"In the three months since the federal mediation between the NFL and players broke off, it's been one court date after another, one deadline gone by with the next, and, as a result, a solution has proven elusive.

Skepticism has followed for much of the time being, with each party hesitant to move and wary of the others' intentions and the long-range impact of major decisions in these negotiations.

It's been a relatively long wait, to be sure.

But the time has come, now, for a deal to be done.

The league and players met for a clandestine three-day summit in suburban Chicago last week, they are meeting now in the New York area, and the talks are expected to continue beyond this week's discussions, as the sides look to resolve the differences that led to the union's decertification and the subsequent lockout.

According to sources on each side of the talks, the NFL and players have come to an understanding that the time to bargain seriously is now. And as much as the ongoing litigation has set the calendar thus far, the calendar itself -- and the looming mid-summer start of training camps -- is starting to overtake the litigation as a motivator to move the talks along."