League Back in Business

The Arena Football League owners got what they wanted Wednesday--a players’ union to negotiate an agreement for salaries and benefits.

And so the league’s 2000 season, which was canceled last Friday, will go on as scheduled.

League Commissioner Dave Baker said Wednesday camps for the 18 teams will open March 19. Exhibition games will be played from March 25 through April 9, and the regular season begins April 13. In addition, Baker said, the league will hold an expansion draft in a couple of days for the new franchises, including the Los Angeles Avengers.

In the meantime, Baker said, negotiators representing the players and owners will immediately begin discussing an interim collective bargaining agreement.

“We’ve lost a great deal of time to get out and sell tickets and sponsorships to make up for the labor dispute,” Baker said. “But the good news is, we’re back.”

The season was in trouble after a group calling itself the Arena Football League Players Assn. filed suit in New Jersey claiming the owners had illegally conspired to limit the players’ salaries, rights and benefits.

League owners said they would not agree to a court settlement but would negotiate with the players regarding salaries and benefits. The Arena League, now in its 14th season, pays players an average of $30,000 a season.

Baker said league officials received a letter Tuesday from the newly formed Arena League Players Organizing Committee saying it represented a majority of the players and would be their collective bargaining representative.

Two other unions, the Teamsters and the United Food and Commercial Workers, had unsuccessfully tried to become the players’ representative.

“The AFL ownership has now recognized [the committee] as the exclusive bargaining representative of all AFL players,” Baker said.

Baker would not say how many players formed the “overwhelming majority” belonging to the union. Neither did union representative George LaFrance, who played for Tampa Bay last season but was traded to Detroit.

The committee needs a membership of more than half the estimated 660 league players to be the negotiating representative.

LaFrance said there were many players who did not want the season canceled, especially since the league has a higher profile because of the success of Super Bowl most valuable player Kurt Warner and 42 other players who made the jump to the NFL last season.

“The union came about from needing health insurance and a pension plan,” LaFrance said. “We also need preseason pay, higher salaries and a grievance system. But if you’re not playing, how are you going to get that stuff?”

Starting the season does not end the league’s legal battles, however. Along with the antitrust suit, two AFLPA members and an association attorney filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.