Posted on 10/15/2017 5:42:32 PM PDT by mbrfl
A chronology of NFL labor issues since the NFLPA was recognized by the league in 1968:
1968
NFL owners recognize the NFL Players Association as a representative of the players, and after a brief summer work stoppage, a collective bargaining agreement is reached.
1970
After the NFL-AFL merger, the NFLPA is certified by the National Labor Relations Board, and John Mackey becomes the first president of the union.
1971
Ed Garvey is hired as NFLPA executive director. Union files anti-trust case against league seeking to eliminate "Rozelle Rule" under which commissioner Peter Rozelle could award equal compensation to a team losing a free agent.
1974
A five-week players' walkout nets the union no gains and NFLPA members are back in training camp on Aug. 10.
1977
The Union wins its Mackey vs. NFL antitrust lawsuit, but gets only limited free agency with compensation under a new CBA
(Excerpt) Read more at espn.com ...
For those who doubt that the NFL is viewed as an industry rather than a company by our laws and our courts, at least with regards to labor matters, notice how many law suits have been filed and won by the NFLPA against the NFL for collusion. Collusion is a term applied to an industry, not a company. By definition, a company can't collude with itself.
Our anti-trust laws have been applied to all major league sports with exemptions given in certain areas to allow the individual teams the ability to engage in the coordination necessary to run a league.
The trend is clear. Over the past 40 years, the players have gained more leverage by chipping away at the owners' ability to control free agency. This has put upward pressure on salaries. Those of us who followed football in the 70's or earlier have seen this trend play out. As a kid in Miami in the 70's, I remember that most Miami Dolphins had off season jobs. They were not poorly paid by any means, but the compensation wasn't enough for most responsible players to not see the wisdom in having a second career for when their NFL careers ended. Needless to say those days are gone.
Salaries have gone up over the years, but the NFL also has a salary cap that is directly tied to TV revenues. As a result, you have stars getting paid a lot of money but it seems like many players are getting paid at or near the league minimum.
The sorry state of professional football is a result of this ill thought out, selective application of anti-trust laws to the NFL. The poor accountability of players comes from the protected status they receive from anti-trust laws. The poor accountability of the owners comes from their ability to limit the amount of competition that would develop if more teams were allowed to form and compete in their annual tournaments.
The solution seems clear. Give the owners a choice. Decide whether they want to merge and officially become one company, and be regulated like any other company - no more and no less, or else dissolve the NFL and replace it with an organization more akin to what the NCAA is for college football. The NCAA helps organize and set standards for inter-collegiate play, but they make no attempt to restrict new colleges from entering the arena of inter-collegiate play.
Turning the NFL from a league into a single organization would be a terrible turn of events. The league would basically function like WWE wrestling and would be nothing more than a bunch of staged events rather than a competitive sport. The NCAA isn’t a good model, either. That’s an even worse racket than the NFL by any measure.
Bump
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