The NFL lockout has come down to a big court date on Friday morning at the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. The NFL and NFLPA will meet in St. Louis at 10:00 a.m. where a panel of three judges will hear each side’s arguments as to whether the NFL lockout is valid.
NFL Lockout: League, NFLPA Head To Court
Last month, Judge Susan Nelson ruled to lift the lockout but the NFL appealed that ruling, which is what brings us to the Eighth Circuit on Friday. The NFL obviously wants the lockout to remain in place because that gives them the most amount of leverage moving forward. The players clearly want the lockout to end so that they can get back to work.
Andrew Brandft of National Football Post has a full primer of what to expect today and it’s a really good read. The biggest takeaway is that, as of now, the momentum is pointing to the NFL, Brandt explains.
The Court waited seventeen days between issuing a temporary stay and ruling on the permanent stay. In the event the Court truly believed that the Players were suffering irreparable harm, logic would dictate that the permanent stay ruling would have come sooner. Also, in their order granting the permanent stay, JudgesBenton and Colloton may have tipped their hand, expressing that they "have serious doubts that the district court had jurisdiction to enjoin the League's lockout."
Most folks are feeling the league will prevail but most folks covering this don’t regularly cover three judges either so we really don’t know.
Nevertheless, we’ll hear the arguments on Friday morning but we don’t expect a ruling until late June.
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