The National Football League retained BSF after the NFL Players Association walked out on Friday, March 11 from collective bargaining negotiations and an ongoing mediation, renounced its status as a union, and promptly filed several antitrust suits against the NFL.
On April 25, 2011, Judge Susan Richard Nelson ruled for the plaintiffs and issued a preliminary injunction enjoining the lockout. The NFL made an expedited appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on this issue; the court granted a stay of the injunction, permitting the lockout to continue, which it subsequently extended, and ultimately reversed.
The parties and representatives of the NFLPA ultimately agreed to a new year CBA on July 25, 2011, allowing the NFL season to start as scheduled. Please follow the below links for media coverage of this case.