NFL retirees take on NFLPA, Players Inc. in civil lawsuit
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Former NFL players who’ve been jousting with the NFL Players Assn. in pre-trial proceedings for almost 20 months finally are getting their day in court.
The class action lawsuit that is being heard today in a federal district court in San Francisco turns on the retirees’ allegation that the union and its for-profit Players Inc. marketing arm are failing to share millions of dollars in revenue from such union marketing partners as EA Sports (maker of the popular Madden NFL electronic games) and trading card and collectibles companies Topps and Upper Deck.
There were so many attorneys in attendance at a pre-trial hearing last week that U.S. District Court Judge William H. Alsup quipped that ‘each side has almost got 11 players.’
At issue are the millions of dollars that flow into union and Players Inc. coffers. Manatt Phelps, the law firm representing retirees, estimates that lost income for the more than 2,000 class members could be as much as $106.9 million -- a figure that would be tripled if the retirees win their case and jurors approve the maximum in punitive damages.
The case already has resulted in outsiders’ getting a rare peek into union business deals with corporate marketing partners. Alsup earlier ordered the NFLPA to unseal contracts with EA Sports, Topps and other companies.
The no-holds-barred nature of the lawsuit was evident during last week’s pre-trial hearing when Alsup bluntly told attorneys that ‘this is a public proceeding. This is not a subsidiary of your law firm. And if the public wants to come in and find out how we decide things, we are. So, nothing is going to be under seal, and nothing -- no member of the public is going to be excluded.’
The union maintains that it has paid retirees what they are owed from licensing deals that allow corporations to include players’ names and images in electronic games, trading cards and other products.
Retired NFL player Jeff Nixon spoke about the lawsuit today on NPR’s ‘Morning Edition’ program.
-- Greg Johnson
Though this particular image of Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb in the Madden NFL series is apparently not at issue, other images from the series are -- along with NFL trading cards and collectibles. Image courtesy of Electronic Arts