As we near the end of another long week of meetings, the NFL players and owners made some progress on Thursday towards the details for a rookie wage scale, which is one of the major issues left to be resolved.
Several people familiar with the private discussions, but not directly involved in the deliberations, indicated that an accord on the rookie wage scale is possible soon, according to the Washington Post.
Reports indicate that there are several other issues remaining on the table, including free agency rules, retiree benefits and court oversight of the new agreement.
Thursday’s meetings included broad representation for both sides, including NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, NFLPA General Counsel Richard Berthelsen, and NFL player representatives Jeff Saturday, Sean Morey, Pete Kendall and Jim McFarland.
The owners had eight of the ten members of their bargaining committee in attendance, which is more than any time in the last six weeks, according to NFL Networks. The owners in attendance included New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, New York Giants owner John Mara, Green Bay Packers CEO Mark Murphy, San Diego Chargers owner Dean Spanos, Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson and Pittsburgh Steelers president Art Rooney.
Talks are still continuing at this hour, and it’s unclear how long they will last this evening.
Both sides are scheduled to meet next Tuesday in Minneapolis with mediator Chief Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan. The owners are scheduled to meet next Thursday in Atlanta, and could have a vote to ratify the new agreement then, if they can make sufficient progress in the talks with players before then.
