INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The president of the AFL-CIO is ready to play mediator in the NFL’s labor dispute.

In a letter obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka offered to sit down with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith and determine the parameters for a new collective bargaining agreement.

“I would like to invite you both to meet with me to discuss how an agreement might be reached,” the letter reads. “I believe such a meeting would be an immediate and important step toward saving football for the 2011 season and avoiding the significant job losses that will occur if owners lock out the players and cancel games.”

The current CBA does not expire until March, and Smith contends league owners are preparing to lock out the players before the start of next season.

The two sides held their most recent bargaining session earlier this week in Washington.

Neither league officials nor players association representatives responded immediately to e-mailed requests for comment from the AP regarding Trumka’s letter, which went to NFL owners, mayors of NFL cities and governors of states that have NFL teams.

It’s not the first time the AFL-CIO, a labor union federation, has jumped into the NFL’s game.

Two weeks ago, Trumka sent a letter to all 32 team owners, warning that a lockout could cost thousands of Americans their jobs and cities more than $140 million in revenue.

Trumka made some familiar requests in the second letter, too.

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