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The day of reckoning on the NFL labor front is this Wednesday in Minnesota, in front of Judge Susan Nelson. So what are the owners thinking privately now?
From what I hear, basically the owner’s are fed up.
One league insider told me, “from this point on, it’s a scorched-earth approach.”
The owners don’t feel they can make a deal with union’s current group of reps, led by trial lawyer DeMaurice Smith, labor lawyer Jeffrey Kessler, and others including rabble-rouser Pete Kendall.
The owners truly feel there last offer to the players was a good one.
But as one of the NFL’s lead lawyers, Bob Batterman, told me, during a recent interview on Sirius, “Jeffrey Kessler always feels it’s best to go to court.”
And behind the scenes, the owners think it’s Kessler, not Smith, who is truly running the union.
Robert Kraft, an owner heavily involved in the talks, has said repeatedly, “let’s get the lawyers out of the room and make a deal.”
Kraft has also inferred, on more than one occasion, that the player’s shouldn’t have picked a trial lawyer to run their union.
Not only is trial law different than labor law, the owners feel, that just like Kessler always wanted to go to court, so did Smith. So essentially, the mediated talks in Washington, were a major waste of time.
“Smith is most comfortable in a court room,” said another NFL insider.
And as I have mentioned many times before, and in the last issue of JC – when is Kendall ever satisfied?
While Pete is extremely bright, based on what Jets Nation witnessed when he was with Gang Green, do you really think having him playing a major part with the union is helping the process? Probably not.
Another big issue, aside from how to split up the money, is the workman’s comp situation. There is a strange law in California that allows NFL players to file workman’s comp claims, in that state, by just playing one game there. So basically, if the Jets play at San Diego once during a player’s career, and he needs a knee replacement after his career is over, he can file the claim in California.
And California generally has very favorable laws and rulings for the worker in these kind of cases.
The NFL is fighting this tooth and nail. They feel that it’s ridiculous for one road game to qualify a player for a California workman’s comp claim.
By the way, the workman’s comp laws are so favorable to workers in that state, the new Arena Football League decided to not put a team in that state this season.
So, in an nutshell, the owners are fed up, united, and committed to getting a new CBA, that doesn’t give the players 60 percent of the pie. They feel that is an unsustainable business model.
How committed are they to the cause?
“There might be some games missed this season,” said one of the insiders.
And as for what is going down in Minnesota on Wednesday in front of Judge Susan Nelson, no decision is going to made that day. That is just the beginning of what could be a long process, before she makes her ruling.
The union is hoping she says the lockout is illegal, and then the NFL will appeal, and if they lose the appeal, the league will likely play the 2011 season under the 2010 labor rules, which includes no cap.
