MVN - Most Valuable Network

NFL Owners: Lets revisit that labor deal

As widely predicted, all 32 NFL owners elected to opt out of the 2006 extension of the Collective Bargaining Agreement [CBA] with the NFL Players Association.

Team owners would like to redo the deal that they supported by a 30-2 vote two seasons ago. If memory serves, the teams spent most their time at the owner’s meeting that winter embroiled in a revenue sharing dispute between big market and small market clubs.

The 2006 extension gave either the owners or players the option to walk away from the deal. That would trigger discussions for a redo without interrupting games through the 2010 season.

One casualty could be the salary cap, seen as an essential ingredient of NFL success. The cap enables small market teams to compete with wealthier teams for players. The cap could end with the CBA after 2010. Players Association executive director Gene Upshaw, says that if the cap goes away, the players will never agree to its return. That may or may not be a negotiating ploy.

The association has been preparing players for the eventuality of labor strife.

“Our players are prepared for that,” said Upshaw. “It’s something this group of players has not been through before, so we’ve been educating them on the issues. This CBA has been extended several times, because neither side has been greedy. We believe the owners are getting greedy. In their eyes, a ‘loss’ means they’re not making as much money as they thought they would.” Upshaw said the NFLPA will not accept a deal that pays players less than they’re already making. ‘We’re not going to retreat.’”

The owner’s feel squeezed by costs, according to the statement released by the NFL.  

“There are also growing costs for stadium construction, operations and improvements. The NFL feels the current labor agreement does not adequately recognize the costs of generating the revenues of which the players receive the largest share, nor does the agreement recognize that those costs have increased substantially in recent years due to difficult economic times. Owners also have concerns about the inability to recoup bonuses paid to players who subsequently breach their contracts or refuse to perform, as well as the current system that allows some rookies to secure contracts paying them more than top proven veterans.”

Tumultuous Owners Meeting

If owners feel beset with problems, much of it is of their own making. They caved when faced with the hard line union seeking 60 percent of team revenues, largely due to lack of time to deal with the issue. Small market clubs, led by Buffalo and Cincinnati, sought to raid the local revenue stream generated by big market teams, mostly teams of the NFC and AFC East.

The issue consumed the agenda of the March 2006 owner’s meeting, leaving scant time to deal with the player’s share of the revenue and recovering player bonuses should the player refuse to perform to his contract, as with Terrell Owens’ 2005 misadventures with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Rather than extend the owners meeting to fully negotiate with the union that was whispering “player’s strike,” the owner’s bowed to player demand along with the “opt out” provisions to fight it out another day.   

Ironically, it was small market Buffalo and Cincinnati that saw the danger in the CBA extension and voted against it. Cinncinati has its own budding Terrell Owens scenario in Chad Johnson’s vocal demands to be traded or released from his contract.

Tags takes the hit

Another casualty of the CBA extension is former commissioner Paul Tagliabue’s reputation. Tags has been twice bypassed for enshrinement in the Hall of Fame in part because the voters felt that he left a mess with the labor agreement, according to an ESPN story by Len Pasquarelli.

Tagliabue was challenged with getting owner attention against the looming end of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Roger Goodell will have a greater challenge trying to bring together owners keenly aware of their financial danger and players disinclined to give back revenue.

The uncapped year

In the event a deal cannot be worked out by 2009, then 2010 will be an uncapped year. The players agreed to restrictions to free agent movement and the owners agreed that 2009 division winners would be handicapped in signing free agents.   

After 2010, anything goes.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 at 9:45 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.