This may be over sooner than we expected.

According to CBS Sports, Tom Brady and the NFLPA will not file for a preliminary injunction in Brady's case against the league to fight his four-game suspension. Instead both the union and the league have agreed to request that Judge Richard Berman come to a final decision before the regular season begins.

"The NFLPA and Mr. Brady had intended to file a motion for a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction," the parties wrote, per CBS. "However, the parties met and conferred and have agreed that a final resolution of this matter prior to the commencement of the 2015 NFL regular season would be in everyone's best interest."

As part of the request, the NFLPA and the NFL pointed out a few key dates they're trying to hit.

On Aug. 7 the union and the league will move to vacate and confirm, respectively, the suspension. A week later, on Aug. 14, both parties will file papers to support their motions.

According to Andrew Brandt of ESPN and Sports Illustrated's MMQB site, Berman is seeking a settlement conference on Aug. 12 and oral arguments on Aug. 19, with the principals, including Tom Brady and Roger Goodell, attending.

The goal is for oral arguments to be done by a point in time that would allow Berman to make a decision by early September.

If Berman grants that request, then by Sept. 4 -- six days before the NFL's season-opener between the Patriots and Steelers at Gillette Stadium -- there will be a ruling as to whether or not Brady's four-game ban will be upheld or altered.

Had Brady and his legal team filed for a preliminary injunction, and had it been granted, the Patriots quarterback would have been able to play in games until a decision was rendered in the case. That may have allowed him to start the season with the team, though the potential for a suspension mid-season would have lingered.

If Berman agrees to the requested arrangement, Brady will know his fate one way or the other about a week before the team's first game of the season.

If Brady loses, per Gabe Feldman of Tulane Law School, he could still ask for an injunction from an appeals court that would allow him to play pending an ultimate decision.