As expected Judge Nelson of the U.S. District Court favored on the side of the players and acted on their motion to lift the NFL lockout.
According to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen despite Judge Nelson’s ruling, the NFL and it’s owners are expected to seek an immediate stay of the implementation of the decision. Furthermore this leaves plenty of uncertainty surrounding an estimated 500 free agent players as well as other player transactions. Mortensen further mentions that if the NFL does not get the court to stay the ruling pending an appeal, the NFL will be forced to open its doors to the players. The NFL may also have to make a decision on whether or not to impose a similar system to the CBA that was previously in place prior to the March 11th deadline.
If the stay was to be granted the lockout would not be lifted until after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issues a ruling in the case at the earliest. This is according to NBC’s ProFootballTalk.com. PFT furthermore stats that if this were the case the players would request an expedited consideration to the appeal.
If Judge Nelson refuses the appeal the NFL would seek an appeal through the appeals court.
Now this is good news for the fans especially if the ruling stays since the season would more than likely begin on time. However there is still plenty of work and more litigation that needs to be done in order for there to be a resolution to all of this.
Source: ProFootballTalk.com, ESPN.com
