NFL labor outcome could be a bellwether for NBA dispute

As the NBA lockout took hold Friday, legal experts said the NFL’s four-month-long labor dispute and ongoing antitrust case would play a key role in determining the next steps in pro basketball’s labor stoppage.

The U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis is expected to rule soon on whether NFL owners have the right to impose an indefinite lockout of players, who have decertified from a union to a trade association.

Experts in sports law say NBA players could await that NFL court ruling, or proceed to decertify themselves and file their own antitrust suit against the NBA in a more favorable federal court setting.

“The law applies to both leagues the same way — they’re both subject to antitrust claims – but you could end up with two different federal courts having differing views,” said Dan Lazaroff, a law professor at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles.

“It could go to the Supreme Court to be reconciled.”

In the NFL case, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Richard Nelson ruled in April to end the NFL lockout after a day-long hearing in Minnesota. Nelson expressed concern that an extended owners lockout could force players into agreeing to a one-sided deal.

However, the NFL appealed and a three-judge panel in the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis delayed Nelson’s order while it decides how to rule. Meanwhile, the NFL and its players are continuing to negotiate through a court-ordered mediation.

If Nelson’s order is upheld, NFL players will proceed with their antitrust lawsuit against the league’s owners, and a favorable legal precedent for NBA players will be established.

National Basketball Players Assn. Executive Director Billy Hunter decided not to immediately decertify the union after the NBA collective bargaining agreement expired Thursday night and the league locked out the players.

But Hunter and his legal advisors are closely watching for the 8th Circuit ruling in the NFL case, and both the NFL and NBA players groups have New York attorney Jeffrey Kessler as a counsel.

Michael Harper, a Boston University law professor and expert in labor and employment law, said that if the NBA players file an antitrust case it’s likely to be in a more employee-friendly section of the country, such as Northern California or New York City.

Another unknown is whether NFL owners and players will agree to a new labor deal before the 8th Circuit needs to rule in the antitrust case. If that happens, Lazaroff says, NBA players “might choose to decertify.”

Yet another wild card is the National Labor Relations Board.

Last month the NBA players union filed an unfair labor practices complaint against the league with the NLRB, alleging “harsh, inflexible and grossly regressive ‘takeaway’ demands” by NBA owners. The NBA has said there’s no merit to the complaint.

NBA players are currently evaluating “many options,” said an official close to the group unauthorized to speak publicly on the matter.

Clippers forward Brian Cook, who’s played eight seasons in the NBA, said: “We as players and as a union will stick together until this thing is resolved.”

lance.pugmire@latimes.com

twitter.com/latimespugmire

Times staff writer Lisa Dillman contributed to this report.