Score in Mediation

December of last year, players of the New England Patriots disclosed, more or less willingly, to the press, the tensions around labor disputes between players and owners, that have now surmounted to a peak. We are talking about possible lockout of the playing seasons, as the NFL Players Association and management have failed to come to a conclusion regarding revenue sharing.
March 2^nd, 47 key stakeholders from both sides gathered for a facilitated negotiation which did not seem to bring any result. March 3^rd and 4^th however might shed some light on this issue as parties are ready to participate in mediation. Hopefully, the perspective of not playing at all, disappointing fans, and loosing major amounts of money both for them, as well as for supporting communities and sponsors, will bring some reason among the decision-makers that will allow for football to happen again this year. A similar situation happened in 1987, when football players went on a strike, but no lockout was reached whatsoever.
For mediation adepts, like BM members, the situation is viewed as an opportunity to promote the process. Since NFL and its reps have recognized the benefits of coming together for a dialogue, than this might be a model to follow for others. Most players are mentors and role models for children and people of all sexes and ages, and their actions might be inspiring others who are facing difficult situation follow the same pattern for resolving tensions. Also, the media exposure that both the negotiation and the mediations have benefited from will greatly contribute to the role and mission of mediation practitioners in the future. Even if no agreement is reached and the participants do appeal to litigation, it still proves that mediation is an option and a valid one as well. An eventual success of the process would also contribute to the field’s credibility, and it might push mediation as a clause for solving disputes in all future labor contracts and negotiations, hopefully not resuming to NFL.