Déjà vu all over again!

By Milt Thompson
Of Counsel

I’ve seen this picture before and no one wants to acknowledge history in this instance and would prefer to deny the existence of the elephant in the room.

What am I talking about now? The NFL, NFL Players Union (Players Inc.) and the powerless consumer of the NFL Brand…is to what I am referring.

When I mentioned to a group of young community leaders last spring that I thought that the Superbowl planned for Indianapolis in February of 2012 might be in jeopardy because of the impending labor negotiations in the NFL, were contentious at best, I was met with expressions of “no way” or “why would anyone allow the most successful of Sports Leagues to wilt under labor pressure?” When I began to discuss serious issues that plague the completion of a new labor deal, there was still an air of disbelief.

I’m writing this note just after the opening regular season game between the Minnesota Vikings and the reigning Superbowl Champion New Orleans Saints wherein the players from both teams made a bold union gesture of solidarity.

The owners are dug in with surplus funds to drastically change what they believe is an unsustainable business model. They also are not in accord with their current revenue sharing opportunities that pits large market owners against their small market colleagues. The owners want to essentially cut the current 60% of gross revenues to the players to roughly 50% and asking first time negotiator and new union chief, De Marcus Smith, to accept the cut without a fight.

By not extending the current CBA for this 2010/2011 un-salary capped year, the owners have drawn the first line in the sand. They are intent on systemic structural changes to their business and are well prepared to “lock out” the players next year.

There are several other deal killing issues that are not even being addressed at the bargaining table including, but not limited to, additional regular season games, pension and post career health care, and a shift in pay from rookies to veterans. Distrust and skepticism abounds.

The fans are perhaps just now getting the real urgency of these diverse issues and have been lulled into complacency as they have no real power to mediate the issues and save a season of discontent with a real chance of no NFL Football nor a Superbowl in Indianapolis in 2012. The jeopardy is real and not imagined. I hope I am dreaming this repeat of history but I remember no Olympics, no World series and cross the picket line strikes. This makes me sad.