As the queer case of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's fight with the NFL - the professional league he's been one of the foremost faces of for over a decade now - continues Wednesday, via a mediation session in federal court in Manhattan, word has come that prior settlement talks between the two combatants - the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell and Brady and the NFLPA - have not gone as well as hoped. According to Albert Breer of NFL.com, forced negotiations between the NFL and the NFLPA on Tuesday "went nowhere." Another source joked to Breer about the settlement talks, quipping "if you could call them that."
Despite an edict from U.S. Judge Richard Berman earlier this month that the media sniping must cease and that the NFL and NFLPA to get down to "comprehensive, good-faith settlement discussions," reissued again on Monday by Berman, again urging the two sides to engage in "further good faith settlement efforts" aimed at resolving the situation outside of federal court, it seems nothing positive has come of the pre-trial efforts.
Per Breer, the main impediment to a deal between the sides remains admission of guilt. Brady, of course, does not want his sterling legacy tarnished, while the NFL has clearly dug in on this matter, likely looking to make an example of a future Hall of Famer in the hopes of nipping any future questions of fair play in the bud before they again arise.
Wednesday's meeting in Manhattan will, per Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com, include a settlement conference and, if the matter isn't resolved, oral arguments on whether Brady's four-game suspension, handed down in the wake of the Deflategate scandal and the findings of the Wells Report and upheld on appeal by Goodell, should again be upheld or tossed out entirely.
