In the clearest sign yet that the hatchet has been buried between the NFL and the union-turned-trade-association, Commissioner Roger Goodell has agreed to speak that the NFLPA*-sponsored The Business of Football: Rookie Edition.
The report comes from Peter King of SI.com, who is on vacation and, last we knew, en route to Europe. (Hopefully, he won’t be prepping for his next colonoscopy on the flight home.)
NFLPA* executive director DeMaurice Smith asked Goodell to speak to the assembled rookies, and Goodell agreed. Goodell will meet with the rookies Wednesday at the Ritz-Carlton in Sarasota, Florida.
Goodell and Smith left the labor negotiations on Tuesday to fly to Florida, and they’ll fly back to Minnesota on Wednesday after Goodell speaks to the rookies. Their airplane time together could go a long way toward ironing out any lingering labor issues. The fact that Smith felt sufficiently comfortable in the relationship to ask and that Goodell felt sufficiently comfortable in the relationship to accept bodes well not only for getting a deal done, but also for achieving long-term labor peace, a prospect that seemed unthinkable in the middle of May.