After a nine and one-half hour of negotiations yesterday, the longest session to date, the NFL and NFLPA today clashed over the nature of financial disclosure offered by the league.
The NFL offered a five year aggregate of profitability on a league level, while the Players Association insisted on a breakdown for all 32 teams in the league. The NFL has been compelled to cooperate more with the NFLPA following last week’s decision by Judge David Doty in U.S. Circuit Court, that the league’s four billion dollar ‘war chest’ in broadcasting revenues was illegally obtained.
Doty is viewed as being ‘sympathetic’ to the players union, and the league has softened their hard-line stance, due to the expectation that if negotiations break down the union will decertify, and file anti-trust claims in Judge Doty’s court.
The Collective Bargaining Agreement expires Friday at 11:59 p.m. ET. The parties are expected to meet every day, up until the deadline.