NFL owners, union appear ready to clash

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By Tim Lemke

As the NFL kicks off its regular season this week, the specter of labor strife looms like a weakside linebacker.

All the relevant buzzwords and terms have been tossed about. Lockout. Uncapped year. Union decertification. A stretch of more than 16 years of labor peace in the NFL has been threatened, with the deadline to create a new collective bargaining agreement fast approaching.

"At this point, from what the union is telling us, the owners are positioning themselves to lock us out," said Ethan Albright, the Washington Redskins' interim union representative. "I'm telling guys, 'Plan on not playing in 2011. If you've got big expenses on the horizon, think about putting them off.' "

The labor showdown began last year when the owners opted out early of an agreement reached in 2006, arguing that too much of their revenue was going to the players. That triggered a clause guaranteeing the 2010 season would be played without a cap on team payrolls unless a new agreement could be reached. And there are strong indications that NFL owners would be willing to stage a lockout in 2011 unless a new deal is in place.

The NFL Players Association and team owners have locked horns before, and the threat of a work stoppage has often been present. But not since 1993, when the basis for the current labor agreement was created, have tensions been this high. And not since 1987, when union members went on strike and the NFL used replacement players, have games been affected.

To complicate matters, the death last year of longtime NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw forced a transition of leadership. By most accounts, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell does not have the same kind of working relationship with new union head DeMaurice Smith as he had with Upshaw, and negotiations so far have been informal and insubstantial.

"We have a lot to do and a lot to address," Goodell acknowledged last week. "The progress to date has been minimal."

Union officials did not respond to numerous requests for comment.

Expectedly, the disagreement between the league and union is largely, though not exclusively, about money. In 2006, owners reluctantly agreed to increase their payout of revenues to players from 55.5 percent to 60 percent, boosting the league's annual salary cap on teams to more than $120 million. It was an arrangement that owners quickly found untenable, with many claiming their profit margins fell to single digits. Many owners also said players were insensitive to the expense of the construction of new stadiums.

"From the player standpoint, we felt we were operating under a fair deal," Albright said. "The owners opted out of that deal, and so far all they've said is, 'Well, we're paying too much.' Well, open your books and show us why. Give us some evidence why."