Thursday, March 10, 2011

NFLPA wants more financial data from league

National Football League Players' Association (NFLPA) executive director DeMaurice Smith (C) and Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch (R) arrive with players for negotiations at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service building March 8, 2011 in Washington, DC. Representatives from the National Football League (NFL) and National Football League Players' Association (NFLPA) continue to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement between players and owners. - National Football League Players' Association (NFLPA) executive director DeMaurice Smith (C) and Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch (R) arrive with players for negotiations at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service building March 8, 2011 in Washington, DC. Representatives from the National Football League (NFL) and National Football League Players' Association (NFLPA) continue to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement between players and owners. | 2011 Getty Images The NFL Players Association retained an international investment bank to help it decide whether the league's offer to reveal more financial information during negotiations will be enough to satisfy the union's call for full disclosure.

Zeroing in on the crux of the labour dispute — how to split $9 billion in revenues — one NFLPA executive committee member, Cleveland Browns linebacker Scott Fujita, said in a telephone interview Tuesday with The Associated Press and NFL Network that what the NFL has turned over to the union so far “hasn't been sufficient.

Another executive committee member, Indianapolis Colts centre Jeff Saturday, said as he left Tuesday's 9 1 / 2-hour mediation session that the bank would “help judge how helpful the material they were offering to give us” would be.

The current collective bargaining agreement was set to expire last week, but two extensions now have pushed the cutoff to the end of Friday.

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