Appeals Court Reinstates NFL Lockout

(Newsroom America) -- A three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday granted the NFL its request to reinstate a player lockout, just three days after a U.S. district judge ordered it lifted.

The ruling is the latest in the see-saw legal battle between players and the league, and puts in place once more policies that were in effect for six weeks before Judge Susan Nelson issued her ruling earlier this week, NFL.com reported.

"The NFL clubs were notified tonight that the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a temporary stay of the injunction entered by Judge Nelson," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told the NFL Network in an email. "As a result, the clubs have been told that the prior lockout rules are reinstated effective immediately."

The appeals court decision means that team facilities will once again be off-limits to players.

The court, comprised of Judges Steven Colloton, Kermit Bye and Duane Benton, ruled 2-1 in favor of the league. Bye, the dissenter, wrote a lengthy opinion, arguing that temporary stays should be issued only in cases of emergencies.

"The NFL has not persuaded me this is the type of emergency situation which justifies the grant of a temporary stay of the district court's order pending our decision on a motion for a stay itself," wrote Bye. "If we ultimately grant the motion for a stay, the NFL can easily re-establish its lockout."

Bye said he didn't believe the NFL showed it would experience irreparable harm if the lockout were to remain lifted. The NFL is a $9 billion-a-year league, the richest in professional sports.

"The NFL claimed such operations would be 'a complex process that requires time to coordinate,'" said Bye. "This contention is severely undermined by the fact that the NFL had, within a day of the district court's order denying a stay, already planned post-injunction operations which would allow the players to have access to club and workout facilities, receive playbooks, meet with coaches and so forth.

"Because I expect our court will be resolving the actual request for a stay in short order, I see little practical need for granting an emergency temporary stay in this non-emergency situation," he concluded.

© 2010 Newsroom America.

Contact Jon E. Dougherty

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