Players huddle up with lawyers in advance of more negotiations

As the two sides in the NFL labor dispute work toward ending the lockout, a small group of players met yesterday with their attorneys in Minneapolis.

A person familiar with the situation told the Associated Press that the players' side met on its own, without owners.

Players were told in conference calls that there will be more negotiations this week involving commissioner Roger Goodell, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith, several owners and players at an undisclosed location.

The lockout began on March 12. The key issue in the dispute centers on how to divide revenues after the league took in about $9.3 billion last year. One person familiar with the owners' proposal told the AP last week that the players' share would approach the 50 percent mark the NFLPA has said it has received throughout the last decade. But the expense credits - about $1 billion last year - that the league takes off the top would disappear.

Also, there would no longer be "designated revenues" from which the players would share. Instead, the players would share from the entire pool of income, which both sides project will grow significantly over the course of a new collective bargaining agreement. A salary floor requiring teams to spend within 90 percent of the cap in cash also would be included.

Training camps are scheduled to open in about a month, and the first preseason game is scheduled for Aug. 7.

Noteworthy

 

* The home of the Giants and Jets, now known as New Meadowlands Stadium, might soon have a new name. MetLife is in advanced talks with the NFL teams on acquiring the naming rights to the stadium that will be the site of the 2014 Super Bowl, Sports Business Daily reported. Neither team nor the insurance company would comment on the report.