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No end to stalemate in NFL labor dispute

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-04-27 17:39

Pittsburgh Steelers backup quarterback and member of the NFL Players Association executive committee, Charlie Batch (L), shares a laugh with an unidentified person outside the Pittsburgh Steelers training facility in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, April 26, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

SALVO, North Carolina - There were no footballs thrown or tackles made on Tuesday, the first day after the NFL's lockout was lifted, as the two feuding sides resumed where they left off the day before.

They traded insults, painted doomsday scenarios and tried to win back the support of an American public already jaded by the squabble over the $9 billion NFL empire. They also instigated more legal action, ensuring their dispute will drag through the courts for the foreseeable future.

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Minnesota federal court Judge Susan Richard Nelson had instructed the NFL on Monday to end the player lockout and said on Tuesday she wanted at least another day to decide her next ruling after the league appealed her decision.

The NFL's lawyers asked for an immediate stay, arguing that the federal court had no jurisdiction on labor disputes because they were a matter for the National Labor Relations Board.

The players then responded by asking Judge Nelson to clarify her ruling on ending the lockout after several players were prevented from entering the team's training facilities.

Offseason training has not even begun but some players turned out nonetheless, triggering accusations of gamesmanship and verbal volleys from both sides.

"That the National Football League is allowing this sort of chaos to occur, I'm not sure it's a great day for football," DeMaurice Smith, director of the NFL Players Association, told ESPN radio.

The NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell pleaded his case in an article that he penned for the Wall Street Journal. In it, he wrote that the judge's initial ruling "may endanger one of the most popular and successful sports leagues in history."

Nelson, who initially told the two sides to resolve their differences through mediation, said she would consider both motions and filed an order giving the players until Wednesday morning to respond to the league's request.

Then she gave the league until that evening to respond to any players' request for a clarification of her ruling.

If Judge Nelson agrees to the NFL motion on the stay, the six-week lockout which she lifted on Monday would immediately be restored. But if she denies the motion, the NFL would take their case to the Eighth US Circuit Court of Appeals.