MINNEAPOLIS — With the lockout at one month and counting, attorneys for NFL players sat down Tuesday with the federal magistrate who will oversee court-ordered mediation with the league later this week.
Attorneys and Hall of Fame defensive end Carl Eller met with U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan for about four hours.
Boylan “was very open” and “it was a very constructive session,” said Michael Hausfeld, the lead attorney representing Eller and a group of mostly retired players in their antitrust lawsuit against the owners. Other attorneys declined comment.
The meeting came on the same day the NFL released its 2011 preseason schedule, led by the Hall of Fame game between Chicago and St. Louis in Canton, Ohio, on Aug. 7.
Whether the games are held remains an open question. The NFL’s attorneys are scheduled to meet with Boylan today before mediation begins Thursday, the first talks since collective bargaining negotiations broke down March 11.
Footnotes.
The preseason schedule includes 65 games through Sept. 2.
The NFL’s slate of 11 nationally televised preseason games features the Super Bowl champion Packers visiting Indianapolis on Aug. 26.
The nationally televised games are the only ones with specific dates determined.
• Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and wife, Ashley, are the parents of twins.
Marion County (Ind.) health department spokesman John Althardt said birth certificates filed April 8 show Mosley Thompson Manning and brother Marshall Williams Manning were born March 31.
The Associated Press
