The NFL knows it’s getting down to crunch time to strike a deal with players in order to resolve the labor dispute that has taken up the last three months.

To that end, the league has informed owners that they might need to spend a little extra time in Chicago next week for an owners meeting that is scheduled to begin Tuesday, June 21.

According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the NFL sent a memo to all teams informing them they may need to stay overnight in the event there is a lot of information to review.

Optimism has been running high since the owners and players began a series of secret meetings in the Chicago suburbs at the beginning of the month. Those parties met in New York again last week and it’s believed there could be face-to-face meetings again this week.

Speculation is a deal could be in place by early July. That would likely allow teams to open training camps on time at the end of the month. Stay tuned.

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Brad Biggs covers the Bears for the Chicago Tribune