Surprising Vikings Victory

The decision by a Minnesota judge to grant a temporary restraining order – at least for the moment – blocking the suspensions of Pat and Kevin Williams of the Vikings is nothing short of stunning, even if it goes no further than this.

The NFL has its policies, the disposition of which have started and ended with the league.  With discipline involving the Personal Conduct Policy, the Policy for Drugs of Abuse and Alcohol and the Policy for Anabolic Steroids and Related Substances, punishments are handed down and appealed through the Commissioner’s office and no one else.  Until now, there has not been interference in this process.

But with Wednesday’s decision, a judge has wedged himself in the middle of this formerly internal process and, at least for the moment, sided with the players in this case.  Now, the NFL’s in-house and outside counsel teams are in full mobilization to prevent this from happening.  The predictable response from the league is: "There is no merit to this lawsuit and we will promptly seek to have the order reversed" as per their statement.

Of course, to the NFL, this is a lot bigger than Pat Williams and Kevin Williams (and that is big).  This is about every single player in the league now and in the future.  If a player can go through an appeal process with the league and be disciplined at the end of that process and now have that decision reversed by an outside tribunal, there exists the possibility of anarchy.  The magnitude of the judge taking on this case cannot be overestimated.  In the event this judge, or any judge, is able to act – and he has already acted in a preliminary way – no decision by the NFL regarding discipline for violation of its policies is final. And the internal process that has heretofore been the staple of the discipline programs will be immediately emasculated.

Restraints on players – the draft, free agency limits, salary caps, drug testing, etc. – are protected under antitrust law due to the labor exemption for collective bargaining.  In other words, courts are not going to get involved with agreements made in good faith between unions and management, even though some parts of the agreement may look onerous.  The fact is, there is assumed to be give and take, and the restraints are part of the overall agreement.

The Substance Abuse policies are in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, in Article XLIV, Section 6.  They were collectively bargained between the NFLPA and the NFL.  Now a third party has astonishingly become involved.

Now there is more to come, with the NFLPA about to have its say in federal court about the suspensions as well.  With Plaxico Burress and his criminal case dominating headlines earlier – and a grievance to come from the NFLPA on his behalf as well -- this has been a tough week for America’s most popular sports league.

This StarCaps case is compelling, not just for the Williamses, but for all present and future NFL players.

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