Still no deal, but lockout could end as soon as today

WASHINGTON » The latest twist in the touch-and-go efforts to end the NFL lockout: Players didn’t vote Wednesday on a full proposal to settle the labor dispute.

The league, however, said the sides would work through the night to try to have a final agreement ready for ratification today.

A person familiar with the negotiations said there was agreement among player representatives from all 32 clubs on what items needed to be resolved before any offer would be accepted. A second person, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said those players gave what was termed "conditional approval" of the proposal — as it stood Wednesday.

Even after all acceptable terms are established, it only would lead to a collective bargaining agreement if the team reps recommend re-establishing the NFL Players Association as a union. And that needs to be OK’d by a majority vote of the 1,900 players. Those votes probably would be done on a conference call.

"We still have a lot of work to do," said Pro Bowl offensive lineman Tyson Clabo, who played for the Atlanta Falcons last season.

The meeting at NFLPA headquarters lasted nearly 10 hours and included the group’s executive committee and the team reps.

In Atlanta, where the owners’ labor committee met, NFL general counsel Jeff Pash said the sides would keep talking in hopes of finalizing a deal that is expected to last 10 years, although even that was not 100 percent certain as of Wednesday evening.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell joined the meeting of nine of the 10 members of the labor committee, which hoped to recommend a finalized proposal to all club owners, who are due there today.

Remaining issues are believed to include how to set aside three pending court cases: The players’ antitrust lawsuit against the NFL in federal court in Minnesota; the TV networks case, in which players accused owners of setting up $4 billion in "lockout insurance," money that the league would receive even if there were no games played in 2011; and a collusion case, in which players said owners conspired to restrict salaries last offseason.

If the four-month lockout is going to end in time to keep the preseason completely intact, the players and owners almost certainly must ratify the deal by today. The St. Louis Rams and Chicago Bears are scheduled to open the preseason Aug. 7 in the Hall of Fame game.