spartacus

If the lockout is lifted, the players will continue to refuse to negotiate until the anti-trust suit is concluded in 5 years. If the lockout is allowed to continue, the players will be forced to return to the bargaining table when they start losing money. Doty may award them money from the TV litigation, but they will be tied up in appeal before it can do the players any good.

You are correct that there is no law that requires the players to be in a union. unfortunately for them, their employer needs to have a CBA in order to operate without the constant fear of anti-trust suits being filed by anyone with a bug up his butt. after the 8th circuit approves the lockout, there will be no football until a new CBA is agreed- regardless of the posturing by Smith

you are correct that is what the top national scout does - evaluate talent looks like he did a fine job with last year's selections as well -first rate production on a team devoid of talent

good thing we had Buddy Nix on board for that draft His insight into the Maybin pick was invaluable

Smith is in damage control mode.Player reps, like Coy Wire, are pushing to negotiate andstating that the de-cert is just a negotiating tactic. Well, the owners are using those statements in their legalfiling to support their claim that the de-cert is a sham Smith’s statement is a direct response to the Owner's reply briefwhich was just filed - http://www.ca8.uscourts.gov/nfl/ca8_live.11.cv.1898.3791867.0.pdf The owners raise the question of how can the players intend thede-cert to be permanent when they voted for it at the same meeting they electeda player to represent their team in anongoing union. Smith is just trying to gain PR brownie points.

the only thing missing from being able to negotiate is the players. they have no union D Smith has zero interest in negotiating, as evidenced by the players refusal to even respond to the last 2 owner offers If the lockout is lifted, there will be zero incentive for the players to negotiate a new CBA until the anit-trust case is resolved in 3 or 4 years/

i agree why would the "Bills want to bring in a QB who has the talent to start ahead of Fitz makes no sense that would be a bona fide attempt to improve the team past the less-than-mediocre level

You are correct- it's just jurisdiction. But by mandating that the NLRB determine if the decertification is a sham, the players are looking at no football until the NLRB hears the case in 2012 if they want to keep fighting or they could fire DeSmith and negotiate a new deal - before the terms keep getting worse the longer they wait.

The 8th Circuit formally refused to lift the injunction in the following decision: http://www.ca8.uscourts.gov/nfl/ca8_live.11.cv.1898.3788031.0.pdf More importantly is that they strongly indicated that they agree with the owner's jurisdiction argument, which will result in a continuing lockout until the NLRB (not the District court) hears the case regarding the validity of the decertification. From the decision: "The district court reasoned that this case does not involve or grow out of a labor dispute because the Players no longer are represented by a union. See id. at *24. We have considerable doubt about this interpretation of the Act. The plain language of the Act states that a case involves or grows out of a labor dispute when it is “between one or more employers or associations of employers and one or more employees or associations of employees.” 29 U.S.C. § 113(a)(1) (emphasis added). The Act does not specify that the employees must be members of a union for the case to involve or grow out of a labor dispute."

This is a really great plan Except for the part where no savvy billionaire with half a brain would agree to pay $450 million for less than complete control in any venture, let alone a situation where an inexperienced family member will be running the show.

for the privilege of owning a team in the NFL, those new owners spent hundreds of billions of dollars. Whether they built it from scratch or bought in, the owners have a lot at risk - not sure how you can blow it off

Your statement "The problem that most people aren't seeing is that the only way for the team stay in buffalo is if a new stadium is built in the near future" is completely false. Whether is a new stadium or not, Buffalo's problem remains the lack of corporate sponsors to buy the PSLs, luxury boxes and premium seats in any stadium. Spending $1 billion on a new stadium in Bufalo and adding that debt service to the debt service to the purchase price of the team would condemn the team to failure. not to mention there is no way that a bankrupt city is arranging the financing for that kind of expenditure

