The Supreme Court’s 9-0 slapdown of the NFL in the American Needle licensing case today could force the league to think twice about locking out the players in 2011.
By so lopsidedly rejecting the NFL’s bid to operate as a single entity, the court denied the league the chance to unilaterally limit salaries for its players and even its coaches.
With that power taken away and the NFL now vulnerable to an antitrust suit by the players should the union decide to decertify, the league could be prodded back to the bargaining table to jump-start stalled talks on a new collective bargaining agreement.
The NFL still has considerable leverage in the negotiations, but the Supreme Court ruling likely means it is in the league’s best interest to get a deal done before 2011 to avoid a messy antitrust suit that could bog down the game for years.
NFL attorney Jeff Pash revealed today that the league has some talks planned soon with the union, which exulted in the Supreme Court’s momentous decision and considered it a clear-cut victory.
“Today’s Supreme Court ruling is not only a win for the players past, present and future, but a win for the fans,” union chief DeMaurice Smith said in a statement. “While the NFLPA and the players of the National Football League are pleased with the ruling, we remain focused on reaching a fair and equitable [CBA]. We hope that today also marks a renewed effort by the NFL to bargain in good faith and avoid a lockout.”
Added players attorney Jeffrey Kessler in an interview with The Sports Business Journal: “The fact that [the verdict] is unanimous means the single entity argument for sports leagues is basically dead. It means that the option to decertify and assert antitrust rights is as strong as it has ever been.”
Pash predictably disagreed, taking a “nothing to see here” approach in describing the Supreme Court’s ruling as irrelevant to the ongoing labor fight.
“This case was never about labor,” Pash said. “We never, ever argued that this has to do with labor, and I think the court’s opinion doesn’t address labor. We’re going to continue to press for a resolution through the collective-bargaining process, and I don’t think the antitrust laws are going to apply at all.”
