Per multiple reports, the league and the NFLPA have struck a deal on extending the moment at which the current CBA expires.
The extension, which widely was believed to last at least a week, will push midnight back by a mere 24 hours.
Our guess is that, in the next 24 hours, the two sides primarily will be negotiating the duration of the real extension. There’s too much work and too many issues to get a deal done by midnight on Friday. They were running out of time, Judge Doty needed to sign the paperwork, and so they went with a one-day Band-Aid as they try to work out a longer window.
Again, that’s just a guess. But the only other possibility is that they think they can get a deal done in the next 30 hours. Or that they simply want the bad news to hit on the commencement of a weekend, at which time less members of the general public will be paying attention.
So the media horde will continue to assemble at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, at least for another day.
And possibly for another seven or more beyond that.