Representatives for the National Football League and the NFL Players Association met in Chicago on Wednesday to discuss a new collective bargaining agreement.
The session, which was originally scheduled for three days, lasted just one. A source described the sitdown between the NFL and NFLPA as "productive" to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero.
Both sides described their encounter in similar terms, releasing the following joint statement on Wednesday afternoon: "Today's meeting was productive, constructive and beneficial for both sides, and the meetings between the NFLPA's Executive Committee and the NFL's Management Council Executive Committee will continue."
Wednesday's summit was the fourth time the sides have formally met to discuss the CBA this offseason. Pelissero added that the plan is for both sides to resume talks on July 29.
The NFL and NFLPA were expected to discuss, among other things, revenue sharing, NFL Network's Mike Garafolo reported earlier Wednesday.
In attendance were NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith, a number of owners from the NFL's Management Council Executive Committee and a number of players from the NFLPA's Executive Committee, including Richard Sherman, Russell Okung and Adam Vinatieri, Pelissero reported.
Signed in 2011, the current CBA is set to expire after the 2020 campaign, but both the NFL and NFLPA have previously expressed an eagerness to strike a deal before the start of the 2019 season.
That optimism changed after this most recent meeting. Sources told Garafolo that it is "extremely unlikely" that a new CBA will be agreed upon before Week 1 and that goal is not something the league is pushing hard to achieve.
"Everyone would like to get this done earlier rather than later," Garafolo said on Total Access on Wednesday, "but everyone wants to do the right deal not just the quick deal."
