Robert Kraft (AP)

One week after the NFL owners held their annual spring meeting, Patriots owner Robert Kraft was one of a handful of powerful NFL owners who reportedly gathered for a clandestine meeting in Chicago on Wednesday, according to the Chicago Tribune. (Click here for the entire story, as well as a picture of Kraft hopping onto his jet on his way out of Illinois.)

It was a get-together that was believed to include NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Dallas owner Jerry Jones and Carolina owner Jerry Richardson. The purpose of the meeting is not known, but with the hearings on the NFL’s appeal of the players’ antitrust being held on Friday in St. Louis, chances are good it was a labor-related matter. As the Tribune noted, it’s interesting that a group of key NFL power brokers chose a small airport they almost got in and out of without being spotted for a meeting in the suburbs.