RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Now, Roger Goodell must decide whether Michael Vick has earned a second chance at an NFL career.

Two people familiar with the meeting confirmed the NFL commissioner, Vick, agent Joel Segal and two other members of the quarterback’s team met Wednesday at a security firm in New Jersey. The two people requested anonymity because the league has not acknowledged the meeting.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello declined to confirm the meeting when contacted by The Associated Press on Thursday.

“We’re being consistent in not discussing any of the details while the review is taking place,” Aiello said.

SI.com first reported the meeting at Buckley Petersen Global Inc. in Allendale.

Goodell told the AP on Tuesday, a day after Vick was released from federal custody, that he hoped to make a decision “in the near future.” He declined to define the timetable.

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Goodell suspended Vick indefinitely in August 2007 after the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback admitted bankrolling the “Bad Newz Kennels” dogfighting operation. Goodell has said Vick must show remorse and signs that he has changed before he would consider reinstating him.

Vick’s Virginia-based attorney, Lawrence Woodward, and Segal did not respond to messages left Thursday evening regarding the meeting with the commissioner.

Earlier Thursday, Woodward denied reports that Vick spent his first night of freedom at a Virginia Beach strip club.

“It is absolutely, categorically false,” Woodward told the AP.

An Internet blogger reported that Vick was seen at the strip club Atlantis on Monday night, hours after the electronic monitoring device he wore for two months under home confinement was removed. Woodward said Vick was not in Virginia Beach that night and was not at any strip club.

“He has been spending time with his family and friends and working with his advisers on legal matters and trying to get back to playing football,” Woodward said.

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Vick also denied the reports in an interview with the Daily Press of Newport News.

“That’s crazy,” he told his hometown newspaper. “That is the last place on my mind. I was out of town. I guess it’s just someone trying to be hurtful.”

The blog thebiglead.com, which some newspapers referenced on their Web sites, quoted a DJ who refused to be identified as saying Vick was at Atlantis with NBA free agent Allen Iverson.

Leon Rose, Iverson’s agent, said the basketball star hasn’t seen Vick since his release from prison.

The voice mailbox at Atlantis was full and unable to accept messages earlier Thursday.

Vick served most of his sentence at the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan., before being transferred to home confinement in late May. The electronic monitor he wore on his ankle in Hampton was removed Monday morning, freeing Vick from federal custody.


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