After negotiating through the long holiday weekend, NFL and the players' union kept going Tuesday, undeterred by a blanket of snow and ice that slowed down the usual bustle of the nation's capital.
After weeks of rhetoric, the NFL and its players' union suddenly went silent.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and union head DeMaurice Smith have arrived for the first negotiating session involving a federal mediator.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and union head DeMaurice Smith met in front of a federal mediator for about six hours Friday, a bid to jump-start contentious and slow-moving labor negotiations two weeks before owners could lock out players and threaten the 2011 season.
"No one understands the costs of an NFL work stoppage better than the NFL clubs, and no one is more committed to reaching agreement on a new CBA than the NFL owners," he wrote.
"If young players are forced to forego an entire season, they will miss out on a year of the experience and exposure that comes from playing against NFL-level competition and receiving NFL-level coaching, both of which are a must for young players," Berthelsen wrote.
