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The NFL Players Association is bracing for a showdown with team owners that could lead to a work stoppage when the current collective bargaining deal expires. Hoping to enlist powerful allies, the players’ group is ratcheting up its lobbying on Capitol Hill under new executive director DeMaurice Smith.
The players union spent $220,000 on lobbying in the second half of last year, more than double what it had spent in all of the previous year. Last May, soon after taking over at the union, Smith switched lobbyists, hiring Patton Boggs, the powerhouse Washington firm where he had been a partner.
Since then, he’s organized a couple of player lobby days, featuring dozens of current and former players who bring their star power to meetings with lawmakers and congressional staffers. Those making the rounds have included Washington Redskins wide receiver Antwaan Randle El and Kevin Mawae, a Pro-Bowl Tennessee Titans center and president of the players’ union.
The union has said it fears the owners will impose a lockout after next season’s Super Bowl, and it has been building relationships on Capitol Hill in hopes of getting Congress’ help in keeping the games going. The league counters that a new collective bargaining agreement will get done, but owners also contend the existing agreement, which calls for players to receive about 60 percent of revenues, is too favorable for players.
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Smith said that the increased lobbying was in part a reaction to the NFL’s own expanded Washington presence. In 2008, the league hired an in-house lobbyist, former Capitol Hill staffer Jeff Miller, and established a political action committee to raise campaign money. Last year, the NFL’s “Gridiron PAC” made about $250,000 in political donations. The union doesn’t have a PAC.
Even with the union’s increased lobbying, the NFL continues to vastly outspend it. In the last six months of 2009, the NFL reported $610,000 in lobbying expenses, nearly triple the union’s total.
Smith said another factor in the union’s increased lobbying expenditures was the recent Supreme Court case in which the NFL argued it should be considered one business — not 32 separate teams — when it comes to selling NFL-branded items. The players are worried that a broad ruling from the court, which heard arguments in the antitrust case last month, could go well beyond merchandise.
http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wirestory?id=9738278&page=1