After weeks of inactivity, the NFL and the NFL Players Association were in a St. Paul court room, where Judge Susan Nelson peppered each side with questions and wondered why they weren’t still in mediation.
Reports suggest that Nelson had overwhelmingly more questions for NFL attorney David Boies but too much can’t be read into that, at this point.
Nelson said she would need a few weeks to make a ruling but, in the meantime, suggested that both sides continue mediation.
The NFL and the players are trying to figure out how to split up $9 billion, and the league imposed a lock out after the union decertified March 11.
“All of these players are being affected every day by being locked out,” James Quinn, a lawyer for the players, said in court, according to the Associated Press.
Interestingly, Boies told Nelson that she did not have the jurisdiction to issue the injunction while the National Labor Relations Board is considering an unfair labor complaint.
“This should be done at the mediation table,” Nelson said, “not by not paying the players.”
Added Boies, “We’re prepared to go back to the mediation table and not in a lawsuit, the same table the players walked out on.”
