NFL Players Move from Union and Talks to Individual Antitrust Lawsuit

If you're interested in the "Players' Strike," which is now a lawsuit, I've linked to the perfect resource for you. It is the NFL Labor News, and I offer it to you as proof that this whole business is a sham and the fans should be more than furious. You may read all about the various positions here.

The NFL Labor News is my reference, along with a small article by the Associated Press at the Chicago Bears' website titled "Hearing set for antitrust lawsuit against NFL."

First, the AP's article should be embarrassing to the league and players. The "antitrust" lawsuit says, if you care, that since the players are no longer a union -- they've decertified -- the act of the owners "locking them out" is illegal. The players know what they're doing is gaming the system, but it gets even worse. Not one but two judges have removed themselves because they are intimately involved with the NFL, and the current judge is contemplating the upcoming date.

If you read the NFL Labor News, you find that The Commissioner (Goodell) was excited about the negotiations and has dropped his salary ($10 million) to $1 until the problem between players and owners is resolved.

If you read about Giants owner John Mara's statement, you read in the headline "We would have stayed for as long as it took to get a deal." Indianapolis Colts Owner Jim Irsay says in his piece that there is no animosity between owners and players and cites quarterback Peyton Manning as a close friend.

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the information that shows guilt, if we want to go there and I think we should, repeats NFL alumnus Jeff Nixon pointing to allegedly false information given by the players' executive director, DeMaurice Smith, who, using war "terminology," says that "no NFL teams contribute to a pension" when in fact, according to Nixon, in 2010 the owners contributed $63 million.

There are two sad things about this situation. The first one is that the fans are totally overlooked and I think you must say that between the two sides, the players are the most uncaring toward us.

I believe, however, the saddest thing is that while the players are messing around playing games, the offers made by the owners would be assisting other older and retired players, in some cases raising their standard of living-the young active players aren't keeping their end of the bargain to the older players.

It just goes to show that a lot of money and notoriety does not necessarily satisfy people.

References:

NFL Labor News Website, "March 12^th Through March 16^th"

Chicago Bears' Website, Associated Press, "Hearing set for antitrust lawsuit against NFL"