NFL, Union Agree to Extend Contract For 24 Hours, Continue Talks
Tonight's expiration of the collective-bargaining agreement between the NFL and the NFL Players Association was forestalled by the mutual agreement of the parties on a 24-hour extension. Per a statement released this evening:
“Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service Director George Cohen has announced that the NFL and NFL Players Association have agreed to extend the expiration of the CBA for 24 hours and continue negotiating under the direction of Mr. Cohen. The CBA now is scheduled to expire on Friday night at midnight. The agreement by both sides to refrain from comment on the negotiations remains in place.”
The owners will reportedly be back before Director Cohen tomorrow morning without the union's immediate participation.
Earlier in the day, President Obama had this to say about the proceedings:
“You’ve got owners, most of whom are worth close to a billion dollars; you’ve got players who are making millions of dollars,” said the president, who is a big fan of the Chicago Bears. “My working assumption, at a time when people are having to cut back, compromise and worry about making the mortgage and, you know, paying for their kid’s college education, is, is that the two parties should be able to work it out without the president of the United States intervening…. "
Football fans will once again tomorrow be glued to the D.C. street corner at 21st & K, looking to see if the folks inside the FMCS building can do just that.
