NFL Lockout Watch, Day 74: Pash Says Mediation Has Done Little In CBA Talks

NFL Exec VP/Labor & General Counsel Jeff Pash warned that litigation was preventing the players and owners from reaching an agreement to play football, and suggested mediation in federal court had done little. With NFL owners gathering in Indianapolis today on the 74th day of the lockout, Pash told reporters last night that the sides were frozen waiting for courts dates and hearings. And he seemed to dismiss the two rounds of mediation that have occurred in federal court, calling it artificial. “It is artificial in that it is affected by the litigation, it is all part of the litigation process,” he said. "The mediation … is a derivative to the court case, it is not mediation being conducted to facilitate collective bargaining." "That is not a knock on anyone, that is just reality,” he added. The sides are set to resume mediation June 7. The players are forcefully pursuing their antitrust lawsuit against the league alleging the lockout and free agency restrictions are illegal, even as the owners have won the legal right, at least so far, to keep the lockout in place. Nevertheless, the owners' labor committee last night discussed several scenarios during a nearly two hour meeting, including what happens if the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals next month or in July lifts the lockout, said Steelers President Art Rooney II. That, however, is considered unlikely given in its stay decision last week, the 8th circuit strongly suggested it would overturn a lower court’s decision enjoining the lockout. Giants President & CEO John Mara, who is on the labor committee, when asked if there would be a season, said there would be. The owners' meetings, which starts at 10:00am ET, will end tomorrow. The meetings will be largely consumed by lockout issues (Daniel Kaplan, SportsBusiness Journal).

THE GREAT IF: In N.Y., Judy Battista notes when the owners gather for the two-day meeting, "their conversation will center on if -- and when -- the 2011 season will be played." The owners will be briefed on the "options under consideration -- what rules for free agency and the salary cap could be put in place, for example -- if they lose the appeal and the lockout is lifted." That decision is "not likely to come before late June or early July," and until then, the NFL "seems to be at a standstill." One source said that "during the most recent round of talks, the two sides were moving further apart." Owners offered "less than they did in their March 11 proposal, the last offer on the table before the union dissolved itself and players were locked out" (N.Y. TIMES, 5/24).