The NFL’s collective bargaining ownership committee met for four hours today in DC, with NFLPA reps in talks overseen by federal mediator George Cohen. It was the first time that owners had gotten involved to that extent in the mediated talks, which have lasted nine days. Upon conclusion of the talks, owners departed for a full ownership meeting scheduled for this afternoon in nearby Chantilly, Va. Among the issues for discussion would be whether they want to lock the players out when the CBA expires at the end of the day tomorrow or if they want to extend the deadline for reaching a new deal.
Jeff Pash, the league’s chief labor negotiator, said that owners would be willing to come back tonight for more federal mediation but that Cohen had not requested it as of earlier this afternoon (Daniel Kaplan, SportsBusiness Journal).
SI’s Don Banks reported, “CBA mediation breaks for today. No more talks today but mediation expected to resume Thurs. Source said talks went 'better than expected.’” The N.Y. Times’ Judy Battista wrote, “Likely that everybody goes back to mediator tomorrow morning” (TWITTER.com, 3/2).
