Union applies for decertification

[Bonecrusher#31]

Union applies for decertification

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on March 11, 2011, 5:10 PM EST

Well, now things are about to get ugly.

The NFLPA announced they applied for decertification on Friday afternoon at 5 p.m. ET, following an ultimatum issued by NFLPA head DeMaurice Smith. The union asked the league around 4 p.m. ET that the league release ten years worth of audited financial statements.

The NFL didn’t call the union’s bluff, so the NFLPA will now move forward as “a trade association.”

Both sides seemed to expect to get to this point, yet it’s still jarring and depressing for NFL fans. An Antitrust lawsuit in Minnesota seems likely to follow.

There was significant progress at the negotiating table on Friday, but negotiations are basically going to end now. We’re headed to the courtrooms. Barf.

UPDATE: Here’s the statement from the organization formerly known as the NFLPA:


“The NFL Players Association announced today it has informed the NFL, NFL clubs and other necessary parties that it has renounced its status as the exclusive collective bargaining representative of the players of the National Football League.

The NFLPA will move forward as a professional trade association with the mission of supporting the interests and rights of current and former professional football players.”

 

[Rock Slamdance]

I hate unions.

 

[Bonecrusher#31]

Wheres Paul Tagliabue ?

Goodell is too much in the owners pockets.

 

[sbk92]

F the players. Lock them out and move on. Within 5 years, you have the league back where it is now level of play wise, and you've broken the union.

I welcome no football to accomplish this.

 

[sbk92]

Wheres Paul Tagliabue ?

Goodell is too much in the owners pockets.

The commissioner represents the owners.

That's like saying DeMaurice Smith is too much in the players' pockets.

 

[Sheik]

It'd be funny if the owners 86ed every single player and started fresh with a crop of average Joe athletes that wouldn't mind playing a game and making half of what these guys are making.

I'd watch.

 

[sbk92]

That's what I'm saying. I'd love it. It would completely destroy the union and hopefully do away with this idiotic pay scale.

Watch and see how quick those bitches fold if the Owners ever decided to move on.

I hope it happens. Then I hope the savings get funneled back to the fans. The quality of play will eventually return. But the lasting effects of this hardline stance will stick.

It's be great for the league in the long run.

 

[Rock Slamdance]

I'd be all for replacement players as well. It may not be top notch football at first, but it would be entertaining as hell.

 

[Sheik]

That's what I'm saying. I'd love it. It would completely destroy the union and hopefully do away with this idiotic pay scale.

Watch and see how quick those bitches fold if the Owners ever decided to move on.

I hope it happens. Then I hope the savings get funneled back to the fans. The quality of play will eventually return. But the lasting effects of this hardline stance will stick.

It's be great for the league in the long run.

I've always liked the idea of a fantasy draft. Hold tryouts in every major city and invite players into a pool to be drafted from.

It'd actually be a welcomed sight. People playing the game for the love of it, not for the money.

Epic.

Maybe we'd end up on the same team. . . .

 

[sbk92]

It would suck but would improve over time and I think within a year or two you wouldn't know the difference, as players bolt from the union and return.

The owners have all the leverage. They can own their entire life. The players are the ones on the clock.

I don't know if the NFLPA thinks we'll just roll over and show our belly desperate for football in the fall, but I think a lot of fans have gotten to the point where enough is enough. They don't own us. We can live without it.

 

[Rock Slamdance]

Not to mention, I'm willing to bet there ar few Randy White types in the league who don't have time for all this pussy not playing football shit.

 

[sbk92]

I mean, who the F do they think they are to ask for access to the league financial records?

I couldn't imagine Joe Citizen walking into work one day demanding to know what the company's making.

 

[LAZARUS_LOGAN]

It'd be funny if the owners 86ed every single player and started fresh with a crop of average Joe athletes that wouldn't mind playing a game and making half of what these guys are making.

I'd watch.

Those "average Joes" will not settle for working for average Joe salary for that long, and eventually, you'll have the same issues again.

 

[sbk92]

Those "average Joes" will not settle for working for average Joe salary for that long, and eventually, you'll have the same issues again.

Negative. Not when you make a stance like it would take to break the current union.

It would never get there again. Or at least not in our lifetime.

 

[LAZARUS_LOGAN]

I've always liked the idea of a fantasy draft. Hold tryouts in every major city and invite players into a pool to be drafted from.

It'd actually be a welcomed sight. People playing the game for the love of it, not for the money.
Epic.

Maybe we'd end up on the same team. . . .

Just because people want to get paid at something they MAKE A LIVING AT, doesn't mean that they do not have love fgor the game. How much love for the game would you have without insurance and you get injured?

 

[LAZARUS_LOGAN]

Negative. Not when you make a stance like it would take to break the current union.

It would never get there again. Or at least not in our lifetime.

Lo. whatever. Those players are going to want to wet their beaks like the ones they repalced, especially seeing how tv revenues continue to go up. Hell yeah.

 

[sbk92]

Lo. whatever. Those players are going to want to wet their beaks like the ones they repalced, especially seeing how tv revenues continue to go up. Hell yeah.

Negative.

A complete lock out of the current player group and a transition to a new roster of players would radically shake up the pay scale and prevent future players' unions from getting as out of hand and entitled as this one. It could eventually get there, but it would take many years, if ever.

And it could be done quite easily. Players come and go. Nobody will miss a single one of these players in 10-15 years, because they wouldn't be in the league anyway.

 

[sbk92]

The NFL issued a statement late Friday afternoon:

“The fastest way to a fair agreement is for both the union and the clubs to continue the mediation process. Unfortunately, the players’ union has notified our office that at 4pm ET it had “decertified” and is walking away from mediation and collective bargaining, presumably to initiate the antitrust litigation it has been threatening to file. In an effort to get a fair agreement now, the clubs offered a deal that would have had no adverse financial impact upon veteran players in the early years and would meet the players’ financial demands in the latter years.

The union left a very good deal on the table. It included an offer to narrow the player compensation gap that existed in the negotiations by splitting the difference; guarantee reallocation of savings from first-round rookies to veterans and retirees without negatively affecting compensation for rounds 2-7; ensure no compensation reduction for veterans; implement new year-round health and safety rules; retain the current 16-4 season format for at least two years with any subsequent changes subject to the approval of the league and union; and establish a new legacy fund for retired players ($82 million contributed by the owners over the next two years).

The union was offered financial disclosure of audited league and club profitability information that is not even shared with the NFL clubs."

 

[sbk92]

If that offer is legit, then I don't know how any fan can be backing the players right now.

 

[Sheik]

It's simple Laz. The player that came before today's player is what made the game. These new age business men aren't interested in anything other than being the highest paid player at their position.

You can't tell me any of these guys would play football for $50k a year. It's about the dollar. What do you think is causing this bullshit right now? Greed. From the players mostly. The owners are too, but they have more rights to the money, IMO.