happened.

Updating and clarifying prior information on the Chicago-area meeting between the league and representatives of the NFLPA*, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that no lawyers attended, with the exception of NFLPA* executive director DeMaurice Smith. Accompanying Smith were NFLPA* president Kevin Mawae and Executive Committee members Jeff Saturday and Mike Vrabel.

Attending for the NFL were Commissioner Roger Goodell, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Panthers owner Jerry Richardson, Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Giants co-0wner John Mara, and Steelers owner Art Rooney.

The fact that five owners participated when a rotation of four have been attending court-ordered mediation sessions is a positive sign, but the absence of men like Jeff Pash, Bob Batterman, Jim Quinn, and Jeff Kessler represents the best news. It means that the two sides are moving toward trying to find a win-win solution, with the lawyers left to iron out the details after a consensus is reached on the bigger issues.

[grumpy_dinosaur]

Hopefully this is the beginning of the end for this lock out and we'll have a new cba in the next couple weeks, then on to the real offseason!

[YtownBacker]

I hope this thing can get done but I refuse to let myself get upbeat just to get let down again.

I said it form the beginning, once the attorneys get involved the process will be damned. There pockets are getting full and they have been the only winners so far.

It's a real shame if you have have to go hide from them to get something done. The attorneys will most likely make off with as much money as they are arguing about splitting.