An interesting read about NFL collusion to reduce the amount of guaranteed money given to players.
Newly unearthed documents show the NFL encouraged owners to reduce guaranteed money in contracts.
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Arbitrator Christopher Droney issued his ruling on Jan. 14, 2025, but it had not been released until Torre got his hands on it.
The final section of the ruling gives Droney's reason for dismissal:
While the NFL Management Council encouraged the 32 members Clubs of the NFL to reduce guarantees in future contracts with players at the March 2022 annual meeting of the Club owners, the Clubs did not join in such a collusive agreement and did not act in accordance with one as to the three quarterbacks named in the initial arbitration demand or to other veteran players.
Accordingly, I dismiss the arbitration demands of the NFLPA in its entirety.
Now Albert Breer has more
The NFL’s desire to bury all the facts under a confidentiality agreement is self-explanatory. The NFLPA’s cooperation with that effort was suspicious, at best.
Why? Well, the strongest rumblings I’ve heard involve the NFL threatening to pursue $12 million spent in legal fees to win the case (ESPN’s Don Van Natta and Kalyn Kahler
wrote about this last week)—using that as leverage to land confidentiality on the findings in the case, and to get the union to put its sword down on an appeal. However all that went, and there’s a question over whether the NFL is even entitled to the money, the NFLPA went along with it.
Making things even murkier is NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell’s work as a paid consultant with a private equity firm approved by the league to buy a part of a team, which would give Howell some motivation to play nice with the owners.
So, now, you have a relatively new executive director in a place where there’s an appearance that he was compromised at a time when the union had information that could create a huge problem for the league and the owners. On Sunday, the NFLPA got word out that it stands behind Howell, but there have been back-door machinations going on for more than a week that would indicate people tied to the union are bracing for potential changes.
From young quarterbacks to contract holdouts, Albert Breer runs through some of the top storylines that will take center stage between now and Week 1.
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