Report: Both League, Players Request Negotiations Through Mediation

According to NFL insider Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, both the league and the players association are in favor of going back to negotiations under mediation. However, the problem is neither side can agree to where the negotiations should take place and whose mediation they should be under.

Schefter’s report claimed that the NFL sent a letter to the NFLPA* on Thursday requesting the pick up negotiations again under federal mediator George Cohen. As you might remember, Cohen was the mediator for the 16 days of negotiations between both parties because talks broke down and the NFLPA* filed for decertification on March 11 right before the deadline for a new collective bargaining agreement expired.

Also according to Schefter, the players association sent a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Susan Nelson requesting federal mediation in Minnesota, an action that Nelson requested happen in Wednesday’s hearing regarding the NFL and if it violated anti-trust laws when it imposed a lockout against the players association.

David Boies, a lawyer for the NFL, commented on the situation Wednesday. “We don’t need a settlement of this lawsuit,” he said. What we need is a collective bargaining agreement so that the players can go on playing and the league can put on games. Until we have that, we’re not going to make any progress.”

While it is certainly a positive that the league and the players association want to get back into negotiations under mediation, this is just another issue added to the long list of disagreements between both parties.