Polite Start Masks the Rift in NFL Talks

The cordial handshakes and polite smiles exchanged when the NFL players union and management held their first contract bargaining session belied the profound differences that could plunge the league into the kind of labor strife which led to the 1982 players strike.

Negotiating teams from the NFL Players Assn. and NFL Management Council, the league’s negotiating arm, kicked off their talks for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement at a Washington hotel, exchanging opening offers and pledging to negotiate in good faith to avert another strike.

But leaders from both sides also said they agreed on just about nothing at the April 20 session other than to meet again in early May.

The deepest rifts between the sides likely will focus on the union’s demand for unrestricted free agency and management’s demand for the mandatory random drug testing of all players that Commissioner Pete Rozelle insists is imperative to rid football of illegal drugs.

However, management also added several unexpected proposals that could complicate the bargaining even further, including a restrictive wage scale for rookies designed to control skyrocketing salaries and provisions for rolling back the salaries for some players in the option year of contracts.

Those demands, however, could represent a typical bargaining ploy. The hallmark of labor negotiating is each side entering with unreasonable demands, then forging compromises.

“What we have is two opposites and somewhere in between where we are and where they are is a collective bargaining agreement and that’s what we’re working on. We’re just putting the framework together,” said union Executive Director Gene Upshaw in a conciliatory signal.

Another positive sign for the bargaining is the friendship between Upshaw, the Hall of Fame offensive lineman from the Oakland Raiders, and Jack Donlan, the Management Council Executive Director. In fact, Donlan attended Upshaw’s wedding last September.

The players say the 57-day players strike in 1982 is still fresh in their minds and will help them hammer out a new Collective Bargaining Agreement before the current five-year contract expires Aug. 31.

“I think we’ve got the great advantage of having gone through the experience of 1982 in understanding the bargaining process and I think you’ll see us take great pains and go to greater lengths (for agreement),” said Brian Holloway, vice president of the union’s executive committee and the player representative from the New England Patriots.

“I think we have a better understanding of where we’re at and the urgency of this agreement,” Holloway added. “Both groups seem to be willing to do things in a way where we can make some significant progress toward an agreement.”

But Upshaw warned management the players would not accept roll-backs.

“What I saw in their proposal was concessions and takebacks, and it is what we expected,” Upshaw said. “I just think it’s a mistake on the part of the NFL clubs and NFL Management Council to underestimate the strength of the players. I think that the players are resolved to reach a fair agreement, but by no means will we enter into concession bargaining.”

Donlan said he found little acceptable in the union’s 123-page contract proposal, but added it was much more professionally devised than the opening offer during talks for the 1982 Collective Bargaining Agreement. Management negotiators at that time complained the union’s proposals were vague and unspecific.

“What we have to do now is get down to some serious bargaining with the union,” Donlan said. “We have to sit down and we have to identify for them face to face and across the table those areas of concerns that we have about their proposals. It is no secret that they are asking for the dissolution of our system. Everybody knows what our position on that is.”

The players union has publicized its primary demands, including free agency, more guaranteed contracts, a higher contribution by owners into the players pension plan, a larger roster and protection from alleged harassment for player representatives. But the owners had not unveiled their proposals until the opening bargaining session.

The most unexpected demand by the league in its 46-page plan concerned the proposed entry level wage scale for rookies. Under the proposal, the NFL would establish the equivalent of a salary cap for rookies, setting a maximum salary for rookies and restrict the value of signing bonuses and performance incentives.

Donlan said scale would vary upon which round a rookie is drafted and on how many years the contract covers. Donlan said the plan is devised to eliminate giant rookie salaries, particularly with individual teams complaining that they frequently give hefty signing bonuses to rookies who either never make the team or never meet expectations.

The plan apparently is the means by wish owners hope to curb player salaries, which ballooned from 1983 through 1986 because of the competition from the United States Football League.

The Management Council also is seeking a reduction of the “option clause” in the contracts of players who have been in the league for fewer than four seasons. Under the proposal, teams would no longer be obligated to grant an automatic 10% wage increase to players with less than four years experience whose contract the team wants to renew. The owners would keep the salaries at the same level.

In addition, the league is pushing for a deadline for holdouts after which they would be ineligible to play for a season, extending the draft from 12 to 15 rounds, increasing player fines for the first time since 1977 and allowing teams to hold as many off-season training camps as they want.

The players, on the other hand, desperately want free agency. The union proposal would not include a team’s right of first refusal for a player and would exclude compensation in the form of another player, draft choice or cash. To head off the possibility of collusion among owners to short-circuit the free agency, the NFLPA is asking for an incentive plan for owners that involves extra money for playoff winners ($1.7 million for wild card teams, $2 million for division champions and $2.25 million for conference champions) and the Super Bowl champion ($2.5 million).