In NFL labor fight, a books review means a lot
On one side are NFL owners saying they couldnât possibly be more forthcoming.
On the other side are players saying theyâre being denied the information they need to make a reasonable decision.
The truth is somewhere in the middle.
Transparency is the buzzword in this round of the NFL labor fight, with the owners sticking by their long-standing policy of not opening their financial books â at least not completely â and the players demanding to see every line-by-line expense.
The NFL Players Assn. on Wednesday went back to U.S. District Judge David Doty, who ruled in their favor in a pivotal case last week, in an attempt to unseal financial information the league wants to keep confidential.
DeMaurice Smith, NFLPA executive director, said that what the NFL has provided so far would be âutterly meaningless in determining whether to write an $800-million checkâ to the owners each year. (That he said $800 million and not $1 billion â the amount the owners had been asking players to credit them â might indicate movement on that issue.)
Jeff Pash, the NFLâs top attorney and lead negotiator, said the financial information the union is being offered is âunparalleledâ and âfar more than has ever been disclosed, and weâve offered to give them information that we donât even give to our clubs.
âHas it gotten everything it wants? Evidently not. Have we offered to provide more? Absolutely. And is it a subject that weâre prepared to discuss? Absolutely.â
Both sides have a reasonable argument, and neither is likely to budge before the negotiating deadline when Friday turns to Saturday on the East Coast.
The owners say theyâre not making enough money to take the risks necessary to make the league grow. So they want the players to credit them, apparently, $800 million â in addition to the $1 billion they already take off the top â before the rest of the money is divided 60-40 in favor of the players.
The players are saying: We donât believe you. We think the league has done just fine on our backs. Prove to us youâre hurting, and do what the NFL has never done: Pry open those books so we can get a good long look.
That certainly strikes a chord in a world where CEO is a four-letter word, and where those owners just lost in Dotyâs court for striking some sketchy-looking TV deals loaded with lockout insurance.
The NFL, in turn, has opened its books wider than it ever has for players, and insists that the Players Assn. has more than enough information to get an HDTV-quality picture of the financial situation.
Those players know to the penny teamsâ biggest expense â the cost of players themselves â and they know the revenues. What they donât know is how much Owner X pays his son for twiddling his thumbs, or how many times Owner Y uses the team jet to fly his family to Hawaii. Yes, thereâs potential embarrassment in line-by-line expense disclosure. Just ask the McCourts.
But whatâs at the heart of this argument? Can owners really solve things by releasing every gory detail? Will players agree to everything once they see those spreadsheets?
Of course not. The union wants to see those financials, but this is also about leverage. The owners want to maintain their privacy â and thereâs a good argument for that â and the players know that itâs a weakness in the NFLâs case. Privacy will come at a price, and that likely will further chip away at that $800-million demand.
Thereâs also this: The NFLâs books are not hemorrhaging red ink. In fact, teams are likely to be making a lot of money. But remember, the argument of owners is that the current business model doesnât allow them to make enough money to take on the risk of new stadiums, international play and greater investments in new-media opportunities.
Thatâs a more difficult argument to prove, and a tough sell to the players â no matter how wide those books open.
twitter.com/latimesfarmer
More to Read
Get our high school sports newsletter
Prep Rally is devoted to the SoCal high school sports experience, bringing you scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.