Ruling on Pryor not based on NCAA

Although it seems so on the surface, the NFL’s decision to allow Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor into its supplemental college draft does not mean the league will begin enforcing NCAA punishments and suspensions.

The NFL ruled Thursday that Pryor was accepted into the special six-man draft that will be held Monday.

However, Pryor will not be allowed to play or practice with an NFL team for the first five regular-season games.

That punishment corresponds with the suspension Pryor was facing had he returned for his senior season at Ohio State. But NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league is “enforcing our own rules” rather than carrying over the NCAA’s suspension.

“Pryor made decisions that undermined the integrity of our draft eligibility rules,” Aiello told FOXSports.com in an email. “He skipped the regular draft. He then made himself ineligible for college football.

“Our rules have never been based on the notion a college player could choose to violate NCAA rules, obtain a declaration that he is ineligible to play and then be rewarded by entering the NFL draft. He is not getting a free pass into the NFL.”

The five-game suspension was a condition given Pryor by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for entry into the supplemental draft. Pryor, who can attend player meetings during that stretch, was amenable to the mandate.

“He wants to be a National Football League quarterback,” said attorney David Cornwell, who represented Pryor in draft negotiations with the league. “The sooner he gets drafted by a team, into a camp, and begins the process of taking his skills and matching them with what’s expected from an NFL quarterback, the sooner he’ll have the chance to get on the field and play.”

Confirming a profootballtalk.com report, NFL Players Association executive George Atallah told FOXSports.com that his union consented to allow Pryor into the draft with restrictions. But such a decision “does not set any sort of precedent for future situations,” Atallah said.

“There is no formalized plan or agreement between us and the league to do this in the future,” Atallah wrote in an email.

A source told FOXSports.com that the NFLPA agreed to accept Goodell’s conditions at the urging of Pryor and his agents. Pryor will be allowed to practice with his new NFL team for the remainder of the preseason before the suspension goes into effect.

In early June, Pryor announced he was leaving Ohio State for the NFL’s supplemental draft. The league, though, didn’t grant Pryor immediate entry because of questions about whether he qualified.

The supplemental draft traditionally consists of prospects whose college playing status changed after the January entry deadline for the traditional college draft. Examples include players who were kicked off their college teams, declared academically ineligible or graduated and then decided to leave school.

Such guidelines are intended to prevent college prospects from skipping the traditional college draft to better control their destiny in the supplemental draft. Ex-quarterback Bernie Kosar manipulated the 1985 draft to avoid getting selected by Minnesota in the traditional college draft and land with Cleveland in the supplemental draft.

The NFL also doesn’t want to open the floodgates for players who wish to reconsider their college status after the April college draft is held.

In December, Pryor agreed to a five-game suspension for the start of the 2011 college season. He was found guilty of violating NCAA rules and by selling $2,500 of merchandise given to him by Ohio State. Pryor was then allowed to play in the Sugar Bowl against Arkansas.

Pryor, though, left Ohio State shortly after head coach Jim Tressel resigned in late May for covering up the payola scandal committed by his quarterback and four Buckeye teammates.

Cornwell said multiple NFL executives made themselves available over the past two weeks to hear Pryor’s plea, including a five-hour August 5th meeting that involved the league’s security/investigative staff. The league even postponed the draft scheduled for Wednesday while considering Pryor’s status.

“I think the greatest challenge was making sure everybody understood what the facts were – what occurred and how they impacted Terrelle’s analysis and decision to make himself available for the supplemental draft,” Cornwell said.

One of the most highly sought high school recruits in Buckeye history, Pryor was 31-4 as a starter during three seasons at Ohio State. But like Buckeye predecessor Troy Smith, it appears NFL teams have serious doubts about whether Smith has the skill set to duplicate such success at the pro level.

Pryor also isn’t expected to make a splash in 2011 because of the pending suspension and the fact he has missed so much preseason work already.

Profootballtalk.com first reported that Pryor will conduct a Saturday workout for NFL teams at a high school in Pittsburgh.

