The summer has begun, and the NFL and its locked-out players still lack an agreement to guarantee games will be played in 2011.

Urgency is apparent, but just how close the situation can or will get to the delay, alteration or cancellation of the preseason — or more — remains to be seen.

Both sides finished three straight days of not-so-secret negotiations Thursday near Chicago, before the contingents made their way to St. Louis. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is holding a pivotal hearing Friday in the nearly three-month work stoppage, determining whether the lockout itself is legal after U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson in Minnesota ruled April 25 it wasn’t.

Lawyer Paul Clement will argue the case in court for the NFL. Several players are expected to attend the hearing in support of the other side.

As the three-judge panel takes Friday’s arguments under advisement, having already ruled 2-1 to put a stay on Nelson’s order and keep the lockout in place through the appeal process, the start of training camps is creeping closer.

“We can’t just go from where we are now and jump into games. There has to at least be an abbreviated training camp to get us somewhat prepared for the season. If not, there are going to be a lot of injuries,” said free agent offensive tackle Damien Woody, who last played for the New York Jets.

“There’s a difference between what guys, including me, are doing right now to stay in shape versus what we would be doing in OTAs and minicamps. We’re going to need time to get into football shape. Training camp usually starts in late July, and time is running out because it’s already June. I think we have to get a deal done by late July at the latest. The players will need time to install schemes and put guys through the paces to truly get ready for a 16-game season.”

Free-agent linebacker Ben Leber, one of 10 plaintiffs on the still-pending antitrust lawsuit against the league that was filed after the players broke up their union to take the labor dispute to court, said the players haven’t discussed a specific drop-dead date for reaching an agreement to ensure the on-time start of training camps.

But he said it’s necessary to have a date to reach a deal.

“Both sides have a day, whether they want to make it public or not,” Leber said. “The biggest challenge is going to lie with whose day is going to come up first. Once it got to this point, I think it was just a good guess based on most corporate labor disputes that nothing was going to get done until the 11th hour. Now it depends on which 11th hour gets here first.”

Commissioner Roger Goodell and owners Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft and John Mara were among those joined in a Chicago suburb by NFL Players Association boss DeMaurice Smith and a group of players, including NFLPA president Kevin Mawae, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan.