NFL labour dispute update: ‘Lockout insurance’ case reopened
Things were only just beginning to look good for the collective bargaining agreement (CBA), but then the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) dragged the league back into court.
The current labour agreement is set to expire on 3rd March. NFL owners have threatened to lockout players if a new deal, with more favourable financial terms, isn’t signed by the time the current deal expires. The two sides didn’t meet for formal
bargaining sessions after November until the eve of the Super Bowl. They held two sessions before the league walked out and filed a complaint with the National Labour Relations Board accusing the NFLPA of indulging in ‘surface bargaining.’
Things looked bleak until last week. The situation changed only when the two sides agreed to mediation. The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) got involved and negotiations finally picked up pace. The NFL and the Players Association have had
six straight days of bargaining sessions under the auspices of Mediator, George Cohen. However, that still doesn’t mean that the mistrust between the two sides has disappeared or even subsided.
The Players Association has long argued that the NFL failed to fulfill its obligations under the collective bargaining agreement when it signed TV deals worth nearly $4 billion. It maintains that the NFL didn’t try to maximise profits but instead asked for
more guaranteed money. The union says that the NFL negotiated the deal with the explicit intent of using the money from those deals as lockout insurance.
The union brought the case before a Special Master appointed by the courts and asked that the money from those deals be held in escrow until a new CBA is signed. With that money at their disposal during the lockout, NFL owners could stay afloat, while revenue
streams for the players dry up. In that case the league would be in a much stronger position to bargain with the players.
The players union had a partial victory in that case. The Special Master, Stephen Burbank ruled that the NFL was indeed in violation of the CBA, but the money from the TV deals would still be at their disposal. The league was ordered to pay $6.9 million
in damages in contrast to the $60 million which the union has asked for. The Players Association has appealed that decision.
On Thursday a federal judge in Minnesota heard the arguments from the players association. The NFL’s lawyer Gregg Levy said that the $4 billion from the TV deals would have to be paid back with interest if there is no football in the 2011 season. The union
however, didn’t see it as such a straight forward matter.
“The evidence is overwhelming that the intent was something else — to get a $4 billion lockout weapon to use against the players,” union’s attorney, Jeffrey L. Kessler said. “They didn’t use the negotiations to maximise revenue.”
Levy said that ‘it would be repugnant for a federal labour law’ if U.S. District Court Judge David Doty had intervene in the collective bargaining process. Levy said that ‘in a depressed advertising market’ the NFL couldn’t seek more broadcasters and the
deal wouldn’t have been signed. Levy said that the deals were practical business decisions, which almost always have clauses that guarantee money, even in the event of work stoppage. He added that the deals had nothing to do with a potential lockout.
Players unions’ attorney, Tom Haiden said, “(Owners) reopened existing television contracts in order to get the five broadcast networks to build for them a $4 billion fund to use against the players to shut down the league and lock out players for next season,”
Judge Dave Doty hasn’t yet ruled on the case but promised a quick decision.
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