Other players allowed entry into the supplemental draft are running back Caleb King (Georgia), defensive backs Torez Jones (Western Carolina) and Tracy Wilson (Northern Illinois), and defensive ends Keenan Mace (Lindenwood) and Mike McAdoo (North Carolina).

Any team that chooses a supplemental draft-eligible player will lose a corresponding pick in the 2012 college draft. Prospects who are un-drafted can be signed as college free agents.

NFL deal progressing; vote on deck

The National Football League moved toward an end to its labor problems yesterday with cautious optimism as significant progress was made, according to sources with the league and the players.

So much progress was made that a vote by the NFL Players Association board on the proposal that would

end the lockout could come tomorrow.

The hope is that NFL teams will be able to open their doors Wednesday, as well as sign their own free agents and draft picks, and negotiate with other free agents. The players would also begin the process of recertifying as a union Wednesday.

Sources said the apparent breakthrough yesterday came at the highest level, with commissioner Roger Goodell and union executive director DeMaurice Smith hashing out most of the issues and the recertification timeline one-on-one.

Of course, the two also talked at length Thursday before the owners’ vote, and things deteriorated after that.

The new league year - with the start of free agency and training camps - would begin Friday or Saturday, if a majority of players approve the collective bargaining agreement.

Sources said this timeline would keep the entire preseason intact.

The players stunned Goodell and owners Thursday night when they did not ratify the same proposal the owners voted on earlier in the evening in Atlanta.

Not only did the NFLPA not receive the entire proposal until late in the night, it felt there were several points that had to be resolved. Among those issues:

■Settlement terms for the television rights case and for the plaintiffs of the Brady v. NFL case. Those representing the interests of Chargers receiver Vincent Jackson relented yesterday on their demands for $10 million, sources said. He was the final plaintiff to stand down on the issue;

■Possible one-time designation of the franchise tag;

■Workout bonuses that players would have earned if they were not locked out;

■Workman’s compensation issues;

■A possible opt-out after seven years of the CBA;

■An in-season, short-term injured reserve.

It is not known how those and other issues were resolved.

The effects of the shortened training camp season will be seen in many ways, and many efforts will be made to placate fans.

The Broncos said they plan to open Invesco Field for practice Aug. 6. Vikings spokesman Jeff Anderson said the team is “considering a variety of ideas.’’

The Hall of Fame game Aug. 7 is already a casualty. Now, the Hall will hold its annual pregame tailgate party and have Hall of Famers on hand for a meet-and-greet. It is one of 18 Hall events scheduled for the weekend, including the Aug. 6 inductions.

For the teams, there will be enhanced concern about injuries. Few players are likely to be close to football shape when they report.

“Based on working with over 60 active NFL guys,’’ said Brian Martin, CEO of TEST Sports Clubs, “I believe it is roughly 50-50 with those that are workers and those who are not. Many rely on natural gifts and they will be affected with the lack of mandatory conditioning.’’

Mort: Players vote expected on Friday

Despite the fact that Bills safety and NFLPA* representative George Wilson called reports that the players will vote Friday on the proposed, pre-approved labor deal untrue, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen (or, as Donte’ Stallworth referred to him during an ESPN phoner, “Morten Andersen”) reports that the players are indeed

expected to vote on the proposal Friday.

“All in all, despite the games that were played by the NFL, things look much more optimistic,” a source in player leadership told Mortensen.

That meshes with something we were told in the immediate wake of what appeared to be the ultimate switch-and-bait by the NFL, with the owners supposedly changing up some terms and then hoping the players would feel pressured to pounce.  Despite the move, optimism remains in place within NFLPA* leadership that a deal could be accomplished.

Per Mortensen, the players are expected to evaluate so-called “finishing points,” fancy talk for “the last stuff we don’t agree about yet.”

