Players Refer To NFL As 'Cartel' In Court Brief

[r8rh8rmike]

Players refer to NFL as 'cartel' in court brief

BY STU DURANDO STLtoday.com
Saturday, May 21, 2011

Attorneys for NFL players called the league a cartel and classified its actions as a "blatantly unlawful group boycott" in an 89-page brief filed with the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis late Friday.

Players had a deadline of Friday to respond to the NFL's brief filed 11 days earlier. The NFL appeal of a district court ruling will be heard in St. Louis on June 3.

"The NFL is a cartel that the Supreme Court has repeatedly and, just last year, unanimously held to be subject to the restraints against anticompetitive conduct contained in the Sherman Act,'' the brief reads.

The brief says the players are suffering from career-threatening harm and says the lockout could lead to the cancellation of the 2011 season.

In the brief, the players argue they were within their rights to dissolve the NFLPA based on a 1993 agreement and wording in the collective bargaining agreement. They refuted the league's claim that the move was a ploy.

"The NFL and the union therefore have long understood -- and contractually endorsed -- the players' right to abandon the union and invoke the protections of antitrust laws,'' the brief reads.

The NFL is appealing a previous court ruling, which favored the players and briefly ended the lockout. The 8th Circuit Court subsequently granted the league two stays of that decision, extending the lockout until a three-judge panel rules on the appeal.

Also Friday, the players received a boost from peers in other sports when the Major League Baseball, NBA and NHL players associations filed amicus briefs in their support.

[r8rh8rmike]

In the brief, the players argue they were within their rights to dissolve the NFLPA based on a 1993 agreement and wording in the collective bargaining agreement. They refuted the league's claim that the move was a ploy.

Not a ploy?? The players must think we're all stupid. They continue to lose credibility.

[fliptalianstallion]

Heheh, Adrian Peterson compared the NFL to "Modern Day Slavery" awhile back. Again the players continue to make fools out of themselves, the sooner they come to senses the more the likelihood of lifting this lockout.

[TekeRam]

My question is, last year when the salary cap went away, and thus the salary floor, didn't the vast majority of the league cut back on spending? Notably, the New York Ya.. I mean New England Patriots spent the most, but I think that was because they counted a big chunk of Brady's new salary to be a part of the 2010 season. Indeed, I would say a lot of spending last year was back (or front) loaded contracts that paid enormous cap sums in the uncapped year, as opposed to new money. Most clubs spent less than previous years due to the removal of a minimum spending limit.

Now, the players are suing to make the league play by anti-trust laws, which would mean that they can't set a salary cap, so the big market teams will pocket huge amounts of cash, while the lesser market teams drastically cut spending to break even (no revenue sharing anymore). In the end, the total spending on the players will be much less than their roughly 50% throughout the last decade. Is this really what the players want? Seems like it from the blabberings of De Smith and their legal briefs.

[AvengerRam]

This is nothing but an extremely high stakes game of "Chicken."