On Thursday, the NFL owners and Players’ Association reps met face to face for the first time since the first round of federally mediated negotiations broke down on March 11, leading the union to decertify and the NFL to impose the lockout.
With a new mediator in Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan and a new venue in Boylan’s chambers inside the Minneapolis Federal Courthouse, the two sides met for around ten hours on Thursday.
According to a source in contact with NFL.com, the talk on Thursday was “tough,” and some “fence-mending” in response to past words or actions on either side will be necessary for any real progress to be made.
Both sides vowed confidentiality, so nothing specific is known about the first day of the second round of negotiations, but NFL general counsel Jeff Pash praised Judge Boylan for his effort thus far.
"The magistrate judge is working very hard, and I give him a lot of credit for trying to move the parties toward a solution," Pash said.
The two sides are scheduled to meet once again on Friday.
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