Washington — The NBA and its locked-out players will use the same federal mediator who tried to resolve the NFL's labor dispute months before it eventually ended.

George Cohen, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, announced Wednesday that he will oversee negotiations between the NBA and the NBA Players Association. Those meetings will start next Tuesday in New York.

Cohen said he already has been in contact with representatives of both sides "for a number of months."

"I have participated in separate, informal, off-the-record discussions with the principals representing the NBA and the NBPA concerning the status of their collective bargaining negotiations," Cohen said in a statement issued by the Washington-based FMCS.