NFL owners and players will descend upon Minnesota once again on Monday and resume mediation with U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan. As I’ve previously said, I’d rather the two sides be talking than not talking but this session of mediation seems to have both sides simply going through the motions.
NFL Lockout: Mediation Not Expected To Result In New Deal
Mike Freeman of CBSSports.com reports that the latest round of mediation isn’t expected to result in a new agreement.
Privately, officials from both sides are saying this is a prototypical case of going through the court-ordered motions, just as both sides did during mediation in Washington, and as they did during the first round of mediation in Minnesota. They do it, as one source familiar with the negotiation process said, to give the public the appearance of trying.
Sigh. Unfortunately I believe Freeman is right. The strategy for both sides have been revealed and it includes waiting on a ruling from the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. That ruling, whichever way it goes, will give one side a significant advantage moving forward so it seems both are content to simply wait on that ruling.
So we’ll be hearing updates this week on how mediation is moving along but it’s unlikely there are any real results from it.
Stay tuned for more NFL lockout news.
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