Canadian Football League back on NFL Network

Two Canadian Football League games per week will be broadcast on NFL Network in the United States this season, the Canadian Football League and NFL Network announced Tuesday.

NFL Network's telecast of 2011 CFL regular season games is a part of a new agreement with the CFL. The network also has the option to show additional games in the regular season, the CFL Playoffs and the Grey Cup championship game.

Canadian Football League on NFL Network
(Through first five weeks of 2011 season)

"This is very positive news for our CFL fans living in the United States," said Michael Copeland, Chief Operating Officer of the CFL. "And it's a very positive development for our football operations as it will continue to expose our product to prospects across the U.S."

Last season, NFL Network carried 14 CFL games featuring the fast-paced, wide open Canadian game which included numerous players familiar to Americans who follow U.S. college football. Additionally, the CFL continues to lay the foundation for some of the NFL's current standouts. Miami Dolphins linebacker Cameron Wake, a former B.C. Lions standout in 2007 and 2008, ranked third in the NFL in sacks and was named to his first Pro Bowl in 2010.

"We are pleased to offer more football to our fans with more CFL action this year," said Lawrence Randall, NFL Network's Director of Programming. "Delivering live games from all levels of football is part of our commitment to our passionate viewers who want football 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year."

The games will be produced by TSN, the leading sports broadcaster in Canada. NFL Network subscribers in Canada will get alternate programming due to TSN's exclusivity.

This year's CFL season kicks off June 30 when the British Columbia Lions, quarterbacked by former Montana State star Travis Lulay, visit the defending Grey Cup Champion Montreal Alouettes and their head coach, Marc Trestman, whose extensive coaching resume includes successful stints as an NFL offensive coordinator in Cleveland, San Francisco, Arizona and Oakland. The 99th Grey Cup game will be played in Vancouver on November 27th.

Canadian football has a history spanning more than a century. The Grey Cup is annually one of the most watched television events north of the border. Home to eight teams, all in Canadian cities, the league features three downs instead of four, 12 men a side instead of 11, unlimited motion before the snap of the ball, and a bigger playing field that measures 65 yards wide and 110 yards long, with end zones 20 yards deep.

Some of the league's most recognizable alumni include former NFL quarterbacks Warren Moon, Doug Flutie, Joe Theismann, Jeff Garcia and Joe Kapp and legendary coach Bud Grant. Moon and Grant have the unique honor of belonging to both the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

Additional matchups on NFL Network will be announced at a later date.

About NFL Network
NFL Network airs seven days a week, 24 hours a day on a year-round basis and is the only network dedicated entirely to the NFL and the sport of football. For more information, log onto www.nfl.com/nflnetwork. NFL.com is the most popular sports league website and the exclusive Internet home of NFL Network. The website has a new, enhanced video player and has recently added community features.

About the Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League is built on a tradition as proud, staged on a field as broad, and played at a pace as exciting as the country we are proud to call home. Our championship game, the Grey Cup, is the biggest single annual sporting event in Canada. And the 99th edition will be played on November 27, 2011 in Vancouver, BC. For additional information, visit www.cfl.ca.

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League, players hold three-day summit; Friday court date next

ST. LOUIS -- The NFL's labor situation has been on hold for weeks while Friday's lockout-injunction hearing at the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals loomed.

It seems the league and players grew a little restless.

The parties secretly met Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in suburban Chicago in an effort to break the nearly three-month-long stalemate in negotiations.

Owners Jerry Jones (Dallas Cowboys), Robert Kraft (New England Patriots), Jerry Richardson (Carolina Panthers), Art Rooney (Pittsburgh Steelers) and John Mara (New York Giants) -- all members of the NFL's labor committee -- were in attendance, as were active players Mike Vrabel, Brian Dawkins, Tony Richardson and Jeff Saturday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith and NFLPA president Kevin Mawae.

Four key issues in Friday's hearings NFL Network reporter Albert Breer and legal analyst Gabe Feldman explain what could happen when the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hears the league's request to keep its lockout of players in effect. More...

The league and players issued a joint statement confirming they had met, but they said they would honor a court-ordered confidentiality agreement.

Smith and Goodell declined to comment to the Chicago Tribune on Thursday when seen leaving Hotel Baker in St. Charles, Ill. All Jones would say about the meeting is: "We can't make a comment about it at all, but we're trying. We're trying. I think the fact that we're meeting is good."

One player, whom the Tribune didn't identify, said the point of the get-together was for the parties to talk without lawyers present.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan also attended the three-day summit, but sources said it was in a different role than he served in leading court-ordered mediation in April and May. After three days of what Boylan called "confidential settlement discussions," he canceled mediation scheduled for next Tuesday and Wednesday in Minneapolis in an effort to keep the sensitive talks private.

Friday's appeals-court hearing will go on, though, and a large player presence is expected. While Drew Brees, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning -- superstar plaintiffs in the antitrust lawsuit against the league -- likely won't make the trip because of prior engagements, between 20 and 30 active players are expected to attended, including other named plaintiffs such as New York Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora and Minnesota Vikings defensive end Brian Robison.

Among those already in town Thursday were a four-man contingent from the Kansas City Chiefs -- Rudy Niswanger, Brian Waters, Jon McGraw and Andy Studebaker -- as well as New York Jets teammates Richardson and Brandon Moore and Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith.

Conversely, Goodell and general counsel Jeff Pash aren't expected to attend the hearing, nor are any owners. The league's contingent was made up entirely of lawyers for the last two big court dates, April 6 in St. Paul and May 12 in Minneapolis.

The appeal court's ruling is expected to create major leverage points and help push along negotiations.

The players want the lockout-lifting injunction, issued by U.S. District Judge Susan Nelson, upheld. That seems unlikely based on the opinion written by the appeals court's three-judge panel in its late April issuance of a stay of Nelson's decision, which preserved the owners' right to lock out the players.

The owners want the injunction lifted and also have made overtures at having the antitrust suit dismissed.

Of the three judges on the panel, two -- William Duane Benton and Steven Colloton -- were appointed by George W. Bush. The other, Clinton appointee Kermit Bye, will run the hearing as the senior judge presiding. He was the lone dissenter on the court's decision to grant the league's request for the stay.

Ben Leber, one of 10 plaintiffs in the antitrust case against the league, said the players haven't discussed a specific drop-dead date for reaching an agreement to ensure the on-time start of training camps, which normally would open in about seven weeks. But he said it's necessary to have one in order to reach a deal.

"Both sides have a day, whether they want to make it public or not," Leber told The Associated Press. "The biggest challenge is going to lie with whose day is going to come up first. Once it got to this point, I think it was just a good guess based on most corporate labor disputes that nothing was going to get done until the 11th hour. Now it depends on which 11th hour gets here first."

New Orleans Saints safety Darren Sharper told The AP that he hasn't heard of specific drop-dead dates being discussed, but he believes by start of August, "something has to be etched in stone," as far a new agreement.

"It looks bleak right now, but I'm thinking that something has to get worked out because too many people will be affected negatively if it does not get worked out," Sharper said.

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay said last week at the NFL Spring Meeting that he believed some decisions on opening training camps in late July needed to be made by July 4.

NFL Network insider Jason La Canfora and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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League, players hold conference call to discuss mediation

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