Mort also echoes the notion that tension remains not regarding whether the NFLPA* will recertify as a union, but how that will happen.  Even if the process of obtaining signatures can, in theory, be done electronically, the players want to do it their way.  Specifically, they want players to sign cards when they show up at team facilities, a fairly simple process that could get the task completed in a day or two after the gates open again.  Though the motivation for the players’ insistence to do it this way isn’t clear, the fact remains that the players want to do it this way — and that the league has no real reason to fight the NFLPA* on this point.

So the players can approve the settlement on Friday, the players can show up Saturday and sign their union cards, the ratification can be finalized by Tuesday, and all free-agency hell can break loose on Wednesday.

Thursday was a big day.  Friday could be an even bigger day.  We hope you’ll stick with us from the moment you show up for work, until the moment you leave.  And maybe even after that, if you’re willing to give up some of your non-work time for your non-work Internet habit.

NBA players association alleges unfair labor practices

NBA players on Tuesday filed an unfair labor practices charge against the league with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging "harsh, inflexible and grossly regressive 'takeaway' demands."

The National Basketball Players Assn. said it's seeking an immediate investigation by the NLRB, plus an injunction to stop the league's threatened lockout of players when the current collective-bargaining agreement expires June 30.

The union claims the NBA has violated three sections of the National Labor Relations Act in the months preceding Tuesday's filing.

"If some of these allegations are true, the totality of the conduct can be deemed bad faith," said Bill Gould, a former NLRB chairman and current Stanford law professor. "This is a shot across the bow" by NBA players.

The NBA issued a statement saying, "There is no merit to the charge filed [Tuesday] by the players association … as we have complied — and will continue to comply — with all of our obligations under the federal labor laws. It will not distract us from our efforts to negotiate in good faith a new collective bargaining agreement with the players association."

In the other major sports labor drama, NFL players in April sought to avoid a slow-moving NLRB process by asking a U.S. District Court judge in Minnesota to stop NFL owners from locking out their players.

An attorney for the NFL owners argued in a hearing that the NLRB — not the federal judge — had jurisdiction and was the only body empowered to determine if instituting a lockout was a legal "tool" to help strike a deal.

District Court Judge Susan Richard Nelson sided with the NFL players and lifted the lockout, writing in her decision that the owners had an unfair advantage to maintain the lockout for the duration of the uncertain NLRB review.

A stay of Nelson's decision was later granted by a federal appeals court in St. Louis, and the court has scheduled oral arguments from both sides June 3.

The NBA case is different, Gould said, because the NLRB's general counsel will immediately work to explore the players' charge, and if a violation is believed to have occurred, the general counsel can issue a complaint to the four-person board.

The board can then vote to move the case to a U.S. court "in a matter of weeks, before the expiration of this agreement," said Gould.

Earlier this month, basketball players association head Billy Hunter, in a memo to players, reported the league is seeking a hard salary cap that would be a 22% reduction from the current $58-million soft-cap figure.

The union argued in its NLRB claim that the NBA has engaged in "classic 'take it or leave it' bargaining … intended to delay action on a renewal [collective bargaining agreement] until the NBA locks out the … employees in order to coerce them into accepting the NBA's harsh and regressive demands."

The league and players have a bargaining session scheduled during the NBA Finals in Dallas or Oklahoma City.

2011 NFL Draft: Top 20 players left after three rounds

1. Ross Homan, LB, Ohio State

Homan is a very instinctive player, who could line up outside in a 4-3 or inside in a 3-4 defensive scheme. He will also make a strong special-teams player while he works at earning a full-time starting job by Year 2.

2. Christian Ballard, DE, Iowa

Ballard is a strong and athletic. Many expected would be a second- or third-round pick as a 3-4 defensive end. However, Ballard reportedly failed a drug test at the Combine, which impacted his draft stock along with uncommon defensive line depth. He will likely end up being a fourth- or fifth-round pick with starter's potential.

 

3. Jacquizz Rodgers, RB, Oregon State

Rodgers is still on the board because of his diminutive size (5-6, 195), but he has a well-built lower body along with quickness and speed to be an extremely productive feature back at the NFL level.

