NFL owners held a meeting in Chicago on Wednesday to discuss the league’s on-going labor dispute.
Commisioner Roger Goodell and league owners met to formulate a negotiating plan as the lockout reaches its 80th day.
However the surprise of the day was NFLPA* leader DeMaurice Smith and several players association officials were also on hand for the meeting.
It is the first time the two sides have met outside of mediation since immediately after the Super Bowl back in February.
According to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen:
One source said any potential deal still was a ways away, however, the hope would be that the two sides could get something done sooner rather than later, potentially even later this month.
With the two sides needing to be in St. Louis on Friday, Chicago made sense as a logical meeting place. NFL owners, including Dallas’ Jerry Jones, New England’s Robert Kraft and Carolina’s Jerry Richardson, each were in Chicago along with Goodell.
The meetings were so secretive that, as of Wednesday night there, there were other NFL owners that didn’t know what was taking place.
The NFLPA was equally secretive, declining to respond to inquiries about the meeting and its leaders’ whereabouts.
Wednesday’s meeting was the first lockout related development in the past three weeks. The Eight Circuit Court of Appeals is set to hear the NFL’s case against Judge Nelson’s injunction ruling on Friday, June 3. Mediation between the two sides is set to resume Tuesday, June 7.
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