By Rick Stroud, Times Staff Writer
Friday, March 11, 2011
Negotiation turned to litigation Friday as the NFL Player's Association decided to punt future labor talks and put their game in the hands of lawyers.
Executive director DeMaurice Smith is expected to announce that the union has decertified, beating the midnight expiration of the current collective bargaining agreement by several hours.
NFL owners are expected to respond by locking players out of the club facilities beginning today.
The reason for decertifying is so individual players can file an antitrust lawsuit against the NFL. Since the league operates as a monopoly, it would be violating federal labor laws by restricting trade. Players can also file for an injunction to asking a judge to rescind the lockout.
The union will become a trade association and can no longer represent players. They will re-organize as a union once an ruling is made.
Smith's announcement came after a 16th day of labor talks with league owners in Washington, D.C. office of federal mediator George Cohen.
At 4:45 p.m., Smith said significant differences remain in labor talks with the league. As a result, the union has requested 10 years of audited financial records accompany any request for an extension of labor talks. NFL owners failed to agree to that financial transparency by the 5 p.m. deadline and the union filed for decertification.
Friday's events set the stage for a summer of legal scrimmages with federal judges serving as referees to split the more than $9.3-billion in revenue for the most popular sport in America.
What it means is that there will be no on-field action or communication between players currently in the NFL and employees of the teams. Players immediately lose all their insurance benefits. Team doctors will be allowed to monitor the progress of injured players, but not at the club's facility. There will be no free agency or trades. The NFL will hold its annual draft, but once those players are selected and have their introductory news conferences, they can have no negotiations or communication with the team that selected them.