4. D.J. Williams, TE. Arkansas

Williams is smaller (6-2, 251) than a typical NFL tight end which has likely caused his fall. However, he is a much better blocker than given credit for because of his competitiveness and consistent leverage. His outstanding athleticism makes him a dangerous vertical threat catching the ball.

5. Greg Jones, MLB, Michigan State

Jones was a four-year starter for the Spartans. He is a very instinctive, tough and physical run defender with excellent blitz ability from either inside or outside the formation. He is an ideal candidate to start at inside linebacker in a 3-4 scheme as a rookie this fall.

6. Stanley Havili, FB, USC

Fullbacks typically aren't taken early in the draft, so it isn't a great surprise that Havili is still on the board heading into Day 3. Havili is not your typical fullback, however, as he is an excellent runner who shows surprising speed on the perimeter. He is also an outstanding receiver out of the backfield. Havili could become more of a featured back in the mold of Cleveland fullback-turned-running back Peyton Hillis.

7. Richard Sherman, CB, Stanford

Sherman (6-3, 192) has great size, speed and athletic ability to be a starter as a rookie. He is new to the corner position after playing three seasons as a receiver for the Cardinal. He has tremendous smarts and athletic upside to develop into a very productive player right away.

Although he is a tight-hipped athlete, he has long speed to recover vertically and shows uncanny route-recognition and zone coverage awareness for the position.

8. Chris Rucker, CB, Michigan State

Rucker (6-1, 195) has great size, arm length and athletic ability for the NFL level. As a three-year starter, he has well-defined man-to-man and zone cover skills. He lacks an elite closing burst, but shows excellent strength and toughness in run support. He is also an outstanding blitzer off the edge. He should be off-the-board early in Round 4 unless his off-the-field issues (DUI) are more involved than previously thought.

9. Sam Acho, DE/OLB, Texas

Acho is a very quick and athletic prospect, but he is a real 'tweener who lacks a good positional fit. He played mostly as a down end in a 4-3 scheme in college. His athleticism and strength fits much better as an OLB. The reality is that in-between players who lack elite athleticism often fall, but Acho will be a valuable fourth- or fifth-round pick when chosen.

10. James Brewer, RT, Indiana

Brewer is a two-year starter at right tackle for the Hoosiers. He has great size (6-6, 323) strength and toughness to compete for a starting spot as a rookie this fall. He is a decent athlete with adequate lower-body flexibility, but did not impress during Senior Bowl practices.

11. Allen Bradford, RB, USC

Bradford is a big (6-0, 240), strong back with surprising quickness and speed. He struggled to put up huge numbers at USC because of their running back-by-committee approach, but consistently produced we he got carries. We believe he is a similar to Arian Foster and would be an excellent fourth- or fifth-round pick.

12. Jeremy Beal, DE/OLB, Oklahoma

Beal played both end and outside linebacker at Oklahoma. He is another in-between player who fell down draft boards because he is more of a smooth and fluid athlete than a quick-twitch, explosive one. He is the type of player who has always been productive, but rarely been the big-play, impact defender. He will likely be a fourth- or fifth-round pick by a team that plays a 3-4 defense.

13. Jerrard Tarrant, FS, Georgia Tech

Tarrant was a first-year starter for the Yellow Jackets after working mainly as a corner earlier in his career. After getting into trouble off-the-field (rape charges that were dropped), that cost him the 2009 season. He has the size, athletic ability, speed and coverage ability to be a starter at free safety for a team this fall.

14. Andrew Jackson, G, Fresno State

Team boards often vary wildly when it comes to offensive guards, and it appears this year is no different. Jackson needs to improve his leverage and flexibility, but we believe he will become a starter in time because of his smarts, toughness and run-blocking prowess.

15. Jason Pinkston, LT, Pittsburgh

Pinkston is a three-year starter at left tackle for the Panthers. He is a little undersized (6-3, 317), but possesses the lower base, power and athleticism to be an NFL starter as a rookie. He is a very competitive player in all situations and has a devastating punch in pass protection. He also has the size to move inside for a team with a need.

