Roger Goodell Hopes CBA Talks Will Resume Before Next Month's Draft

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell expressed hope yesterday that collective bargaining negotiations could begin before next month’s Draft, something that is only likely, however, if the NFLPA faced significant setbacks. The class counsel for the players suing the NFL for antitrust violations, who are also the outside counsel to the NFLPA, have offered to talk to the league about settling the lawsuit. As the NFLPA has professed not to be a union, it cannot engage in collective bargaining.

“There will hopefully be negotiations before the Draft,” Goodell said. “It would be terrific if we could sit down and work towards an agreement before the Draft. We’ll have to wait and see on the litigation steps and see what the courts determine.”

Goodell, who spoke at the end of the owners' annual meeting, ruled out using replacement players if games are lost, and he strongly suggested the last offer to the players might not ever come back because of mounting economic losses caused by the lockout.