NFL Talks Making Progress: Report

(Newsroom America) -- Talks between NFL owners and the player's association are "headed in the right direction," though no breakthrough agreement is eminent, a report said Wednesday.

The Associated Press said sources who spoke to the newswire service said a framework for a new collective bargaining agreement could be presented next week in secreted meetings scheduled to take place in Chicago. But that didn't mean an agreement was close, necessarily, said the report.

That said, both sides did make some progress in a meeting at an undisclosed location in Maryland Tuesday. Those talks are expected to go through Wednesday and possibly to the end of the week.

Previous secretive meetings have taken place in Chicago and New York. With the start of the preseason less than two months away, both sides could be experiencing a new sense of urgency to get a CBA done, especially after a federal judge warned both players and owners that both sides may not like upcoming legal decisions brought about by the lockout.

While a deal to end the lockout may not be on the horizon, AP said sources familiar with the talks said the atmosphere of negotiations has been more positive, creating "a sense of movement" in the right direction.

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Contact Jon E. Dougherty