NFL Players Share in a $30-Million Settlement

About 1,300 professional football players will share in a record $30-million settlement of charges arising from the 24-day NFL strike in 1987.

The National Labor Relations Board said Monday the agreement between the NFL Players Assn. and the NFL Management Council is the largest such award in NLRB history. The settlement includes back pay, incentive bonuses and interest.

A breakdown of how much players from each of the 28 teams would receive was not available Monday, but the agency said distribution of the award was expected within a couple of months. The NLRB said further details are to be announced at a news conference today.

There was no immediate reaction from the players association.

But the management council attempted to play down the settlement, saying the award was “part of the $195-million overall settlement that the NFL reached with its players’ union in January 1993.”

After receiving a complaint from the NFLPA, the NLRB had ruled the council and NFL teams had unlawfully refused to allow returning players to participate in games immediately after the end of the strike Oct. 15.

“The board found that the denial of the returning strikers the right to play or be paid, as well as other acts by league management such as withholding game checks for certain injured-reserve players, constituted unfair labor practices in violation of the National Labor Relations Act,” NLRB general counsel Fred Feinstein said.

After the NLRB upheld the initial ruling by an administrative law judge, the team owners appealed to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which had the decision under review.

“This settlement would obviate the need for any additional proceedings before the circuit court,” said David Parker, the NLRB director of information.

The strike began Sept. 22 after the NFLPA and management were unable to agree on several issues, including free agency.