DeMaurice Smith Says NFL Players Just Want To Play Football

Smith Discusses Upcoming CBA Talks During "Inside The NFL" Appearance

NFLPA Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith appeared in-studio Wednesday on Showtime's "Inside The NFL" and said the players have "made it absolutely clear" to him that they "want to play football" rather than suffer a work stoppage over CBA negotiations. Smith: "It's important for me to let everybody know out there that the players of the National Football League are going to do everything they can to make sure that football is there every Sunday, every Monday and occasionally on Thursday." But he added, "We control only one side of this dance and we didn't opt out of the contract. ... I feel a little embarrassed about being forced to negotiate a deal and talk about the threat of football going away when I know that we generate $8(B) in revenue every year, that we have secured or the league has secured television contracts to 2013." Smith said there is "no windfall for anyone" in an uncapped season in '10. Smith: "I’ve told our guys that I want a deal before the uncapped year. ... I have proposed before let's sit down sometime near the end of the season if we don't have a deal, let's commit ourselves to four days where we're just going to fight through it and get a deal done. I'm still waiting on that answer from the NFL." He added, "I am committed to playing football in two years." Smith said guaranteed contracts are "something that every player in the NFL wants" and that he will bring that issue to the bargaining table. Smith: "Now that we are forced to come to the negotiating table to talk about things, guess what? We talk about everything." Meanwhile, he said of having a guaranteed contract himself, "It is up to the players to make a decision on how they pay their Executive Director and what they are going to do. I got elected by 32 players. I am governed by 11 guys on an executive committee that made a decision" ("Inside the NFL," Showtime, 10/21).

SMALL SPENDERS: SI.com's Don Banks cited NFL team sources as indicating that the tone within the league is "to be cautious in terms of spending, given the amount of uncertainty that surrounds" the possibility of an uncapped season in '10 and a work stoppage in '11. One team source said that he "senses a growing league-wide mentality to encourage clubs to tread carefully in the uncapped year, with the clear understanding that profligate spending in free agency would only serve to work against the portrayal of the new and harsher financial realities the NFL hopes to convey to players union leadership" during CBA talks. Banks wondered, "Does that add up to the potential for the players union to accuse the league's teams of collusion next year? For now, that judgment is probably in the eye of the beholder" (SI.com, 10/22).