Fears of NFL work stoppage grow after marquee players announce opposition to labor deal

He could have been speaking about the current political climate when he addressed reporters Thursday in Indianapolis at the NFL’s scouting combine, but DeMaurice Smith’s blunt assessment referred to the current labor negotiations between the NFL owners and players.

“Man, democracy’s messy,” Smith, the executive director of the NFL players’ union said after high-profile players announced their opposition to a proposed labor deal.

Although the current collective bargaining agreement between the league and NFL Players Association isn’t set to expire until after the 2020 season, the two sides have been negotiating a new, 10-year agreement. The owners have already approved the proposal on the table, and it’s now up to the roughly 2,000-member player union to vote whether to ratify the agreement or reject it.

But it’s not immediately clear that’ll happen, setting off fears of a potential battle between players and owners that could mean a work stoppage.

One of the issues at stake is whether to expand the current regular season from 16 to 17 games.

“It’s a fluid process,” one NFL source told NBC News, referring to the negotiations. “There are a lot of discussions. The players are well-equipped to make decisions. The players are engaged. If they vote ‘no’ now, that doesn’t mean they won’t eventually get to ‘yes.’ There’s still time.”

Yes, there may still be time for a union’s membership to change its thinking if the players reject the current proposal, but at least one marketing expert said a “no” vote now could potentially mean short and long-term disaster for the sport.

Marc Ganis, the president of Sportscorp Ltd., a Chicago-based sports marketing firm, and who has consulted for many NFL teams, said one such labor headache that looms is a work stoppage. There was a player lockout in 2011 that wiped out the entire offseason, before the owners and players were able to agree upon a new CBA that summer.

Russell Wilson warms up prior to the NFC Wild Card Playoff game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on Jan. 5, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pa.Steven Ryan / Getty Images file

“It would be a huge impact if (the players) vote no. Both parties will have to start getting into hardball negotiations, prepare for a work stoppage,” said Ganis. “There’s that old saying, ‘I have my lawyers, and you have your lawyers, and when we use the lawyers, everything turns to crap.’ One of the first things that happens, (if the CBA proposal is rejected) is that the environment changes, where each side is thinking about who wins instead of what is mutually beneficial for both sides.”

Last week, marquee NFL quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers (and one of his team’s player representatives) and Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks, voiced their opposition to the CBA proposal. Rodgers said of the proposed expansion of the regular season: “Sixteen games to me, was never something to be negotiated. The owners made it clear that the seventeenth game is about paying for the ‘added’ benefits, and had nothing to do with positive feedback received about any extra risks involved with the added regular season game.”

Rodgers makes a very important point about the players’ health and safety, still a hot button issue in a sport that involves violent collisions on nearly every play. But Ganis warned that players should consider the many issues at stake.

“If the proposal is rejected, the league would not be able to negotiate new broadcast deals. They will have to wait a year and half. The window to strike great broadcast deals is now. As we’ve seen recently, the world changes quickly,” said Ganis, referring to the stock market volatility over coronavirus fears and the upcoming 2020 presidential election.

“It’s impossible to project a year and half from now, and whether it will be better.”

Ganis said that players get 55% of broadcast revenues, so it would benefit both sides to negotiate TV deals when market conditions are robust.

“Instead of the league making investments to grow the game and expand revenue streams, the league is focused on how to deal with the players (if the CBA proposal is rejected),” Ganis added. “Think about it, a player’s average (professional) career is three years. The average career of an owner is decades. If players think their leverage over the owners gets stronger because of a potential work stoppage, they are wrong. The owners have billions set aside for a work stoppage.”

The NFL source said that 60% of the current players could be out of the league in a few years, so the decision to ratify a new CBA has as much to do with current rank and file and star NFL players as it does with those who will enter the league in the future.

Ganis agreed and said if players like Rodgers and Wilson — who have already earned millions — influence some of the younger players in a meaningful fashion, it’s possible the proposal will get rejected.

“That would hurt everyone. All the players playing for the minimum would see salaries go up (if the CBA was approved). All the retirees would have a much bigger pension, and health benefits would be immediate. That money never gets made up,” said Ganis. “The top players are going to make bank no matter what, but they may have a lot of influence on the rank and file.”

source: nbcnews.com