16. Jeremy Kerley, WR, TCU

Kerley is a very quick and agile receiver, but has not shown the elite explosiveness to make us confident he can be a top-level playmaker in the NFL. He also lack great height (5-10) and is thin framed, which is another reason he is still available. He will likely be a fourth- or fifth-round pick by a team looking for a slot receiver and returner.

17. Mark Herzlich, OLB, Boston College

Herzlich will be the feel-good story of Day 3 when he is selected. Before falling ill with bone cancer as a sophomore, he looked like a potential first-round talent because of his athleticism and aggressiveness. Not surprisingly, he did not show the same burst and agility in 2010, but if he can return anywhere near to that form, he could become a starter capable of playing in any defensive system.

18. Ian Williams, NT, Notre Dame

For teams looking to find a potential starter at nose tackle on Day 3, Williams presents good value. He is a good short-area run defender with very good initial quickness. He has great character, work ethic and motor to finish to the ball on every play.

19. Chas Henry, P, Florida

Even the best punter prospects rarely go before the latter rounds, but Henry is well worth the selection at any point Saturday for a team in need. He has a great leg and is consistent in his technique, which allows him to get great hang time and be very accurate on directional punts.

20. Alex Henery, PK, Nebraska

Kickers simply aren't taken on Day 1 or Day 2, but Henery is an outstanding prospect. He is an extremely accurate kicker that has the leg to hit 50-plus yard field goals with regularity. The biggest question mark on his game is that he was not Nebraska's primary kickoff specialist.

Federal judge orders that NFL lockout be lifted

NFL players gained the advantage in their labor battle with owners Monday when a federal judge in Minnesota ordered the league-imposed lockout lifted.

The NFL indicated it wouldn’t immediately open its doors to players, though. The league said it would appeal the ruling of U.S. District Court Judge Susan Richard Nelson and ask Nelson to grant a stay of the preliminary injunction until the appellate court makes its decision.

But the ruling opens the possibility that offseason activities, including the free-agent signing period, organized offseason conditioning programs and offseason practice, could begin within days.

Such activities were suspended March 11 when the players union disbanded, the owners imposed the lockout and a group of players filed the request for the injunction along with a class-action antitrust lawsuit against the league.

The three-day draft, which begins Thursday night, will go on as scheduled regardless of whether a stay is granted.

Nelson’s ruling provides plenty of leverage for players. If the season begins as scheduled in September, players would be getting paid as usual while their lawsuits make their way through the courts.

“It definitely changes the course of action for both sides,” said Chiefs guard Brian Waters, a member of the players’ executive committee.

“We’re excited, but we’re not overly excited. We were confident this would be the ruling. We have to let the process continue on its course before we know exactly what’s going to happen. This has nothing to do with settlement conversations or negotiations.

“It’s a big victory for us, but what will happen over the next few days will solidify whether it was a real victory or not.”

The Chiefs declined comment, deferring instead to a statement released by the NFL.

“We will promptly seek a stay from Judge Nelson pending an expedited appeal to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals,” the statement read. “We believe that federal law bars injunctions in labor disputes. We are confident that the Eighth Circuit will agree. But we also believe that this dispute will inevitably end with a collective bargaining agreement, which would be in the best interests of players, clubs and fans. We can reach a fair agreement only if we continue negotiations toward that goal.”

In her ruling, Nelson wrote the players “made a strong showing that allowing the League to continue their ‘lockout’ is presently inflicting, and will continue to inflict, irreparable harm upon them, particularly when weighed against the lack of any real injury that would be imposed on the NFL by issuing the preliminary injunction.”

The NFL is free to set rules for free agency if it is forced to begin the offseason while its appeal is being heard. Last year, players required six years of service to become an unrestricted free agent.

Waters said he expected an identical set of rules this year.

“We hope they at worst would install last year’s rules because it’s a set of rules we’ve played under before, and it’s not any worse for the players,” he said. “We think that’s what they’ll do. We don’t think they’ll want to risk any more damages or any more scrutiny by making rules harsher than what they’ve already done. That would be the safest route for them to go.

