By Jamison Hensley
Sun reporter
February 3, 2006
DETROIT -- Super Bowl
Saying the sides are "significantly" apart on a new collective bargaining agreement, the NFL Players Association is set to take the league to court.
In the union's annual Super Bowl news conference, executive director Gene Upshaw struck a defiant pose on the problematic negotiations, saying discussions about legal action against the NFL will begin March 9 if no deal is reached.
The heart of the discord, Upshaw said, is the players' percentage in an expanded revenue-sharing system with owners.
The current contract expires in two years, but the final one - which begins in 2007 - is an "upcapped" year. If the sides can't agree on a new deal, negotiations on players contracts are expected to be difficult when free agency begins March 3.
"The price of poker will go up," said Upshaw, who had previously been chided for his close relationship with commissioner Paul Tagliabue. "We can not stay in the place where we are now."
Upshaw said the union would only accept a proposal that gives the players at least 60 percent of total football revenues. A couple of months ago, he said the owners have offered to set the cap at 57 percent.
Negotiations are expected to intensify after the Super Bowl.
There has been long-standing labor peace in the NFL since the salary cap took effect in 1993. But the talks have become combative, although Upshaw indicated the union has the leverage.
If the contract expires after 2007 with no new CBA, the union would decertify itself to keep the owners from locking out the players and go to antitrust court to ask for a set of rules under which the NFL would operate.
There is a possibility that the courts would allow the league to lock out players, but Upshaw is confident the league would not let that occur because of the new lucrative television contracts.
"If you paid that amount, you want prime rib and not hot dog," Upshaw said.
Upshaw also warned that if the contract reached that uncapped year, the union would not return to a salary cap system.
Another topic addressed by the union was the retired players pension. Earlier this month, 13 Hall of Famers interviewed by The Charlotte Observer expressed concern that the NFL and the league players association don't do enough to help former players.
"The current players are the ones we legally represent, but morally we represent them all," Upshaw said.
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