Jeanne J. Graham, the United States Magistrate Judge for Minnesota, gave an ultimatum to the NFL 30 days ago. The NFL was to respond to all the players’ complaints their owners wanted the players to have less time on the field but at the same time have them play more games to compensate for the time restriction. The players argued that they wanted to play the same amount of time for the same amount of money, but the owners wouldn’t budge. They wanted to keep more proceeds for investments and offered the players an 18% pay cut. The players would still get their 60% share, but from a smaller pool of total proceeds.The players refused to take the deal.

The NFL and NFL Players Association were in negotiation for a new collective bargaining deal before the 2011 season. The last negotiation was in 2006 when the plan was extended for five years. On March 3rd the agreement expired. On Wednesday April 27th, NFL players stood in front of a federal judge and asked that the NFL lockout be lifted, because football is America’s most popular sport and that a 2011 season would be appreciated.

“Even though football is pretty popular, I think the courts need to put the lockout back on because we need to save money since the the economy is in bad shape,” sophomore Abby Barnes said.

On Wednesday night, U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson provided her second ruling for the week in favor of the players, by refusing to grant a stay of her decision from Monday. The league appealed the decision two hours later, saying that the league would suffer if they were forced to suddenly resume operations without a collective bargaining agreement. Meanwhile, the league also announced that players would be welcomed back to the facilities on Friday morning while its attorneys were appealing to the court.

“We’re opening our doors at 8 o’clock tomorrow morning,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said at Radio City Music Hall in New York, a few hours before the first round of the NFL draft on Thursday night. “The players will be back in. . . . We’ll wait, and if the appeals court tells us something different, then we’ll have to respond to that.”

The appeals court did just so, by reinstating the temporary lockout on Friday, April 29. This meant that the previous restrictions were put back, such as players being able to work out at facilities or have contact with coaches. The court has not yet decided whether it will keep the lockout for upcoming weeks or months while it contemplates whether to overturn Monday’s decision. This means that the league’s victory could be brief.

The state of the NFL lockout remains unstable so be sure to be prepared for updates on the next stage of the situation.