NFLPA

[ScriptOhio]

Stover e-mail shows plan to find successor to NFLPA boss Upshaw

An effort to oust Gene Upshaw as the NFL Players Association Executive Director became evident Monday, when veteran Baltimore Ravens kicker Matt Stover e-mailed a plan to fellow player representatives to have a new union boss in place by March 2009.
In his e-mail, a copy of which has been obtained by ESPN, Stover revealed a conference call among player reps last week about which he said, "I was on that conference call and I am not the only rep who listened and felt that it is time for a change." Two union sources say that Stover objected strongly to the amount of Upshaw's latest contract, which called for $24 million in salary over six years.
Upshaw said Tuesday morning that he was aware of Stover's e-mail but read it for the first time when ESPN forwarded him a copy. Upshaw's contract runs through 2010, but he said Tuesday he told player representatives at their annual meeting in Maui in March that with a looming labor confrontation with NFL owners, "I would never leave until this deal is done."

Entire article: ESPN - Stover e-mail shows plan to find successor to NFLPA boss Upshaw - NFL

[ScriptOhio]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A federal jury on Monday ordered the NFL Players Association to pay $28.1 million to retired players after finding the union failed to properly market their images.
The jury said the union owed the retirees $7.1 million in actual damages for failing to include them in lucrative marketing deals with Electronic Arts Inc., the maker of the popular "Madden NFL" video games, sporting card companies and other sponsorship agreements.
Hall of Fame cornerback Herb Adderley filed the lawsuit last year on behalf of 2,056 retired players who contend the union failed to actively pursue marketing deals on their behalf with video games, trading cards and others sports products.
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Lawyers representing Adderley and the retired players told the jury during the three-week trial that the union actively sought to cut them out of licensing deals so active players could receive bigger royalty payments. As proof, the retirees pointed to a 2001 letter from an NFLPA executive telling Electronic Arts Inc. executives to scramble the images of retired players in the company's popular Madden video game, otherwise the company would have to pay them.
EA's Madden game contains 143 "vintage" teams populated with no-name players that closely resemble Adderley and other retirees. Yet only active players received a cut of the EA deal, the union's largest, which surpassed $35 million for 2008.
Ronald Katz, a lawyer representing the retirees, told jurors that longtime union chief Gene Upshaw and other union leaders "betrayed the trust of their members" by neglecting the retired players, who pay $50 a year to keep their union membership. Upshaw died of cancer in August.
Kessler unsuccessfully urged the jury to award far less, arguing the union could suffer economic harm if it had to pay a large amount.
"It was the only sports union that tried to do retired players' licensing deals," Kessler said.
The union's primary defense during trial was that EA, trading card companies such as Topps and Upper Deck and other companies paid licensing fees exclusively for active players.
But the retirees represented at trial all signed "group licensing agreements" that promised the union would do its best to market their images. The jury found otherwise.
"We felt we had to send a message that the union needs to represent and protect all its members," said Susan Smith, part of the 10-person jury that voted unanimously in favor of the retirees. "We felt the players' union didn't do that."
The jury's verdict is the latest salvo in an increasingly rancorous relationship between the NFLPA and many retired players, who have complained that the union has forgotten what past players have contributed to building the NFL into a highly profitable industry that richly compensates owners and players alike.

Entire article: Jury orders NFL union to pay $7.1M to retirees - NFL - SI.com

[HineyBuck]

Interesting report just out in January. Since the NFL owners won't release financial data, but continue to cry poverty, the NFLPA commissioned two University of Chicago economists to make an assessment. Here is an excerpt of their report, with their main conclusions:


"Our firm has been asked by the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) to examine the NFL owners? claim that they cannot continue to operate economically under the current salary cap/free agency system. The best source of information for this analysis would have been the audited financial statements of the NFL and each of its 32 teams and affiliated enterprises. However, we understand that the NFL owners are unwilling to provide that information to either the NFLPA or the public. The best available alternative information is
contained in the financial statements of the Green Bay Packers (the one publicly owned franchise in the NFL) and in data collected by reputable third parties and by the NFLPA.

"The data from these various sources are broadly consistent with one another. Thus we conclude that together they paint a reliable picture of the financial performance of NFL teams. Based on our analysis of the economic and financial data, we have reached the following conclusions:

? Over the past decade, NFL owners have, on average, done very well financially, and they have continued to do well since the 2006 extension of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

? Team values have nearly quadrupled since 1998: the average NFL team is now worth more than $1 billion.

? Over the past five years, average operating income per team has been $26.4 million. Last year, the average team earned approximately $25 million.

? When one takes into account both capital appreciation and operating income, NFL owners have realized average total returns of nearly $100 million per year per team, or an average annual return of 17.6 percent over the past decade.

? The financial returns to NFL owners have been substantially greater than the returns to investments in the overall U.S. economy as reflected in broadbased stock market indices.

? The percentage of total revenues paid to players in the years following the 2006 CBA extension is lower than the average percentage paid to players since the NFL and the players entered into the current salary cap/free agency system in 1993. Recent increases merely reverse a downward trend that began in 1999.

? The proportion of rookie player salaries in the NFL has declined over the past decade.

? NFL owners have enjoyed substantial increases in their wealth under the salary cap/free agency system. To the extent that the recent turmoil in the financial markets may have an impact on future economic performance, the current system contains an adjustment mechanism that will restrain the salary cap and put a ceiling on the player compensation as a percentage of overall revenues."


I've got the full report in a .pdf file. I'd be happy to post it if someone can tell me how. Or, send me a pm and I'll send you a copy.

[ScriptOhio]

New Union Chief Tutors Players on NFL Economics; $8 Billion on the Line

The new union leader?s quiz of some of the best-educated professional athletes in the country proceeds like this:
?How many people here know the National Football League is a non-profit?? DeMaurice Smith, the longtime Washington, D.C., lawyer asks 75 members of the Seattle Seahawks. No hands rise.
?How many people here know that the NFL has a special antitrust exemption granted to them by Congress?? Again, no hands. ?We all understand the difference between a strike and a lockout?? Silence and blank stares.
Mr. Smith, elected in March to replace the late Gene Upshaw and lead the NFL Players Association, then asks how many players saw the news about the league?s new deal with DirecTV, which guarantees teams an additional $4 billion through 2014. They didn?t. He asks how many of the league?s new and renovated stadiums were paid for with tax dollars. They shake their heads in disbelief when he gives them the answer?virtually all of them.
These men, like many National Football League players, are essentially in the dark on the basic underpinnings of their league?s $8-billion juggernaut, even in an era when teenage phenoms speak of themselves as brands and approach their careers as sophisticated businessmen.
That?s about to change. After two months of visits with nearly every NFL team, Mr. Smith met Tuesday with the league?s player representatives to plot strategy for the upcoming negotiations in what may become the NFL?s most intense labor standoff in two decades. Team owners last year set the stage for this showdown when they voted to terminate the current collective-bargaining agreement after the 2010 season, two years ahead of schedule. Owners say the players? share of the pie?about 60% of total revenues?is too large and needs to be scaled back.
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Entire article: Football Players Get Tutored on NFL Economics - WSJ.com