It was believed NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith would be meeting on Tuesday with their respective legal teams as labor talks continue to end the NFL lockout.
NFL Lockout: Roger Goodell, DeMaurice Smith Not Meeting Until Thursday
As it turns out, though, Goodell and Smith won’t be joining the table until Thursday. Lawyers for each side will be working on the language of the deal on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, without Goodell and Smith.
There’s no substitute for face-to-face negotiations but a labor agreement of this magnitude requires plenty of lawyers so, as Mort suggested, this is simply part of the process. It doesn’t mean a deal is done -- reports say we’re still a minimum of several days away from that -- but a labor agreement involving over $9 billion per year will unfortunately require the presence of lawyers at times.
Reports last week said other owners and players would also re-join the table on Thursday but it remains to be seen if that's still the case.
Stay tuned for more NFL lockout news.
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