NFL labor laws

NFL owners unanimously voted in 2008 not to continue with the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) following the 2010 season, after previously voting to extend it in 2006. That last labor agreement gave players 57 percent of the league’s $9 billion in revenue, after the owners took $1 billion for growth and development of the league. A major reason for opting out is that the owners want a better deal to help pay for investments they have made on new stadiums and other expenditures. Part of the previous CBA involved a transfer of revenues from the higher earning teams to the lowest, even though some of the higher earners also have higher costs. Players are very skeptical that the owners are losing money as a result of their payments to players, and believe the current pay dispute was deliberately generated by some owners in order to renegotiate their own revenue sharing agreements which are attached to the CBA. The players are resisting any pay cuts across the board.

As bargaining chips, the owners proposed to extend the regular season from 16 to 18 games, establish a rookie wage scale and/or rookie salary cap that would limit first-round draft pick compensation to 40% of the current level, begin routine testing for human growth hormone, and implement other health and safety issues. But the players are concerned that these health and safety proposals would be offset by the potential injuries that might occur during those two extra games.
Anticipating a lockout initiated by the owners if no deal is made, a number of players voted in Fall 2010 to agree to decertify the union, which would expose the owners to potential antitrust lawsuits. However, the players would then lose the ability to collectively bargain with the owners. The league is also exempted from most facets of antitrust laws as a result of Public Law 89-800, passed in the wake of the AFL–NFL merger in 1970, complicating any potential lawsuit against the league. The players union has also hired firms to lobby members of the U.S. Congress on their behalf, claiming that a work stoppage could potentially cost each NFL city $160 million in lost business, a figure that the league owners say is inflated.Congressmen have indicated a willingness to intervene if necessary.


Lockout
Just before the CBA expired on March 3, both the players and the league owners agreed to extend the negotiations by one week. However, talks eventually broke down, and on March 11, the union formally decertified, after which a group of ten players filed an antitrust lawsuit against the league. (The players involved are Tom Brady and Logan Mankins of the New England Patriots, Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints, Vincent Jackson of the San Diego Chargers, Ben Leber and Brian Robison of the Minnesota Vikings, Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts, Von Miller who was drafted by the Denver Broncos with the second pick overall, Osi Umenyiora of the New York Giants, Mike Vrabel of the Kansas City Chiefs, as well as several former NFL players including Priest Holmes of the Kansas City Chiefs.) In response to the decertification, the league officially locked out the players. On July 5, 2011, a group of retired NFL players led by Carl Eller, Franco Harris, Marcus Allen and Paul Krause filed its own class-action lawsuit against both the NFL and NFLPA, stating that the decertification disqualified the NFLPA from bargaining on the former NFL players' behalf.
On July 6, 2011, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman opened an investigation into the league for possible violations of New York State's antitrust law, the Donnelly Act.

This is only the second time in which a labor dispute could jeopardize the preseason. The other was during the 1974 NFL season, in which the College All-Star Game was canceled due to the threat of a work stoppage; an agreement was struck shortly thereafter, and the rest of the preseason, beginning with the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, was unaffected. The 1982 and 1987 strikes began after the regular season was already underway. The lockout is the longest in the NFL's history, but because all of it to date has taken place during the offseason, it has not yet forced the cancellation or postponement of any games.

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