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New players' union head begins posturing

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Alex Marvez

Alex Marvez is a Senior NFL Writer for FOXSports.com. He has covered the NFL for the past 17 seasons as a beat writer and is the former president of the Pro Football Writers of America. He also is a frequent host on Sirius XM NFL Radio.

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Updated May 18, 2009 8:09 PM ET
     
 

DAVIE, Fla.

A "meet and greet" is how new NFL Players Association chief DeMaurice Smith described what will be his first introduction to team owners Tuesday at the league's spring meeting in nearby Fort Lauderdale. Assuredly, the "joust and parry" will soon follow as Smith tries negotiating a new labor deal before a potential work stoppage in 2011. Although the league's Collective Bargaining Agreement with the NFLPA doesn't expire for another 21 months, both sides are already drawing lines in the sand for upcoming negotiations. In May 2008, NFL owners unanimously voted to end the CBA two years early because of what they believed were lopsided monetary gains being made by the players.
The first obstacle entering talks is a stalemate over financial records for all 32 NFL teams. During a meeting with reporters Monday in South Florida, Smith remained insistent that the NFL "turn over audited financial statements (and) profit-loss information" to the NFLPA. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell already has said such data isn't forthcoming, claiming in March that the union "knows our revenue down to almost a penny" because of revenue figures used to compute the league's salary cap. The Green Bay Packers are the only team with open financial records because they are a publicly owned entity. The NFL generates $8 billion in revenue annually, with roughly $4.5 billion going toward player salaries and benefits. "Would you buy a car with only half the information about base price? The answer is no," Smith said. "It seems to me that (the owners) are the ones who opted out of the agreement and are preparing for a lockout. They are the ones who have said the agreement needs fixing because it doesn't adequately respond to [their] core issues. If that is true, show us." Smith said the same principles apply to whether the NFLPA would support the NFL's potential expansion to a 17- or 18-game regular-season schedule. That topic will be discussed extensively among team owners at this week's league meeting. "It seems to me the best way to talk about whether or not this issue is good for us given [players'] exposure to injury and the extension of an already grueling season [is] how much does the average team make per game?" Smith said. Another hot-button topic in CBA negotiations will be owner demands for a rookie salary cap aimed at curtailing the mega-contracts being given to early draft picks. Smith, though, said he is concerned teams would pocket any savings rather than redirect the money to veteran players. According to figures obtained Monday by FOXSports.com, there are five franchises — Tampa Bay ($37 million), Kansas City ($32 million), Green Bay ($29 million), San Francisco ($26 million) and Philadelphia ($24 million) — with an exorbitant amount of available space under the $128 million salary cap. A slew of others may end up with ample room once 53-man rosters are finalized and draft picks signed. And as first reported by FOXSports.com, the cap grew by an extra $947,000 last week because teams didn't reach a spending threshold on 2008 player salaries set forth in the CBA. The amount of money NFL teams spend on players could drop drastically in 2010 when new CBA rules go into effect. There will be no salary cap, but teams also won't have to spend to a minimum "floor" like in 2009 (this season's total is $107 million in player salaries). There also will be greater restrictions placed upon free agency. "When I talk to [veterans] about this issue of a rookie wage scale, the one core thing that underlies every part of that issue is, 'What player is involved in setting a salary for what player?' Absolutely none of them," said Smith, whose Monday visit with the Miami Dolphins marked his ninth stop on a 28-city offseason tour. "If the owners don't want to pay that price for that player, guess what? Don't. Why is this a player issue? Some people might say it is because if you saved money on the rookies it would go to veterans. If you take a look at how many teams spend their entire fund amount on veterans, what do you find out? They're not even close." Smith tied in that issue with the NFL's decision to move the date and location of the Pro Bowl without consulting the NFLPA. The 2010 all-star game will be played in South Florida the week before Super Bowl XLIV rather than in Hawaii following the NFL title game as traditionally scheduled. "The Pro Bowl is a player issue," said Smith, a Washington D.C. lawyer who was elected by NFLPA player representatives in March to replace the late Gene Upshaw. "The only issue that is truly a player issue and fan game issue is one where [the NFL] never asked the players. So now you want to ask the players about regulating how much another player gets paid? Well, I see one area where players aren't involved at all and I see one area where it's truly a player issue. You don't ask us about a player issue. You do ask us an owner issue." Despite the somber tone of Smith's comments, he does remain optimistic that a new CBA can be reached before a work stoppage ensues. Smith and Goodell already have spoken on numerous occasions, which could be laying the groundwork for a strong working relationship. "I believe the owners want the games to be played," Smith said. "I don't look at it as any sort of 'we're far apart' [in negotiations]. We haven't started yet. "I'm optimistic because our fans dig our game. Our players dig our game. And for the people who need the games to be played [for employment], we need those games to be played now more than ever." But clearly, it's going to take a lot of work to make that happen.
Tagged: Dolphins, Packers

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