NEW YORK — NFL owners and players may find themselves shifting to hurry-up mode as time gets tight to reach labor peace.

Although both sides say progress has been made in the last month of meetings in various locations, the prospect of postponing the opening of training camps grows stronger every day. Lawyers for the NFL and the players’ association sorted out contract language and details Wednesday for a second straight day, hoping it could speed the process in reaching a new collective bargaining agreement.

A person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press that attorneys met at a Manhattan law firm’s headquarters. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because a judge has directed that details of the court-ordered mediated negotiations not be disclosed.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA chief DeMaurice Smith plan to return to the negotiations Thursday, along with several owners and players. They all know that some training camps are set to open in less than three weeks and the first exhibition game, at the Pro Football Hall of Fame inductions, is Aug. 7 in Canton, Ohio..

“Everyone’s back is up against the wall,” said economic consultant Dr. Jessica Horewitz, a director at Gnarus Advisors who consulted with Smith on the finer points of NFL labor before he was elected executive director of the players association. “The last few details of the contract have to be hammered out, but I believe the big issues are pretty wrapped up: the salary cap and revenue share with players.

“I think it will be steady progress, and if we don’t have something by the 15th. I don’t think it will long after that.”

Marc Ganis, president of Chicago-based sports business consulting firm Sportscorp Ltd., and a keen observer of the league’s business side, also sees something getting done in the next week.

“They are now up against a hard deadline,” Ganis said. “July 15 is effectively a hard deadline to make sure to get all the preseason games in. If they go beyond July 15, you likely start losing preseason games and it means less money is available overall to do a deal to satisfy both parties.”