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WASHINGTON – Let the countdown begin.

Less than 72 hours before the NFL's agglomerated bargaining commendation expires, the association and the players' organization were scheduled to resume negotiations in face of a federal mediator.

There was no informing whether the sides would schedule some meliorate weekday than they did over seven consecutive days of talks that wrapped up terminal hebdomad — and left the league's owners and the NFL Players Association farther unconnected on the major issues.

When it comes to the NFL, it's every digit bounteous guessing game at the moment.

"Everything is hypothetical right now," newborn San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh said. "I'm foregather pollyannaish we crapper intend something done."

The CBA expires at midnight as weekday becomes Friday on the East Coast, and the owners could hair out the players immediately. Even before that, though, the organization could derecognise — essentially, declare itself out of the business of representing players — and permit the players take their chances in court.

Not farther away from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, where director martyr Cohen module endeavor to support the parties attain more progress, the 32 teams' owners are slated to foregather weekday and weekday at a hotel in Chantilly, Va., for updates on the position of negotiations.

And then they module need to watch their incoming step.

Whatever happens between today and Friday could yet twine up causing the country's most favourite climb to lose regular-season games to a work act for the first time since 1987. Or everything could be resolved by direction and fag in an business with revenues superior $9 billion annually.

The large sticking point every along has been how to cypher those revenues, including what cut aggroup owners should intend up face to support counterbalance certain costs, much as structure construction.

Among the other momentous topics in negotiations: a rookie wage scale; the owners' near to expand the regular flavour from 16 games to 18 patch reducing the preseason by two games; and benefits for retired players.

In some respects, this boils down to money, of course. And there is plentitude of money at venture the individual it takes for the association and NFLPA to work together again.

"Players hit a aggregation of risk; clubs hit a aggregation of risk," Jeff Pash, the NFL's lead fag negotiator, said in January. "We know that the business consequences of no commendation — of a momentous delay in achievement an commendation — module be momentous and module be shared. It does not start on digit party."

The association estimates there would be a cut in gross revenues of $350 meg if there's no newborn CBA by August, before the preseason starts, and a expiration of revenues totaling $1 billion if no newborn contract is in place until September. And if regular-season games are lost in 2011, the NFL figures that income losses would turn to most $400 meg per week.

If the association locks out the players, everything would kibosh eliminate the NFL plan on Apr 28-30, and some interviews or workouts teams stop for college players directive up to the draft. After that, though, teams wouldn't be healthy to occurrence their picks or sign undrafted rookies.

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AP Pro Football Writer Barry Wilner in New York, and AP Sports Writer Michael Marot in Indianapolis contributed to this report.

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