Our friends in the financial sector frown on our use of the derisive term “bankers’ hours” when chiding the NFL and the players’ union for not spending enough time working face to face to strike a new labor deal. But until another term comes along that connotes the difference between hardly working and working hard, we’ve got no choice but to keep using it.
After a weekend away from the bargaining table, the two sides will reconvene at mediation on Monday.
At 3:00 p.m. ET, according to Albert Breer of NFL Network. (Well, at least it’s 8:00 a.m. somewhere.)
Breer says that travel schedules have pushed the start time into the middle of the afternoon. (Apparently, trains and planes weren’t working on Sunday.)
In all fairness, there’s a chance that the parties were working hard over the weekend to finalize their plans for the week, in lieu of traveling. We hope that’s the case, because any other excuse for not being in D.C. and ready to roll by 8:00 a.m. ET would be lame.
Of course, if they get a deal done, these details don’t matter. But if they get to the end of the week and fail -- or if they decide they need another extension -- we’ll be pointing back to the decision to treat Monday, March 7 like a made-up holiday.