Talks stall

Friday, February 11 2011

Talks aimed at producing a new NFL collective bargaining agreement may have slowed on Thursday when the league and union called off a planned negotiating session. This article was written by Sean Leahy and appeared in USA Today.

The sides met on Wednesday and had expected to meet again for a second straight day. NFLPA spokesman George Atallah told ProFootballTalk he didn't know the reason for the cancellation.
Also, the NFL cancelled a planned owners' meeting next week. "The commissioner did not see a need for it right now," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told PFT.

The dismissal of Thursday's meeting came five days after the sides met in their first formal bargaining session since November.

"The most important thing is you're talking and you're communicating," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Monday when if he was optimistic after Saturday's session. "So that's a good thing."

The last deal of the current CBA is March 3, and the NFL faces a potential work stoppage if the sides can't agree to a new one.

Goodell warned last week that the sides faced a critical deadline in early March to avoid potentially significant financial consequences of allowing the CBA to lapse.

NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith has said the players must get access to more of the owners' expenditure details in order for talks to proceed. Goodell has rejected that.

On Monday, Goodell refused to characterize the state of the talks or whether Sunday' Super Bowl might have been the last football game fans see for a significant time due to a potential work stoppage.

"I'm focused entirely on trying to get an agreement done here in the next few weeks," Goodell said.