Report: Owners Ask for Stay of Injunction, Players Respond

It was reported Tuesday morning by the Associated Press that U.S. District Judge Susan Nelson would indeed decide on if a stay of her ruling would be granted and that the NFLPA* had  until Wednesday at 9:00 AM CT to respond to the league’s motion for a stay. A stay of her ruling would put her injunction of the lockout on hold and league operations would not take place.

Apparently, the players have responded quickly. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the NFL Players Association has sent a letter to Judge Nelson asking  her to force the owners to start the league year. Judge Nelson in turn ordered that the owners have until 5 PM ET on Wednesday to respond.

Yesterday, Judge Nelson granted the NFLPA* a preliminary injunction, effectively blocking the league’s lockout of the players. Soon after her ruling, the league issued a statement saying they would appeal the ruling and immediately ask for a stay of the ruling so the lockout would be kept in place until the appeals process had concluded.

Judge Nelson’s ruling on if a stay will be granted or not is big in the fact that without one, the new league year would be set to begin rather quickly. This would mean trades, cuts, and free agency would all be back in play. Granting a stay would put the lockout back in place for the time being and no league operations could take place (other than Thursday’s draft) until the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has had a chance to hear the case.