NFL owners, players are tight-lipped on labor negotiations

There are no solid indications they are any closer to a deal to replace the current collective bargaining agreement, which expires Thursday night. Both sides tentatively agree to more mediation.

Reporting from Chantilly, Va.

After most NFL owners left their one-day meeting Wednesday and headed for the fleet of black SUVs waiting outside their hotel, the league's top labor bargaining committee worked another hour, presumably strategizing for what could be an eventful Thursday.

The Dallas Cowboys' Jerry Jones, among the owners who stayed late, was atypically tight-lipped as he walked out of the meeting room, a cluster of TV cameras focused on him as he passed.

"We're under such a tight restriction, it almost covers body language," Jones said, walking briskly through the hotel lobby.

The information coming out of the NFL Players Assn. in nearby Washington, D.C., was similarly sparse and cryptic.Drew Brees, quarterback of the New Orleans Saints and a member of the union's executive committee, tweeted: "We the NFL Players are in DC ready to get a deal done, just in case anyone wants to know."

Late Wednesday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, top attorney Jeff Pash and outside labor counsel Bob Batterman were back with the federal mediator in Washington to participate with the union in their 10th negotiating session in nine days.

There are no solid indications the NFL and its players are any closer to a labor deal that would replace the current collective bargaining agreement, which expires when Thursday turns to Friday on the East Coast.

As of Wednesday night, the sides had tentatively agreed to more mediation Thursday, yet neither party had indicated they were any closer on their major differences — how to divide the league's annual $9 billion in revenue.

this articel from:http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-nfl-lockout-20110303,0,5199046.story