NFL labor talks are off, work stoppage likely

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

NFL labor talks broke down just hours before the latest contract extension expired Friday. The union decertified, and players including MVP quarterbacks Tom Brady and Peyton Manning sued the league, putting the country’s most popular sport on a path to its first work stoppage since 1987.

Despite 16 days of negotiations with a federal mediator — and previous months of stop-and-start bargaining — the sides could not agree on a new deal. The league said it hadn’t decided whether to lock out the players, who, meanwhile, went to court to request an injunction to block such a move.

“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By dissolving and announcing it no longer represents the players in collective bargaining, the NFL Players Association cleared the way for class-action lawsuits against the NFL, which opted out of the CBA in 2008. The antitrust suit attacked the NFL’s policies on the draft, salary cap and free-agent restrictions such as franchise-player tags.

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 turn over.

In the end, it appeared the sides were about $185 million per year apart on how much money owners would get up front during the new collective bargaining agreement — well down from the $1 billion that separated them for so long. The union refused to budge any further without getting detailed financial information for each team.

“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 set the stage for a lengthy court fight that eventually could threaten the 2011 season.

“This obviously is a very disappointing day for all of us. 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,” New York Giants owner John Mara said. “One thing that became painfully apparent to me during this period was that their objective was to go the litigation route.”

The sides met from 10 a.m. until about 4 p.m. Friday, discussing a new proposal by the owners. When the possibility of another extension was raised, the union said it first wanted assurances it would get 10 years of audited financial information.

“No one is happy where we are now,” NFL lead negotiator Jeff 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.”

The public acrimony that arose Thursday night seeped into Friday.

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.”