The Facts:
Following up on the ongoing story. ... NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and players’ union chief DeMaurice Smith took questions Wednesday at a symposium for NFL rookies, who wanted to know the same thing as everyone else unhappy about the league’s labor dispute. When is it going to end? Goodell and Smith didn’t say. But the union took their joint appearance as a positive sign. “That’s really the significance of this,” NFLPA spokesman George Atallah said. “There’s a lockout happening now, but we’ve got to look forward and consider the necessity to have a positive working relationship with the league.”
Reported by the Associated Press
Fantasy Football Diehards Line:
The commissioner and his counterpart in negotiations met in Minneapolis before flying together to Sarasota on Tuesday night. After a joint breakfast Wednesday, they talked for an hour with 155 rookies. “We were taking a break (from negotiations) because we felt it was important to be down here with the players,” Goodell said. “This is an important few days. We’re going to get back to work. ...” Goodell and Smith then headed for the airport to return to Minnesota. Talks there are scheduled there through Friday, raising hopes a new collective bargaining agreement can be worked out so the season can proceed as planned, with training camps scheduled to open in about three weeks. The current meetings involve Goodell, Smith and their staffs, but no owners or players. Such high-level meetings have been key to previous labor agreements, particularly when the late Gene Upshaw ran the players’ association and Paul Tagliabue was commissioner. ... Stay tuned.
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