“There will definitely be some sort of free agency. The timing would probably play out better if it happened after the draft. They’ll probably allow teams to have first shot at (re-signing) their own free agents.”

Waters indicated he wouldn’t advise Chiefs players to report to the Truman Sports Complex practice facility today or until Nelson provides some clarity.

NFL senior vice president of public relations Greg Aiello told the NFL Network, though, that any player who shows up to team facilities will be allowed in and will be treated with respect.

Waters was trying to prepare the players for the possibilities, but was still cautious.

“We’ll wait to see if there’s a stay granted or not before we do anything,” he said. “But I’m definitely telling guys, ‘Get your minds right, get your bodies right, because this thing can turn around very quickly.’ ”

NFL to mull kickoffs from 35

Reducing injuries behind proposal to move tee 5 yards up

The NFL's competition committee will propose several interesting rules changes to owners at the league's spring meetings that begin Monday in New Orleans.

The committee recommends moving kickoffs to the 35-yard line from the 30 and bringing out touchbacks to the 25 instead of the 20. It also wants to outlaw any wedge on returns and make it illegal for any player other than the kicker to start more than 5 yards behind the ball.

The idea is to reduce injuries.

Altanta Falcons president Rich McKay, who chaired the committee, said Wednesday that too many injuries are happening on kickoffs.

"The injury rate on the kickoff remains a real concern for us and for the players," McKay said, adding the proposed rules would be "a pretty major change to the kickoff play itself."

Other touchbacks wouldn't be changed. For instance, a punt going into the end zone would be brought out to the 20.

Another change the owners will vote on involves a modification of instant replay. All scoring plays will be reviewable to the replay official upstairs. If the replay official thinks it warrants a review by the referee, he will call down, and the referee will look at it.

As it stands now, the replay official is used in the last two minutes of the first half, the end of the game and overtime.

"The coaches wouldn't need to challenge," McKay said. "All those (scoring) plays would be confirmed (by the replay official). If the replay official decides that play should be reviewed, then the referee would continue to have the supervision of review.

"We would also propose in conjunction with that change the elimination of the third challenge. It hasn't been used very much at all in the last four years."

The committee also is making a recommendation involving player safety.

If the rule is passed, there will be eight categories of a defenseless player: the quarterback in the act of or just after throwing a pass; the receiver attempting to catch a pass, which includes the receiver who hasn't completed a catch or had time to protect himself; a runner who's already in the grasp of a tackler and whose forward progress has been stopped; a kickoff or punt returner attempting to field a kick in the air; a player on the ground at the end of a play; a kicker or punter during the kick or during the return; a quarterback at any time after a change of possession; and a player who receives a blindside block.

"We just want to be sure that we write the rules very clearly and that all eight of those categories have the exact same protection," McKay said.

