Labor negotiations continues Tuesday between the players and the owners and progress is being made, but there are still obstacles. To start with, the recent talks did not include any of the involved lawyers, with the exception of DeMaurice Smith. On Tuesday, when the lawyers were brought back in, reportedly things "almost blew up." Luckily, Smith (the unlikely guy to do it) told his lawyers to back off and things got back to normal and progress was made.
After talks, the NFL and players released a joint statement that said basically nothing -- that talks continue and that they can't talk about them per Judge Boylan.
Via Twitter, NFL Network reporter Albert Breer summarizes five important things:
1) Sides are considering concessions are ALL fronts. And that is huge. Makes these meetings different than any before, provides hope.
2) Some of those "fronts" have been delved into in-depth yet. So there has been/will be arguing on those, and conflict to overcome.
3) Until the 1 big issue is solved -- splitting revenue, accounting for future growth (esp '14 TV deals) -- term "progress" is relative.
4) The sides left Maryland will plenty to chew on and discuss, and we're still on track to where this thing could happen in next month.
5) Lots of potential progress is on the horizon, but for now, real movement likely on hold until the owners meet in Chicago next Tuesday.
So, while talks have been productive, it looks like things are going to die down until the owners meet next week.
QB Drew Brees describes it as now things are "getting to crunch time," and it really looks positive.
Although some, like ESPN reporter Adam Schefter believe that the possibility of getting a deal done in the next two weeks "is borderline insane," even he picks a date just three weeks away. I still think that it will get hammered out before the holiday weekend. We shall see.