Federal mediator appointed over CBA talks

[Mr. Scot]

Per Mark Maske (Washington Post) via Gantt, George H Cohen, a federal mediator who previously settled a CBA issue for Major League Soccer.

He also wrote "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (or was that the other guy?) :sosp:

The story is here (link)

[MadHatter]

I definitely see this as a good sign.

[Snake]

Seems fair. Hopefully the mediator will help both sides to a deal. This is what usually happens in court cases.

[rayzor]

first order of business...whipping it out on the table and seeing who has the biggest unit.

at least so far thats all their talks and comments to the media have been about.

[rayzor]

heaven help the guy if he says somehting that richardson doesn't like.

[Mr. Scot]

first order of business...whipping it out on the table and seeing who has the biggest unit.

That's true of most high level negotiations :lol:

Never really known Marty Hurney to operate that way though. That's one reason I like him as a GM more than some do.

[Panthro]

well this is good.

[OchoNueve]

I think that this is the owner's way of bringing an unbiased voice of reason to the table to tell the players, "you have no leverage, give them what they want"

In my opinion, the only thing the owners will end up giving up is not expanding to an 18-game regular season. Other than that, they will get "the meat" of what they want.

[CatMan72]

I didn't read this article, but I'm guessing this is a response to the charge the owners filed that the union was not dealing in good faith, the mediator will attempt to help the parties reach some sort of agreement and if an agreement cannot be reached the mediator will report back on whether or not either of the parties are not dealing in good faith.

[Mr. Scot]

The guy in question...

His statement from the above linked story...

I have had separate, informal discussions with the key representatives of the National Football League and the National Football League Players Association during the course of their negotiations for a successor collective bargaining agreement. At the invitation of the FMCS, and with the agreement of both parties, the ongoing negotiations will now be conducted under my auspices in Washington, D.C.

Due to the extreme sensitivity of these negotiations and consistent with the FMCS's long-standing practice, the Agency will refrain from any public comment concerning the future schedule and/or the status of those negotiations until further notice.

Info on the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service: fmcs.gov

[GritsRgreat]

"I'm from the government and i'm here to help"

oh jeez..

[rayzor]

i always encourage people to take schefter about as seriously as florio, but thought this was worth noting...

AdamSchefter Don't mean to be wet blanket, but here's what someone in know said about Fed Mediator stepping in to help NFL/NFLPA: "Likely won't help."

[Mr. Scot]

At this point, I'd probably say it can't hurt.

(I hope) :(

[CatMan72]

I've been critical of the government getting involved in the steroid stuff, etc, etc.. but I believe this is something the government should get involved in, the impact of an NFL lockout would have repercussions well beyond football and we can't afford that.