NFL action, as seen here in the 2008 Super Bowl, will not be interrupted for at least three years, owners say, after they opted to shorten the current collective agreement with players by two years. (Paul Sancya/Associated Press)Labour relations in the National Football League are about to get complicated.
NFL owners on Tuesday announced they have unanimously agreed to opt out of the final two years of the current collective bargaining agreement with the players, ending the deal in 2011 instead of 2013.
They also said there will be no play stoppage — meaning no lockout — for at least the next three seasons.
If a new contract isn't agreed on between the owners and the players' association by March of next year, the 2010 season would be played without a salary cap, and union head Gene Upshaw has already said if that happens his group will not agree to have it reinstated in any future CBA.
Players get 60 per cent of total team revenues and owners say they want to lower that because economic conditions have changed.
Owners could have waited to Nov. 8 to opt out of the 2006 deal's final two years.
Upshaw, who last weekend referred to the owners as "greedy," was told of the decision by e-mail, and it didn't surprise him.
"My response to his e-mail was very simple: 'What a surprise,'" he said, sarcastically, in an interview on Sirius NFL Radio.
"As they say during the draft, we're on the clock," Upshaw said.
With files from the Associated Press
