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Seg, 25 Abr, 2011 | 22:18:01
A federal judge ordered an end to the NFL lockout on Monday night, leading to the possibility of free agency and trades before the NFL draft on Thursday.
That would be a Hail Mary for the players, but NFL owners still have two appeals they want ruled on immediately, and if a Circuit Court doesn't side with owners on a stay, the NFL would need to open for business for a month. And with great speed, the NFL could get a ruling by Thursday night.
U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson ordered an end to the NFL lockout on Monday, giving the players a victory in their fight with the owners.
The ball is now in the hands of NFL owners, who will ask for legal rulings as quickly as possible to keep the lockout in place.
"We will promptly seek a stay from Judge Nelson pending an expedited appeal to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals," the league said. "We believe that federal law bars injunctions in labor disputes. We are confident that the Eighth Circuit will agree. But we also believe that this dispute will inevitably end with a collective bargaining agreement, which would be in the best interests of players, clubs and fans. We can reach a fair agreement only if we continue negotiations toward that goal."
In her ruling, Judge Nelson didn't say if she would issue a stay of her ruling until owners could appeal.
If the NFL can't get a stay from Judge Nelson immediately, it would ask the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals for a stay until it can rule on the case. The second stay would take several days to happen after a decision by Judge Nelson.
Without the stays, the NFL would be forced to open for business until the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals rules on the case sometime in late May.
In other words, if the NFL can't get the stay, free agency will begin, teams could make trades and there is no salary cap.
The NFL would also run the league without a collective bargaining agreement.
Then, if the Eighth Circuit Court sides with the owners on appeal, the NFL would shut down again.
Nelson said she was swayed by the players' argument that that the lockout, now in its second month, was causing irreparable harm to their careers.
Granting the injunction swings some of the leverage to the players' side, which could actually bring the two sides closer to a resolution, according to Seth Borden, a labor law expert at McKenna, Long and Aldridge in New York.
"It's still going to boil down to the way the parties view their respective positions and respective leverage," Borden said. "Until the league and the players feel like they're at the point of no return for next season, progress will be slow toward that overall resolution."
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