SALVO, North Carolina (Reuters) – The NFL will allow players to use team facilities starting on Friday while it appeals a judge’s ruling to lift the league’s lockout.

The league said voluntary off-season workout programs may begin Friday at 8 a.m. (1200 GMT) and clubs can distribute playbooks, game film and other similar materials to players.

“Clubs are free to contact players immediately to advise them of the hours that the facility will be open for their use, to schedule medical and rehabilitation activity, and to arrange meetings with coaches or related activity, such as film study or classroom work,” the league said on Thursday.

The use of facilities would not apply, however, if the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted the NFL’s request for a stay. Then the lockout, imposed by the league on players in March, would be reinstated.

A three-member panel of the Eighth Circuit is studying the NFL request and has indicated a motion for a temporary stay was pending, Clerk of Court Michael Gans told Reuters.

There was no indication by the judges when a ruling would be made but Gans said it could come as early as Thursday.

Procedures for player transactions, including signings, trades of player contracts, terminations and tryouts, would be announced Friday, the NFL said.

SALVO, North Carolina, April 27 (Reuters) – The U.S. and International Olympic Committees asked sport’s highest court on Wednesday to make a definitive ruling on an eligibility rule that could keep some athletes out of the London Olympic Games.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has been asked to determine the validity of IOC Rule 45, which bars any athlete receiving a doping sanction of greater than six months from competing at the next Olympic Games.

Dozens of athletes, including U.S. Olympic 400 metres champion LaShawn Merritt, could have their eligibility for the 2012 London Olympics affected by the CAS decision.

The rule, adopted in 2008, has been criticized as creating a second penalty for athletes who have served their doping suspension.

The IOC has maintained the rule is not a sanction but an issue of eligibility and that it has the right to put conditions on participation in the Olympics.

“In the interest of ensuring that all eligible athletes are able to compete in their respective Olympic qualification process, and to establish a degree of certainty as we head toward the Olympic Games in London, the USOC and the IOC have agreed to place the question of the regulation before the CAS,” USOC chief executive Scott Blackmun said in a statement.

IOC Director General Christophe De Kepper said a ruling by CAS would erase any confusion ahead of next year’s Olympics.

SALVO, North Carolina (Reuters) – There were no footballs thrown or tackles made on Tuesday, the first day after the NFL’s lockout was lifted, as the two feuding sides resumed where they left off the day before.

They traded insults, painted doomsday scenarios and tried to win back the support of an American public already jaded by the squabble over the $9 billion NFL empire. They also instigated more legal action, ensuring their dispute will drag through the courts for the foreseeable future.

Minnesota federal court Judge Susan Richard Nelson had instructed the NFL on Monday to end the player lockout and said on Tuesday she wanted at least another day to decide her next ruling after the league appealed her decision.

The NFL’s lawyers asked for an immediate stay, arguing that the federal court had no jurisdiction on labor disputes because they were a matter for the National Labor Relations Board.

The players then responded by asking Judge Nelson to clarify her ruling on ending the lockout after several players were prevented from entering the team’s training facilities.

Offseason training has not even begun but some players turned out nonetheless, triggering accusations of gamesmanship and verbal volleys from both sides.

“That the National Football League is allowing this sort of chaos to occur, I’m not sure it’s a great day for football,” DeMaurice Smith, director of the NFL Players Association, told ESPN radio.

SALVO, North Carolina (Reuters) – The judge who ordered the NFL to end the player lockout wants at least another day before deciding whether to put her order on hold after the league appealed her ruling.

The NFL asked Judge Susan Richard Nelson for an immediate stay of her decision, arguing that the federal court had no jurisdiction on labor disputes because they were a matter for the National Labor Relations Board.

The players responded by asking Judge Nelson to clarify her ruling on ending the lockout after several players were not allowed to enter the team’s training facilities on Tuesay.

Nelson said she would consider both motions and filed an order giving the players until Wednesday morning to respond to the league’s request and gave the league until that evening to respond to any players’ request for a clarification of her lockout ruling.

If Judge Nelson agrees to the NFL motion on the stay, the six-week lockout which she lifted Monday would immediately be restored. But if she denies the motion, the NFL would take their case to the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The league filed an appeal with the Eighth Court Monday, but a court source told Reuters Tuesday the NFL wanted to wait for Judge Nelson’s ruling on their motion before pursuing it.

An NFL spokesman said Tuesday that the league was operating as normal after the lockout was lifted but did not expect any football activities to begin while they were awaiting more court rulings.

SALVO, North Carolina (Reuters) – The labor dispute between NFL players and owners appeared at an impasse on Thursday as both sides waited for a federal judge’s ruling on the players’ request to lift a league-imposed lockout.

Four days of court-supervised mediation were adjourned on Wednesday until May 16 without an agreement on a dispute that could wipe out a season of America’s most popular sport.

The ruling by Judge Susan Richard Nelson, expected to be made on April 25, could be a significant bargaining chip for either the players or owners in their dispute, according to several legal experts.

But even if the judge grants the injunction it would not result in an immediate end to a lockout, now in its 41st day, as a stay of her decision would likely be sought by the losing side while it appeals.

That could lengthen the legal process of the dispute and affect preparations for the upcoming NFL season.

High profile quarterbacks Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees were among nine NFL players who asked in March for the injunction as part of a class-action antitrust lawsuit against the NFL and its owners.

