Players Solidly Behind New Union Leader

FROM MICHAEL MARTINEZ:

The NFL regular season doesn’t start until September, but Wednesday in New York the first of several high-stakes games between players and owners over a new collective bargaining agreement will begin – and the outcome is just as important as a Super Bowl trophy.

It’s unlikely that much will be accomplished except perhaps a setting of ground rules for future talks and an opportunity for each side to take the measure of the other. Most owners don’t know much about the NFL Players Association’s new executive director, DeMaurice Smith, who succeeded Gene Upshaw in March.  But the players are firmly behind their new leader.

“No one can discredit all the good things Gene did,” said Scott Fujita, an alternate player representative with the Saints, “but the last few years he could sometimes be guilty of not hearing what the players were saying. The players want to have more of a voice, and this is our opportunity to be heard. DeMaurice is letting us guide the process.”

Three players – Fujita, Buffalo Bills safety George Wilson and Minnesota Vikings guard Steve Hutchinson – spoke recently with the National Football Post about several key negotiating points on the eve of this week’s meeting. Like Smith, they emphasized the importance of learning more details about the league’s revenues.

Based on recent comments from Commissioner Roger Goodell, it’s not likely to happen. Although Smith has said that players need a closer look at the league’s books to understand why owners opted out of the current CBA, Goodell has said, “There is a very clear understanding of our economics. If De being new to the situation needs a better understanding of our economics, we will certainly be willing to go through that with him.”

Getting the owners to budge off that stance could get sticky.

“It’s definitely a big stumbling block,” Wilson said. “How do we know what we’re negotiating against when we can’t see it? If we’re supposed to divide the pie, how do we know how big the pie is so that both sides feel they’ve gotten a good portion of it? Telling me is one thing; showing me sheds more light on it.”

All players really know is that owners pulled out of their labor agreement two years early, believing that paying players 60 percent of total revenues (nearly $4.5 billion in 2007) is too much.

“We had a meeting with DeMaurice ,” Hutchinson said, “and the way he explained it was: Imagine going to a car dealership and saying, ‘I like this car, how much is it?’ The dealer says, ‘You don’t need to know how much it is. How much do you have?’ That was something everybody could relate to.

“There are a lot of issues that we’re going to be fighting over, but they’ll all come out after we have transparency.”

What worries the players is that if talks don’t progress, there could be a work stoppage in 2011. The owners would be protected if that occurs because contract extensions they signed with Fox and CBS include provisions that will pay them even if no games are played. “We have the strength to do what we have to do,” Patriots owner Robert Kraft told the New York Times.

“That shows us that the owners are potentially preparing for a lockout or missed games,” Wilson said. “It’s definitely a cause for concern. I don’t think anybody on either side can afford a work stoppage. We’re the No. 1 sports league in America for a reason – the product we produce. Any break in that would affect the owners, players, fans, the workers at the venues and city officials. It would hurt more than just the owners and players. We have to take that into consideration.”

Once the two sides resolve the issue of team revenues, other key points at the bargaining table will include a rookie wage scale, a longer regular season and additional help for retired players, many of whom feel they’ve been ignored for too long by their successors.

There’s little debate that current players want to make sure former players are brought into the fold, in part because the union wants their support during negotiations. At a meeting of the NFLPA’s Retired Players Association last week in Palm Springs, Calif., Smith said, “I don’t represent active players. I don’t represent retired players. I represent all NFL players. We are one team.”

Several former players said their support won’t come easily, in part because their group and the union have never had a smooth relationship. But Hutchinson said, “It’s not just talk, it’s a main priority. To the best of our ability, we’d like to do what we can to help our brothers, the guys who came before us.”

Players generally are in agreement that a few rookies at the top of the first round are paid far too much in comparison to veterans, but as Fujita said, “What rookies make is not the most important issue to me or other players. Yes, they make a lot of money, but they only account for four percent of total payroll. It’s an issue that will be taken care of, but it’s an issue the owners can take care of themselves.”

Adding two more games to the regular season is an easily negotiable issue, but players worry about their careers being shortened by the wear and tear of 18-game schedules.

“Maybe there’s more to be made in salary with the extra games,” Wilson said, “but guys should also be concerned with the quality of life after the game ends. They have to consider if it’s worth an extra check or an extra two checks.”

But those are issues for another time. Wednesday’s opening session isn’t expected to yield much except some pregame posturing.

Michael Martinez, a longtime professional sportswriter, is managing editor of the National Football Post.

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