Judge to Rule on NFL Players’ Motion Today

Seeking leverage against National Football League owners in a long-running dispute over free agency, the NFL Players Assn. is awaiting a federal judge’s decision today in Minneapolis on the union’s motion for a preliminary injunction that would free players to sign with any club.

About 280 players--veterans whose contracts expired last season--would be affected if U.S. Circuit Judge David Doty rules in favor of the players.

Free agency without compensation and right of first refusal was the key issue in last year’s 24-day NFL strike, which ended in a bargaining impasse Oct. 15.

The players’ union filed an antitrust suit against management immediately after the players returned to work without a contract.

Union attorneys have said an injunction would free eligible players, but a spokesman for the NFL Management Council said the league could counter an injunction by imposing the terms of a proposal made to the players on Sept. 7.

The new system would liberalize the compensation system, established by the players’ union contract in 1982, but retain restrictions on player movement, said management council spokesman John Jones.

“Even if (Doty) acts to enjoin the 1982 contract, there might be another system out there,” Jones said.

Doug Allen, the NFLPA’s assistant executive director, said the owners could not implement a new system if Doty finds the old one illegal. “We don’t agree with the management council’s analysis of the legal situation at all,” Allen said.