Their filing came after collective bargaining talks between the players’ union and the league collapsed on March 11. The union then decertified and the players filed their lawsuit and a request for an injunction. The owners’ lockout followed.

SALVO, North Carolina (Reuters) – A federal judge is expected to rule soon, perhaps as early as this week, on a NFL players’ request that could have a major impact on their labor dispute with league owners.

The players, including high profile quarterbacks Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, are seeking an injunction to halt a league-imposed lockout now in its sixth week.

How Judge Susan Richard Nelson of Minnesota rules could be a significant bargaining chip for either the players or owners in their dispute, legal experts say.

But the judge’s decision almost certainly would result in the other side appealing to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, thus lengthening the legal process of the dispute, dubbed as a row between billionaires and millionaires.

Judge Nelson said on April 6 she would need a couple of weeks to make a decision on the request and Wednesday marked 14 days since her comment.

While both sides are hoping her ruling will favor them, the judge said after hearing arguments in the case, “it seems to me both sides are at risk.”

The anticipation of her ruling comes as the two sides entered the fourth day of court-supervised mediation in Minneapolis on Wednesday.

SALVO, North Carolina (Reuters) – The window of opportunity is quickly closing on South African double amputee Oscar Pistorius’s dream of competing in this year’s IAAF world championships.

With team selections expected in late June and final qualifying due by mid August, Pistorius must shave more than three-tenths of a second off his personal best to be considered for South Africa’s team in the 400 metres.

“I am confident I can do it,” said Pistorius, a double amputee who is famously called “Blade Runner” because he races with prosthetic blades of carbon fiber.

Pistorius will use 400 metres competitions at Ostrava, Czech Republic, on May 31, Eugene, Oregon, on June 4 and New York on June 11 as building blocks for a career he hopes will take him not only to the world championships but to London in 2012 for both the Olympics and Paralympics.

He will be aiming for a time of 45.25 seconds, the qualifying standard for the Aug. 27-Sept. 4 world championships in Daegu, South Korea. His fastest time is 45.61 in March.

He could challenge that mark in New York since American Jeremy Wariner, the 2004 Olympic champion and the fastest 400 metres runner currently competing, will also run, organisers said on Tuesday.

“I broke my personal best by a half second,” Pistorius said during a telephone interview from Pretoria arranged by New York meeting sponsors Adidas. “I have to come down another 0.3 seconds. It is going to be quite a tough task.”

SALVO, North Carolina (Reuters) – American Allyson Felix hopes this year’s world championships will be a dress rehearsal for a 200m/400m double at the 2012 London Olympics, the triple world 200 metres champion said on Friday.

“I am hoping whatever I do in this world championship will be what I do in London,” Felix said on a conference call to promote this year’s Diamond League global circuit. “How my body can handle the workload will definitely help determine what I do in London.”

Felix said her performance at June’s U.S. world trials will play a major role in her decision on whether to run both events in the world championships later this year.

“I am not on the team (in the 400) so I will have to make the team” at the U.S. trials, said Felix, who has a bye to the world championships as the defending 200 metres champion.

“So we will see how the (U.S.) championships go and go from there … This season will be a building block to 2012.”

Last year’s Diamond League winner at both the 200 and 400 metres, Felix will contest both events at the Rome Diamond League meeting on May 26 against world 400 metres champion Sanya Richards-Ross.

BOLT TO RUN

SALVO, North Carolina (Reuters) – Allyson Felix hopes this year’s world championships will be a dress rehearsal for a 200m/400m double at the 2012 London Olympics, the triple world 200 meters champion said on Friday.

“I am hoping whatever I do in this world championship will be what I do in London,” Felix said on a conference call to promote this year’s Diamond League global circuit. “How my body can handle the workload will definitely help determine what I do in London.”

Felix said her performance at June’s U.S. world trials will play a major role in her decision on whether to run both events in the world championships later this year.

“I am not on the team (in the 400) so I will have to make the team” at the U.S. trials, said Felix, who has a bye to the world championships as the defending 200 meters champion.

“So we will see how the (U.S.) championships go and go from there … This season will be a building block to 2012.”

Last year’s Diamond League winner at both the 200 and 400 meters, Felix will contest both events at the Rome Diamond League meeting on May 26 against world 400 meters champion Sanya Richards-Ross.

BOLT TO RUN

SALVO, North Carolina (Reuters) – The NFL owners and players, who have not held labor talks since last month’s lockout took effect, are willing to resume discussions but the sparing parties differ on who should oversee them.

The players said on Thursday they accept presiding judge Susan Richard Nelson’s suggestion both sides use the Minnesota federal court’s services to mediate the players’ request for an injunction against the league’s lockout.

But the owners sent a letter to the players’ lawyers on Thursday asking that the sides return to the federal mediation service in Washington where talks collapsed March 11, according to a report on the league’s website (www.nfl.com).

The letter said the players would receive assurances they would not compromise their legal position as a result of discussions in front of the federal mediator.

Nine players, including quarterbacks Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, filed a class action antitrust lawsuit against the owners and requested an injunction against the league’s lockout of the players after the talks broke down and the players union decertified.

Players attorney Barbara Berens wrote judge Nelson on Thursday saying the players were ready to engage in mediation without delay on their request for an injunction against the lockout.

But she added a condition.