First Break of NFL-NFLPA Hearing Brings Updates

According to a report from Greg Bedard of the Boston Globe, today’s anti trust hearing between the NFL and the Players Association took a break 12:15 PM ET. The hearing began at 10:30 AM ET.

With this news, Bedard tweeted the following: “Only 1 mention of irreparable harm and [Judge Susan] Nelson said ‘it appears players have a strong case.'”

According to the USA Today, James Quinn, who is representing the players, argued that the league locking out the players is illegal. “The lockout itself is illegal,” he said. “Over 800 players are unsigned. These players have no jobs. They have nowhere to go.”

Of course, irreparable harm is going to be a must for the players association to argue in order for them to show that the league locking them out is in violation of anti-trust law. They must persuade Judge Nelson that not lifting the lockout will cause irreparable harm because players will miss game checks if the season does not take place and that money will not be awarded at a later date.

If the players end up winning and a preliminary injunction is issued in order to prevent the lockout, the normal league offseason activities would start including free agency, trades, and mini-camps. However, as Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com stated in a great article breaking down this hearing, Judge Nelson could an order of “staying” the preliminary injunction in the likely event that the league appeals the decision. This means that the lockout against the player would remain in place until the appeals process ends.

For now, it seems as if the NFLPA has started out well in their efforts to be granted an injunction. We’ll update you on any other news coming out of St. Paul, Minnesota as this hearing continues.