NFL players' union decertifies as talks break down
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Despite 16 days of negotiations with a federal mediator -- and
previous months of stop-and-start bargaining -- the sides could not
agree on a new deal. The league said it hadn't decided whether to
lock out the players, who, meanwhile, went to court to request an
injunction to block such a move.
"The parties have not achieved an overall agreement, nor have
they been able to resolve the strongly held competing positions
that separated them on core issues," mediator George Cohen said.
"No useful purpose would be served by requesting the parties to
continue the mediation process at this time."
By dissolving and announcing it no longer represents the players
in collective bargaining, the NFL Players Association cleared the
way for class-action lawsuits against the NFL, which opted out of
the CBA in 2008.
The CBA originally was due to expire last week, then was
extended twice, in hopes that the sides could find common ground on
the key issues: how to divide more than $9 billion in annual
revenues, and how much financial information the league would be
willing to turn over.
It all set the stage for a lengthy court fight that eventually
could threaten the 2011 season. The last work stoppage came when
the players struck 24 years ago, leading to games with replacement
players.
The NFLPA also decertified in 1989. Antitrust lawsuits by
players led to a new CBA in 1993 that included free agency, and the
union formed again that year.
"We met with the owners until about 4 o'clock today," union
head DeMaurice Smith said outside the mediator's office. "We
discussed a proposal they had presented. At this time, significant
differences continue to remain. We informed the owners that ... if
there was going to be a request for an extension, that we asked for
10 years of audited financial information to accompany that
extension."
About 15 minutes later, the union decertified.
"No one is happy where we are now," NFL lead negotiator Jeff
Pash said. "I think we know where the commitment was. It was a
commitment to litigate all along."
A league statement added: "The union left a very good deal on
the table."
It said the offer included splitting the difference in the
dispute over how much money owners should be given off the top of
the league's revenues. Under the expiring CBA, the owners
immediately got about $1 billion before dividing the remainder with
the players; the owners originally were asking to roughly double
that by getting an additional $1 billion up front.
Also in the NFL's offer, according to the league:
-- Maintaining the 16 regular-season games and four preseason
games for at least two years, with any changes negotiable.
-- Instituting a rookie wage scale through which money saved
would be paid to veterans and retired players.
-- Creating new year-round health and safety rules.
-- Establishing a fund for retired players, with $82 million
contributed by the owners over the next two years.
-- Financial disclosure of audited league and club profitability
information that is not even shared with the NFL clubs. That was
proposed by the NFL this week, and rejected by the union, which
began insisting in May 2009 for a complete look at the books of all
32 clubs.
The players' union immediately shut down its websites, NFLPA.org
and NFLPlayers.com. A search for NFLPA.org yielded this message:
"Error 404: Football Not Found. Please be patient as we work on
resolving this. We are sorry for the inconvenience."
When Commissioner Roger Goodell, Pash, and owners Jerry Jones of
the Cowboys, Jerry Richardson of the Panthers and John Mara of the
Giants emerged from Cohen's office shortly after 5 p.m., they
sounded hopeful that negotiations would soon resume.
"We are prepared to come back here any time the union is ready
to come back here," Pash said.