The NFL and the players’ union, whose collective bargaining agreement expires in two weeks, agreed on Thursday to mediation in their labor dispute.
The US Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), which is an independent US government agency, was to begin overseeing the negotiations toward a new contract yesterday in Washington.
FMCS director George Cohen said both sides agreed to have the agency become involved in the talks, although the mediation is not binding.
“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,” Cohen said.
NFL owners and players union representatives canceled a planned meeting on Thursday with no new talks in sight and only three weeks before their working agreement expires.
Talks between the parties had stalled last week.
The current collective bargaining agreement between league owners and the union expires on March 3 and union leaders have said they expect owners to lock out players if the deadline passes with no new deal in place.
Not since 1987 has the NFL endured a labor disruption. That year saw three games played with replacement players who crossed picket lines to suit up.
The union contends that 150,000 jobs would be affected throughout the US by a potential work stoppage and cause more than US$160 million in lost revenue in every NFL team’s home area.
Billionaire owners and multimillionaire players are unable to agree on how to divide a king’s ransom of riches from the US’ most popular sport.
Owners want a greater percentage of the league’s US$9 billion in annual revenue, voting in 2008 to end the current deal early in a bid to renegotiate more favorable terms.
Owners hope to enlarge the revenue even more by adding two more games to the regular season and dropping two preseason exhibitions used to determine final rosters. Many teams already charge full price for tickets to preseason games, but could make greater television revenues if they were regular-season matches instead.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set