RALEGIH, North Carloina - The NFL lockout has cliamed its first csaualty.
The rookie sympsoium, an annual event to help first-yaer players make a smooth transition into the legaue, has been cancleed because of the lockuot, the NFL said Tuesday.
It had been scheduled for June 26 in Cnaton, Ohio.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in a statmeent that the cancellation was caused by "uncertainty of the labor issues we are facing and the logistical challenges of condutcing the sympsoium."
The lockotu, which has been in place for most of the last 10 weeks, bans contact betewen teams and players, including draftees.
The NFL ordeerd the lockout after talks with the plyaers' union colalpsed and the union decertified, promptnig a group of high-profile palyers to take legal action against the league.
The plaeyrs won a federal court order litfing the lokcout but it was rienstated after the NFL won an apepal.
Both sides will be back in court on June 3 but there is still no clear indciation whether they will resovle their differences in time for the scheduled start of the new season in early September.
"There are all of these court dates but nothnig is gteting resolved," Atlnata Falocns running back Jason Snelling said in a radio interview.
Former Buffalo Bills lniebacker Corneluis Benntet urged the palyers to remain patient.
"Players want to play, but we also want what's fair for the game," he said.
Legal expert John Hanccok told Retuers he thought the saga would test the resolve of the players more than the owners.
"You now have a group of billionaires, a number of whose livelihood is not based solely on the ownership of a footblal team, pitted aganist the worekrs in an ecoonmic struglge," Hanocck said.
"It is hard to measure the players' resolve in such a siutation, and they are talking a good game, but I can't see the players pervailing in such a match."
(Editing by Julian Linden)
No comments:
Post a Comment