The CBA did contain the following language preventing the owners from attacking the decertification as a sham: "The Parties agree that, after the expiration of the express term of this Agreement, in the event that at that time or any time thereafter a majority of players indicate that they wish to end the collective bargaining status of the NFLPA on or after expiration of this Agreement, the NFL and its Clubs and their respective heirs, executors, administrators, representatives, agents, successors and assigns waive any rights they may have to assert any antitrust labor exemption defense based upon any claim that the termination by the NFLPA of its status as a collective bargaining representative is or would be a sham, pretext, ineffective, requires additional steps, or has not in fact occurred." As indicated by the District Court's failure to rely on the above as a bar to the owner's claim, the above provision does not apply since the NFLPA voted to decertify and actually decertified before the CBA expired. (If you're wondering why the players didn't wait a few more hours until the CBA expired before they decertified, it's because another section of the CBA says that, if the players are still a union when the CBA expires, they have to wait at least six months after that to file an antitrust suit. I believe the owners also had to wait 6 months before they could lock out the players) This language from the brief filed by the NHL points out that allowing decertification by pro sports union will castrate the collective bargaining process in future negotiations. "Left to stand, the district court's ruling creates a perverse incentive for unions – during the collective bargaining process and in the midst of negotiations – to divert their efforts to antitrust litigation tactics rather than complying with their obligations under federal labor law to bargain in good faith. The net effect is that 2 traditional economic weapons contemplated and made available in the labor process – employee strikes and employer lockouts – are removed as options. In turn, the labor process is necessarily subjugated to antitrust law and related litigation tactics. Indeed, under the district court's ruling, union disclaimer and simultaneous antitrust suits are likely to be the chosen path any time employee players (or other unions or associations of employees for that matter) believe that these tactics are the most viable method of obtaining the terms and conditions of employment they desire, but might not achieve through the traditional collective bargaining process." http://www.ca8.uscourts.gov/nfl/ca8_live.11.cv.1898.3787301.0.pdf

Gabbert was the most overhyped player in the draft. Hard to believe a player with such crappy production (both stats and wins) could even be considered a top 10 pick Gabbert is just the type of player Modrak would have reached for - which is probably why he is no longer employed.

Nix lives in in Tenn Tom Modrak lives further south in Florida - maybe he pushed for all of the Southern guys

pretty bitter guy must be from California hate to see your reaction when Pat Riley brings in Chris Paul or Dwight Howard next year

I guess it is no longer a mystery why Brees is one of named plaintiffs in the lawsuit. The (former) NFLPA needed to guarantee at least one big name player was willing to be named in the suitl It would be interesting if Brady and Manning knew that Brees got those big bucks - or if there is some big money accrued on their behalf in that deferred comp slush fund.

the more relevant deduction is that since the 8th Circuit has not lifted the stay, the 8th Circuit is leaning to uphold the positions in the owner's brief.

sounds like Modrak told you it wasn't his fault can't get a better source than that

http://www.ca8.uscourts.gov/nfl/ca8_live.11.cv.1898.3782671.0.pdf The owners brief is an interesting read as it paints a much more optimistic picture for them than what has been portrayed in the media so far. The key point from the brief "The threshold question here is one of jurisdiction, and the District Court lacked it. Congress long ago determined that, to achieve and secure labor peace, federal courts may not interfere—on either side—in cases involving or growing out of a labor dispute. The Norris-LaGuardia Act imposed this jurisdictional bar in broad terms, utilizing a capacious definition of a “labor dispute” and expressly covering cases “involving or growing out of” such disputes. The text of the Act therefore resolves this appeal. The courts, including the Supreme Court, have con-sistently applied the Act according to its terms, with the result that only one district court had ever before enjoined a lockout—a ruling that was quickly reversed." My guess is that the issue of a sham de-certification gets kicked to the National Labor Relations Board and the owners are allowed to continue the lockout until it is resolved sometime in 2012. However, Doty will mandate that a portion of the TV money due the players will be paid to them in 2011, allowing the players to extend the work stoppage for a while. Of course, if they get money, so will the owners - so the advantage will stay with the owners. Players would be wise to get this settled before the 8th Circuit takes away its leverage.

it's not as easy to lose games as you would think. The Bills aggressively tanked this year and yet managed to win 4 games and only get the 3rd draft pick. why else would they have totally ignored the OTs and then not played Spiller and the defensive reinforcements they drafted of course, they may be planning to tank, since they still have big holes at the OTs and kept their inept DC as an easy scapegoat. However, I would expect a big improvement in 2011

nice call

Bills have been making the "safe" pick for over a decade too bad their talent evaluators have no clue how to identify skills and character that translate to the NFL to make that "safe" pick

starters on a team with no talent is no glowing endorsement Marv found a bunch of players to start from his first draft and most of them were out of football 3 years later. where are the starters from last year's draft on a team dead last in defense? picking interior linemen with premium picks is like shooting fish in a barrel. Notice there were no OTs taken with those picks. To justify spending such high picks on Gs, they should in the Pro Bowl. what else does a talent evaluator do than rate the ability of a player to play at the NFL level - how is there any possible justification to support the Maybin pick The Bills need impact playmakers - not marginal starters on a team devoid of talent

maybe the Bills really want to move up to #1 to get Newton