The biggest issue facing the
NFL Players Association is off-field events overshadowing the sport itself,
Ahmad Nassar,
NFL Players Inc. president, said in a speech before the Sports Lawyers Association earlier this month.
“We are dealing with a situation where we found ourselves in the last few months having off-field issues transcend what should be the sport’s biggest spectacle, the Super Bowl,” Nassar said. “We are having off-field events transcend, to a large extent, what is the biggest offseason event, the draft. But we are in a situation where events off the field are transcending those aspects of our game. And it is our players and ownership together, and that is a problem.”
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Executive directors panel: David Prouty, MLBPA; Steve Fehr, NHLPA; Richard Berthelsen, moderator; Domonique Foxworth, NBPA; Ahmad Nassar, NFL Players Inc.
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Incidents and punishments of
Ray Rice,
Adrian Peterson,
Greg Hardy and others have been given more media attention and more of the union’s attention than ever before, he said. “For the last several years we have had everything from Bountygate to Deflategate to, go back several years and before that, we had Spygate.”
The so-called Deflategate case, specifically, and the NFL’s punishment of players generally, were a big topic of conversation during the
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General counsels panel: Daniel Halem, MLB; moderator Andrew Brandt; Jessica Berman, NHL; Rick Buchanan, NBA;
and Adolpho Birch III, NFL
Photos by: STEVE UPTON / SPORTS LAWYERS ASSOCIATION (2)
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association’s three-day annual conference, held in Baltimore this year. Nassar spoke during the conference’s regular union executive director session, standing in for NFLPA Executive Director
DeMaurice Smith. Earlier that day, the top attorneys from the four big leagues spoke.
Nassar said that the focus on players’ behavior off the field and the ever-present investigations has taken away from the integrity of the game itself. He called for an impartial system with a neutral authority in charge of the outcome. “The reality is we have issues where we have to have a process that works for everybody and is fair for everybody that involves due process, that is meaningful,” he said.
Throughout the conference, panelists discussed the NFL’s system, which gives Commissioner Roger Goodell more authority than other commissioners in other leagues have over discipline.
Asked about that system, which is part of the CBA that the NFLPA agreed to in 2011, Nassar said, “It isn’t an issue over crying over what is in the CBA. We are saying there are provisions in the existing CBA right now if properly applied and if properly followed [that] would not yield the discipline that has been imposed right now.”
The NFL declined to comment on Nassar’s comments.
Adolpho Birch III, NFL senior vice president of labor policy and government affairs, spoke of NFL investigations on the league lawyers panel before Nassar’s speech. “What’s on my plate right now?” Birch said. “That is really what it is. Trying to work through the principles that we set forth in our conduct policy and the way we conduct it going forward. To understand what the rules should be. When we should be conducting an outside investigation. When we should be conducting an internal investigation. What needs an investigation and what doesn’t.”
> MLB, MLBPA FOCUSED ON CBA PREPARATIONS: Attorneys for both MLB and the MLB Players Association said they were focused right now on preparing for collective-bargaining negotiations next year by gathering input from their respective constituencies.
“We have to, for us, receive a lot of input from our clubs regarding what they want in bargaining,” said MLB Chief Legal Officer Daniel Halem. “What their needs are, and in some cases looking for compromises among our clubs.”
MLBPA general counsel David Prouty said the union was going through the same process with its members.
The current agreement expires Dec. 1, 2016. That agreement was reached without public rancor in November 2011, a few weeks before it was set to expire.
MLB, unlike the three other big league sports, has not had a work stoppage over labor unrest since the 1994-95 strike. But next year two new faces will head up the talks. Tony Clark was elected MLBPA executive director in 2013, succeeding Michael Weiner, who died of brain cancer. Rob Manfred took over for the retiring Bud Selig as commissioner of MLB this year.
> NBPA FOCUSED ON CBA: The National Basketball Players Association, which also has new leadership, also is focused on understanding its collective-bargaining agreement, said Domonique Foxworth, the union’s new COO.
The NBA CBA was reached in December 2011, after a 161-day lockout. Players and owners both have the ability to opt out of the deal, something that Michele Roberts, who was elected as NBPA executive director last summer, said she was preparing to do, in the event the players voted for it.
Foxworth, who stood in for Roberts at the conference, noted that the NBA was healthy, with the new television deal and lucrative sales prices for NBA clubs in the last year. “As you know in our last negotiations, the NBA was crying broke, so we will see what they say now, given the recent sales of the Clippers and the Hawks and the valuations going up,” he said.
NBA general counsel Rick Buchanan said, “With respect to the collective-bargaining agreement itself, in two seasons it could potentially expire if either side decides to opt out, so we have plenty of time to get to those issues.” Noting the new leadership at the NBPA, he said, “We have some new people running the players association and that is great. We have time to get to know them, work with them, establish a rapport … and have a positive relationship.”
> NHLPA FOCUSED ON REVENUE GROWTH: The NHL Players’ Association, meanwhile, is focused on increasing revenue with the league, said Steve Fehr, NHLPA special counsel.
“The NHL is clearly fourth among the four North American team sports [in total revenue],” said Fehr, who was standing in for his brother, NHLPA Executive Director Don Fehr, at the conference. “But on the other hand, it is a sport that we believe has significant potential for increasing that revenue growth and a very significant potential for establishing a presence in an international market beyond just North America.”
Fehr said the NHLPA is working with the league on initiatives to spur growth, including next year’s World Cup.
Jessica Berman, NHL deputy general counsel, said the league and union are working on a number of issues together. Those projects, she said, “could be the basis for good labor relations going forward.”
Liz Mullen can be reached at lmullen@sportsbusinessjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @SBJLizMullen.