League plans to lock out players, whose union decertified

NFL labor talks broke down Friday, just hours before the collective bargaining agreement was set to expire, as the union rejected a proposal from the league, then decertified, and 10 players, including MVP quarterbacks Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, sued the owners in federal court.
In response, the NFL planned to impose a lockout of players, starting at midnight ET, after the CBA officially expired, two team sources told NFL Network insider Michael Lombardi. No official announcement of a lockout was made.
The players went to court to request an injunction to block such a move by the league.
Despite two extensions to the collective bargaining agreement during 16 days of talks overseen by a federal mediator -- and previous months of stop-and-start bargaining -- the sides couldn't agree on a new labor deal.
"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 union became a trade association and cleared the way for class-action lawsuits against the NFL, which opted out of the labor deal in 2008. The antitrust suit -- officially known as Brady et al vs. National Football League et al -- attacked the league's policies on the draft, salary cap and free-agent restrictions such as franchise-player tags.Invoking the Sherman Act, an 1890 federal antitrust statute that limits monopolies and restrictions on commerce, the players are seeking triple the amount of damages they've incurred. That means the stakes could be in the hundreds of millions.It could take a month for there to be a ruling on the union's injunction request, and antitrust judgments should take longer.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 reveal."I would dare any one of you to pull out any economic indicator that would suggest that the National Football League is falling on hard times," NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said. "The last 14 days, the National Football League has said, 'Trust us.' But when it came time for verification, they told us it was none of our business."
It all sets the stage for a courtroom fight. The last time NFL games were lost to a work stoppage came when the players went on strike in 1987, leading to games with replacement players.
Even though the NFL is early in its offseason -- and the regular season is six months away -- this is hardly a complete down time. Free agency usually begins in March, and hundreds of potential free agents are now in limbo. Also this month, under a regular schedule, offseason workouts would start, and the owners meet to establish rules changes.Plus, March and early April are when many sponsors and corporate partners renew their deals with the NFL, part of why the league says hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue now will be lost.
"This obviously is a very disappointing day for all of us," New York Giants owner John Mara said. "I've been here for the better part of two weeks now, and essentially ... the union's position on the core economic issues has not changed one iota. One thing that became painfully apparent to me during this period was that their objective was to go the litigation route."The NFLPA also decertified in 1989. Antitrust lawsuits by players led to a 1993 CBA that included free agency, and the union formed again that year.
The sides met from 10 a.m. until about 4 p.m. ET Friday, discussing a new proposal by the league's owners. When the possibility of another CBA deadline extension was raised, Smith said the union first wanted assurances it would receive 10 years of audited financial information from the league.
"I will tell you this: Any business where two partners don't trust each other, any business where one party says, 'You need to do X, Y and Z because I told you,' is a business that is not only not run well, it is a business that can never be as successful as it can be," Smith said.At 4:45 p.m., Smith and the union's negotiators left. About 15 minutes later, the union decertified, saying it now becomes a professional trade association that supports the interests and rights of current and former players.
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."
NFL general counsel Jeff Pash said the owners were on a conference call discussing the NFLPA's financial-records request when the union decided to decertify.
"No one is happy where we are now," 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."After Pash spoke, outside union lawyer Jim Quinn said: "I hate to say this, but he has not told the truth to our players or our fans. He has, in a word, lied to them about what happened today and what's happened over the last two weeks and the last two years."
Smith also strongly disagreed with Pash's assessment of the deal. Smith said the players were willing to give the league up to $1 billion in cash per year to fill revenue gaps in exchange for an equity position in an NFL team or any NFL property."And we were told by their lawyer a few months ago that his clients weren't, quote, interested," Smith said. "And when we made that same proposal today, we didn't even get a response."
The NFL said its offer included splitting the difference in the dispute over how much money the owners should be given off the top of the league's revenues. Under the expiring CBA, the owners immediately received about $1 billion before dividing the remainder of revenues with the players; the owners entered negotiations seeking to roughly double that by having an additional $1 billion up front.
But the owners eventually reduced that to about $650 million. Then, on Friday, they offered to drop that to approximately $325 million. Smith said the union offered during talks to give up $550 million over the first four years of a new agreement -- or an average of $137.5 million.
"We worked hard," said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who was joined at mediation Thursday and Friday by nine of the 10 members of the owners' labor committee. "We didn't reach an agreement, obviously. As you know, the union walked away from the mediation process."
Also in the NFL's offer, according to the league:

One-Week Extension of NFL Talks Triggers Optimism Shutdown Will Be Avoided

The extended labor negotiations between the National Football League and its players union may be the most positive sign yet they’ll avert a shutdown of the U.S.’s most popular sport.

Talks resumed yesterday for about four hours under the guidance of a federal mediator and the sides plan to meet again today in Washington.

David Cornwell, president of the sports law firm DNK Cornwell, said he’s increasingly hopeful for an agreement between the sides, which remain split over how to divide $9 billion in revenue -- the most of any sports league.

