After a three-month lockout negotiations finally begin to progress in the NFL

Ends are closer to meet and a good sign of it is that both parties’ attorneys are back in the meeting room, after being absent in the secret talks held at Chicago and New York.

95 days and counting, that’s how long the NFL lockout has extended as team owners and players (NFLPA) still can’t work out a new collective bargaining agreement satisfactory for both parties’ demands. The good news is that for third week in a row they have been holding secret meetings, the last of them in Maryland, where some significant progress must have occurred for their legal representatives have joined the labor talks again this week after a 15-day absence.

Off the record sources are talking about two to four more weeks to reach a resolution, while others instead of jumping into conclusions about how long it will take, they are rather focused in the progress of the negotiations, which they claim to have advanced to 85%. To back up this information sources explain that some players began to call off the plans that they had prepared during the lockout, which is a sign that they could begin the preseason sometime soon.

It is expected that by their upcoming meeting next week at Chicago a new collective bargain is presented. Of course that this will be subject to whatever advancements are reached this week in Maryland, where both sides are optimistic about continuing to experience a positive atmosphere in labor negotiations that allows them to make progress.

It seems that the call of attention that they received on June 3rd from Judge Kermit Bye after a hearing were he warned both parties about the consequences of an arbitrary decisions, could have led the parties to conciliate in order to evade unsatisfactory legal actions contrary to their interests.

With the 2011-12 NFL season scheduled for September 8th it is more than obvious that they are running against the clock to reach an agreement. If the new collective bargain contract isn’t signed before July 4, then some adjustments will have to be done to the calendar in order to grant teams a free agency period, as well as time to hold minicamps and a preseason.

Last week we discussed how the league was already thinking in a contingency plan along with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in case the labor talks continue to delay the season kick off. The idea of an 8-game regular season has already been given as a solution in case both ends can’t work things by the next hearing which take place on September 12th. Both parties want to avoid further confrontations for the lockout itself has already cost them a lot of money, and less games would only result in more losses.

The root of the conflict lies in a $ 9000 million fund that the team owners have in their posetion, money that was raised from income in concept of sponsorship deals and advertisement to which the NFLPA are claiming their share. This led them to place an antitrust lawsuit against the 32 team owners that counteracted with this lockout that has become the longest in history.