The trade association currently known as the NFL Players Association could again be a union one day.
Perhaps that day will come sooner than you expected.
There are many hurdles for the owners and players to clear – both together and independently – in order for a labor deal to be struck in a timely fashion. One of them, according to Mark Maske of the Washington Post, is the probability that the players would reconstitute their union, something he reports would require the approval of the federal court in which the players filed antitrust lawsuits against the NFL.
While no one has expected the union to go away forever, there hasn’t been a timetable for its return. NFLPA head DeMaurice Smith has been leading a small group of players in clandestine meetings with commissioner Roger Goodell and key owners in recent weeks. The players sure seem like they have been negotiating as a union. Those meetings continue for a fourth time beginning today in suburban Boston.
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Brad Biggs covers the Bears for the Chicago Tribune