“Both sides want to get a deal done, and we’re seeing that manifest in the fact that they’re continuing to talk,” Cornwell, who was an NFL lawyer and a finalist for the union executive director’s job, said in a telephone interview.

The NFL and NFL Players Association decided last week to twice extend the current collective bargaining agreement to continue negotiations. George H. Cohen, head of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, said the latest one-week extension ends the evening of March 11. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith have declined to discuss specifics of the talks, adhering to Cohen’s request to keep matters private.

“There’s a commitment on both sides to engage in another round of negotiations at the request of the mediation service,” Smith told reporters last week in Washington. “We look forward to a deal coming out of that.”

Owners voted in 2008 to opt out of the league’s collective bargaining agreement with players, saying it didn’t account for costs, such as those of building stadiums. Talks have also included topics such as expanding the regular season to 18 games from 16, a rookie pay ceiling and health care.

Setting Aside Revenue

The league wants to double the amount of revenue set aside for expenses before paying players, according to the union. Under the expiring agreement, about $1 billion is deducted before player payrolls are calculated for costs related to stadiums, marketing, NFL.com and NFL Network, according to Smith.

Had the deal expired, owners could have locked out players. The union could have abandoned its role in the talks and become a trade association, starting a process that would let players file antitrust lawsuits seeking to block a shutdown of the sport. The union used the same legal tactic after a 1987 strike broken by replacement players, spawning about 20 lawsuits, including one that helped create free agency.

Chris Carr, a union representative for the Baltimore Ravens, said he felt more hopeful when last week’s extension of the deadline pre-empted a union legal filing or an owners’ lockout.

“If they thought the best strategy was to lock the players out, they would not delay,” the Ravens’ cornerback said in an e-mail. “I am optimistic.”

Doty’s Decision

The week-long extension came three days after U.S. District Judge David Doty in Minneapolis ruled that team owners improperly negotiated $4 billion in television rights fees they might have tapped in a work stoppage. He will consider damages in a yet-to-be-scheduled hearing.

Doty, ruling on March 1, overturned an arbitrator’s decision rejecting a union complaint that the NFL improperly negotiated to receive broadcast rights fees from its most- important television partners -- CBS Corp. (CBS), News Corp (NWSA)’s Fox, Comcast Corp. (CMCSA)’s NBC, Walt Disney Co. (DIS)’s ESPN and DirecTV (DTV) -- even if a work stoppage cancels games in 2011.

Anthony DiClemente, a media and entertainment analyst for the Barclays Capital unit of Barclays Plc (BCS) and author of a report “Lockout Looms: Cause for Concern?” said Doty’s decision may help bring a deal more quickly, by placing both sides on a more equal footing.

‘More Optimistic’

“It’s likely to hasten talks and lead to a shorter-than- expected timeline on reaching an agreement,” he said in a telephone interview. Combined with the extension of talks, “We’re more optimistic that the two sides can come to a resolution than we were this time last week.”

The report found that CBS had the most at stake in an NFL work stoppage, because 41 percent of its 2010 national revenue came from its broadcast network and local television stations. Disney has the most to gain, because ESPN and ABC carry most college football, including 33 out of 35 bowl games, and ESPN is protected from a decline in advertising sales because it gets 62 percent of its revenue from affiliate fees.

A day after Doty’s ruling, the rating company Standard & Poor’s halved, to one year, a 2-day-old estimate of how long NFL teams could repay stadium bonds in a work stoppage.

Michael Cramer, director of the University of Texas’s program in sports and media, said the sides should reach an accommodation, for their own sakes.

‘Not a Path’

“Nobody wants to go through the difficulty of what would happen if you just let the contract die,” said Cramer, who is a former president of baseball’s Texas Rangers and hockey’s Dallas Stars. “That’s not a path you want to go down if you can avoid it.”

Cornwell said a lot of work remains to be done, on topics ranging from revenue sharing to performance-enhancing drugs.

“There’s more reason to be optimistic than pessimistic, but they’ve still got substantial ground to cover” he said. “The fact that they are still talking is a cause for optimism.”