The following two statements were issued to the media Sunday evening. The league meeting in Dallas will begin at 2 p.m. CT on Tuesday.
**NFL Statement
**"The NFL and the NFL Players Association have agreed to extend the start of the 2006 league year for 72 hours -- until 12:01 a.m. ET, Thursday , March 9 -- in order to allow the NFL clubs to meet in Dallas on Tuesday to consider the NFL Players Association's offer."
**NFL Executive Vice President of Labor Relations Harold Henderson
**"The union rejected a proposal that would have increased player compensation
to unprecedented levels. Our offer would have added a minimum of $1.5 billion
in new dollars for players over the six years of the extension. It is an unfortunate
situation for the players, the fans, and the league."
In addition, Henderson noted that the NFL's offer would have increased player compensation in 2006 by $577 million over 2005 and that there was no discussion of revenue sharing with the union during Sunday's negotiations, which were broken off by the union.
