Owners Terminate CBA

The NFL Owners have announced that they have opted to cancel the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the player's union.

In a statement the league insists that

"[e]ven without another agreement, NFL football will be played without threat of interruption for at least the next three seasons. The 2008 and 2009 seasons will be played with a salary cap. If there is no new agreement before the 2010 season, that season will be played without a salary cap under rules that also limit the free agency rights of the players. If not extended, the agreement would expire at the end of the 2010 league year."

Meanwhile, in this week's installment of his "100 Words,"(released 5/19) the head of the National Football League Player's Association, Gene Upshaw, signals that this news has been expected for some time, and as a result is anticlimactic:

"The NFL owners will hold their spring meeting in Atlanta this week. One of the issues surely to be discussed is the timing of the early termination notice of the CBA. We should expect a notice to be given to us following this meeting. The notice will have no material effect on the players. It only means the CBA will end after the 2010 season unless an extension is negotiated. With all the talk about early termination, it will be good to get this issue behind us since all the owners have done since signing the 2006 agreement is complain."

One thing to remember, vis-a-vis the uncapped season of 2010, is that Mr. Upshaw has been adamant that the players would not play in an uncapped year -- the obvious point being that the players would strike rather than play.

The Line in the Sand

We've been concerned about the possibility of a player's strike in the NFL for awhile now; and it appears that we now know what one of the core issues will be in the upcoming death match: a rookie salary cap.

On the day after the NFL draft concluded commissioner Roger Goodell went on ESPN radio's "Mike and Mike" show and told the world that he is "a big fan of the rookie salary cap."

Then two days later Pro Football Talk alerted us to comments by Patriots' owner Robert Kraft, in a piece by Mike Reiss of the Boston Globe, that "[i]t's kind of nuts that you pay draft picks in the top 10 as if they were free agent veterans on their second contract and have been to a Pro Bowl."

But beyond just complaining about the "system" the outline of the NFL's method of attack is clear -- pit the league's veterans (i.e. the NFLPA membership) against the rookies. Need proof? Here is more from Roger Goodell:

"I think that it is very much in the best interest of our veteran players, being able to be rewarded for what they achieve on the NFL field, and to the kind of money that's being guaranteed for rookies that have not played – there's still a question of whether they can play at the NFL level. That's something that I don't think is appropriate, and I think it's one of the things that we've already outlined with the union that we want to discuss and reevaluate it."

And more from Robert Kraft:

"We've suggested to the Labor Committee and the commissioner that we scale that back and take that money and give it to the veterans. We're still going to spend the money, [but] we think it's a misallocation of resources and actually can cause problems in your locker room when a young guy who has never played a down is getting paid more than some of your vested veterans."

Despite Gene Upshaw's contention that the NFLPA will never agree to a rookie salary cap there appears to be some support for the concept amongst veterans. The following is from a piece written by Chris Cooley, tight end for the Washington Redskins (thanks to Pro Football Talk!):

"The point here is that if a rookie in any other profession could step on the scene and make more than someone with a proven track record, the business would turn upside down. Imagine a first year staff accountant making more money than a senior partner simply because his 10 key skills were top in his class. This is basically what's happening in the NFL. Players are making money simply based on the number they were taken. Something with this system needs to change."

Creating a schism amongst the players on this issue won't prove to be much of a challenge for the owners; and what happens then (can anyone say "decertification"?) is anyone's guess.

The War has Begun

According to the National Football League Player's Association (NFLPA)website the players have "filed the first collusion case ever against the NFL owners for their recent agreement to reduce by 20% the debt limitations that apply to individual NFL Clubs."

In other words, the amount of debt any individual club may now incur has been reduced by twenty percent.

Why does the player's union care? From the NFLPA's perspective this is all tied to the so-called "uncapped" year that is looming off in the distance (i.e. 2010): "[T]he agreement to reduce the debt limit is part of a broader scheme in which the owners are colluding to reduce spending on player salaries during what could be an Uncapped [sic] year."

Until now we've heard words from Gene Upshaw, and responses from Roger Goodell that could be perceived as dismissive.

Now we have lawyers.

Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney will be in Indianapolis during the combine to host a "diversity dinner," and Gene Upshaw is expected to attend. Whether any discussions about the collective bargaining agreement remains to be seen, but here's hoping that Mr. Rooney can start something approximating a constructive dialogue.

Storm Clouds Off in the Distance

It seems just like yesterday that the National Football League and its Players' Association (NFLPA) narrowly avoided the pandemonium of an "uncapped" year when the two parties hammered out a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA). With that agreement labor peace was guaranteed through the 2011 season.

Or maybe not.

Word from NFLPA's head man, Gene Upshaw, is that the NFL's owners are expected to opt for early termination of the CBA in the first quarter of 2008. Under the terms of the agreement 24 owners must vote to keep the existing CBA in force. According to Mr. Upshaw "[c]learly, there are not 24 votes."

So don't despair -- even after the Super Bowl is over there is sure to be plenty of NFL news.