Posted by Mike Florio on July 18, 2011, 10:16 PM EDT
PHP4D4F8B259C8A3 Getty Images

Though the labor deal still isn’t done and no one knows for sure when and if it will be, the defending world champions are making it known that players should be ready to show up at the team facility on Saturday for a meeting.

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the Packers are telling players that the doors will open on Friday, and that the team wants the players in town in order to get started on preparations for training camp and the preseason.

This presumes that the remaining issues between the NFL and the NFLPA* will be resolved in time for the players and the owners to separately approve the new agreement. The fact that the Packers are getting the word out shows how widespread that presumption currently is.

Of course, teams aren’t supposed to be talking to players during the lockout. For many teams, however, that ship sailed a long, long time ago.

UPDATE: Jason Wilde of ESPN Milwaukee says via Twitter that the report is “100 percent true,” and that he has confirmed it through two team sources.

PFT wrote:

Oh, so it's not over. Somebody please delete this thread or retitle it.

Originally Posted by: Greg C. 

UPDATE: Jason Wilde of ESPN Milwaukee says via Twitter that the report is “100 percent true,” and that he has confirmed it through two team sources.

Originally Posted by: Zero2Cool 

I thought team owners/directors and coaches were not allowed any contact with the players until this was resolved????

Originally Posted by: flep 

Report: League has yet to give teams permission to contact players 

Last night, we reported that the Packers have begun contacting players to advise them to be ready to report to the facility for a team meeting on Saturday. Jason Wilde of ESPNMilwaukee.com quickly confirmed the report as “100 percent” accurate, citing two unnamed club sources.

Some have speculated that the Packers received permission to contact their players, despite the still-ongoing lockout. This morning, Adam Schefter of ESPN reported via Twitter that no such permission has been granted.

Schefter hasn’t specifically reported that the Packers haven’t contacted player. If/when he does, we’ll have an unprecedented case of ESPN-on-ESPN-Milwaukee crime.

Meanwhile, quarterback Aaron Rodgers posted via Twitter that he hasn’t been contacted by the team. But he doesn’t need to be; he already knows. By contacting some and thus triggering an Internet-fueled Bat-signal, the Packers have done what they set out to do.

Mike Florio wrote: