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2011 National Football League lockout: messaging in the context of professional sports labor disputes

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2011 National Football League lockout: messaging in the context of professional sports labor disputes

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Content 2011 NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE LOCKOUT: MESSAGING IN THE CONTEXT OF PROFESSIONAL SPORTS LABOR DISPUTES by Sara Francis A Thesis Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS (STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS) May 2012 Copyright 2012 Sara Francis ii DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to three very important people in my life: my husband Steve and my parents. Mom and Dad, you have encouraged me to pursue my goals even if you weren’t sure exactly what that would entail. You have stood by me and given me guidance when I was less than sure of myself. Steve, whether on purpose or by accident, your words encouraged me to return to school. I share this with you, as it is your accomplishment just as much as it is mine. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The time and dedication need to write a thesis is not something that is easily imagined prior to the actual experience. Without the cooperation, assistance, and general good will of several individuals, it would be impossible to complete such a daunting task. I would like to thank my committee members for their willingness to accept this role and for challenging me to think beyond my initial instincts. I also want to acknowledge Jenn Floto for her support and guidance throughout this process. I would like to express my immense gratitude and admiration for a woman who has literally walked in the shoes that I hope to borrow. Erit Yellen has been a mentor, a resource, and a friend throughout this process. She has provided a glimpse of what a woman in sports public relations can accomplish. Her professionalism, experience, and graciousness in sharing her knowledge helped build the foundation of this thesis. Thank you for your willingness to pay it forward. You will undoubtedly be an excellent addition to the USC family! iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii LIST OF FIGURES v ABSTRACT vi INTRODUCTION 1 LITERATURE REVIEW 4 CHAPTER 1: PROFESSIONAL SPORTS AND LABOR NEGOTIATIONS 11 CHAPTER 2: OVERVIEW OF THE 2011 NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE LOCKOUT 15 CHAPTER 3: LEGALITIES OF THE LOCKOUT: DECERTIFICATION OF PLAYERS UNION, LAWSUITS, AND NEGOTIATIONS 22 CHAPTER 4: TRUST ISSUES: NFLPA NEW LEADERSHIP, NFL SHOW OF STRENGTH, AND THE NEED TO ESTABLISH A FOUNDATION 32 CHAPTER 5: OTHER INFLUENTIAL PARTICIPANTS: ROOKIES AND RETIRED PLAYERS 37 CHAPTER 6: COMMUNICATION TACTICS 45 CHAPTER 7: LOCKOUT EFFECTS- INTERNAL, EXTERNAL 53 CHAPTER 8: FAN AND MEDIA REACTION THROUGHOUT LOCKOUT 62 CHAPTER 9: AFTER THE LOCKOUT: RESULTS, ANALYSIS, AND PREDICTIONS 71 BIBLIOGRAPHY 77 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Survey question #8 from Qualtrics 67 Figure 2: Survey question #7 from Qualtrics 68 Figure 3: Survey question #10 from Qualtrics 69 Figure 4: Survey question #11 from Qualtrics 70 vi ABSTRACT This paper examines the messaging strategies and tactics of all parties associated with the 2011 NFL lockout. During the lockout players, media, and owners started searching for outlets to express their frustration, talk about how they were using their extended off season, and to show fans that all parties would be ready to return to football once the lockout ended. Facebook, Twitter, sports blogs, and traditional media became the formats for arguments and disagreements between several different factions. The focus of this paper is to document the positive and negative uses of multiple medias to inform the public of the events occurring as part of the labor agreement negotiation process. It also aims to document the timeline of the lockout and compare messaging strategies as different milestones in the labor dispute occurred. The key issues discussed in this thesis are the influence of public messaging on the progression of negotiations, the effectiveness of using legal strategies as a posturing and communication tool, and the positive and negative uses of social media. The primary conclusion is that the success of labor negotiations in modern professional sports is affected by the messaging from both sides, and both sides need to be fully aware of the effect public statements, interviews, tweets and other communications have on fans. 1 INTRODUCTION Since the industrial revolution, there have been disagreements between labor and management/ownership. During the early years of industrialization, workers had no recourse to air a grievance against the companies for which they worked. Long hours, terrible working conditions, and poor health standards were common in industrialized societies. If workers raised concerns, they were nearly always terminated from employment. In the late 19 th century, workers started to band together to form unions. Since their creation, labor unions have negotiated better working environments, limits on work hours, limits on child labor, and the minimum wage. Today factory employees are no longer the only workers who form labor unions. Actors, professional athletes, teachers, and state workers, among many other groups of white and blue-collar employees, have high profile unions that are often in the news. Whenever unions and management enter negotiations, both sides seek a final outcome that is advantageous to its own interests. Although most negotiations do not gain widespread media attention, in recent years some have reached the national stage in recent years. The Writers Guild of America reached a stalling point in 2007 when talks were no longer progressing with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. At that time, the writers went on strike, unable to reach an agreement on DVD royalties. Both sides sought to communicate their key messages through the media, using multiple channels to reach the public. Television and movie production was shut down, actors spoke out in support of the writers, and other skilled workers dependent upon 2 production talked of their lost livelihoods. The strike dragged on for months, and it took several starts and stops before negotiations finally reached a conclusion. While difficult labor negotiations are not uncommon in any union/managerial relationship, professional sports leagues have experienced a remarkably high number of strikes, lockouts, and stoppages. Some of the longer lockouts and strikes have garnered as much attention as the sports themselves. Since 1972, professional sports have experienced 17 work stoppages (Getz). Each of the major sports leagues (Major League Baseball, National Football League, National Hockey League, and National Basketball League) has experienced at least three work stoppages, with MLB leading with seven. While not all stoppages were lengthy or resulted in any loss of the season, those that did were very costly to players and owners. In the case of the 1994-1995 MLB Strike, it took several years before the league regained its lost popularity among more casual fans, which may have been the largest cost of the entire strike. All professional leagues learned a valuable lesson from the public reaction to the MLB strike of 1994-1995. If fans do not understand the issues that are keeping the two sides apart, and/or feel they are not being kept informed of negotiation progress, and/or do not see a compromise in sight, it is very difficult to regain their support once a deal is reached. During subsequent work stoppage, players and owners have done their best to reach out to fans during negotiations. This communication serves several purposes: to promote their respective side, to communicate the steps they are taking to reach an agreement, and to convince fans that both sides want play to resume. In years past, this outreach included interviews, editorial columns, press conferences, and other traditional 3 mass media interaction. In more recent negotiations, players and owners have been able to directly reach out to fans through social media to discuss what is taking place. These new channels have not replaced the traditional outlets, but added to the ways fans stay informed on proceedings. With the addition of these direct outreach channels, both individual players and their unions, as well as ownership, have felt the immediate and sometimes negative backlash of an ill planned tweet or Facebook status. What all parties discovered is that it is very possible to either engage or alienate fans very quickly, so messages must be carefully crafted and well timed. An early “we have an agreement” message, only to be followed by a return to the bargaining table, could make fans feel misled. Alternately, letting fans know that a high percentage of items have been worked out with only a few larger ticket items remaining gives them hope for a quick resolution without necessarily promising anything. Messaging in negotiations is not only important to maintain public support, but to keep communications open with the other side. The public is less likely to sympathize with the side that allows talks to break down, and both sides want to look like the good guy for the benefit of their business interests. This need to maintain a positive public image forces both sides to sit at the table and work to find a resolution. Messaging not only saves public image, it can also provided an indirect push to keep the other side working toward a final solution. 4 LITERATURE REVIEW The 2011 NFL lockout was an extremely well documented event. Since professional football became the most attended and most viewed sport in the United States in 1996, it has gained an equal share of media and societal attention. With the advent of fantasy football, which now has an estimated 20 million participants (Casale), the intense interest in football increased phenomenally. Minute details have become required knowledge. Now Quarterbacks were no longer the only position that have well known statistics, and which team actually won a game is not the sole topic of interest. Football became a national obsession. With all of this attention, interest in the statistical side of the game grew. High performance players garnered multi-million dollar deals for a single season. Most importantly, all 32 teams annually earned profits. After a ten-plus year period of labor peace, the players and owners became inflexible in their 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) positions. Once negotiations deteriorated and a stoppage appeared to be imminent, fans and sports writers took to open forums to provide coverage and commentary on the National Football League’s status and express their opinions on the proceedings. Players, owners, and officials on both sides joined the fans and media members with their own stories. New and traditional media were used to communicate faster and more directly with multiple audiences. As a result, dedicated and casual fans were receiving multiple messages from different groups in a variety of ways. Nearly every aspect of the negotiations was open for discussion, from legal proceedings to player off-season activities to fan frustration at the “millionaires vs. billionaires” battle for even more money. 5 This thesis relies heavily on newspaper articles, professional blogs, and NFL/National Football League Players Association website postings produced during the period of March 2011 through August 2011. There has not yet been a great deal of published analysis of the lessons, new tactics, and impact of new medias on the negotiations. The NFL negotiations were unique in that they were the first major professional sports action to take place since the advent of social media and the popularity of the 24-hour news cycle. The contemporaneous lockout by the National Basketball Association led to more attention on the negotiations, resulting in a constant output of information on the pro league lockouts to create interest in the sports regardless of the absence of routine NFL and NBA events such as training camps, drafts, free agent trades, and preseason games. As a result, the NFL/NFLPA proceedings attracted a great deal of scrutiny from the media and sports fans. Even when the two sides were not meeting, new articles and posts were written covering other aspects of the action. Because of the economic effects of the NFL lockout and the size and loyalty of the NFL’s fan base, many outlets devoted multiple articles a day to covering every angle of the stoppage. News outlets and sports blogs reported on everything from the progress of negotiations to the furloughs and layoffs of front office staff and the off-season activities of players. Websites such as The Huddle, Bleacher Report, and Pro Football Talk at NBC Sports posted opinion pieces from sports writers, television personalities, and radio hosts affiliated with such primary outlet as CBS, ESPN, AOL, Sports Illustrated, and Yahoo!Sports. The totality of this coverage caused the lockout to be examined from every conceivable angle. 6 Primary Outlets Consulted Traditional newspapers, Television, and magazines Respected outlets such as the Washington Post, Business Week, ESPN, Forbes, LA Times, NY Daily News, New York Times, Reuters, Sports Illustrated, USA Today, Google News covered the lockout from different perspectives and from various angles. Legacy news organizations, including Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and New York Times, reported on the negotiations, providing a largely unbiased and multi-lensed view of the lockout, its effects, and the local reaction. Opinion pieces and features were frequently published in the sports sections and fan letters were also printed to give readers a voice. Forbes and Business Week focused their coverage on legal and business related information coming out of the negotiations. These magazines wrote pieces highlighting different aspects of the dispute such as local businesses suffering, the effects of a suffering economy on the war for public opinion, and the money that stood to be gained or lost in the negotiations. ESPN and Sports Illustrated reported on any and all available information NFL related. Since their audience is primarily sports enthusiasts, these outlets could report on anything related to the lockout without limit to subject or audience focus. They often covered the legal, business, and broader all-sports implications of the action alongside such human interest aspects as NFL player Chad Ochocinco’s Twitter account activities and off-season activities (bull riding, MLS soccer tryout, etc.). 7 Digital news outlet sports divisions Similar to ESPN and Sports Illustrated, CBS Sports, Fox Sports, NBC Sports, NBC- Pro Football Talk, and AOL-Sporting News were able to approach the dispute in from different perspectives. With no limit on publication, these outlets were able to produce massive amounts of information. They reported statements, legal decisions, and any leaked information in almost real time blurbs that would never have been long enough to publish in hardcopy. These short, up-to-the-minute reports were then updated as events unfolded. During the week of April 23-28, several legal decisions were issued that affected proceedings. Articles appeared prior to hearings that described what both sides expected to hear from the court and were updated throughout the day once the judge started to issue a ruling that temporarily suspended the lockout. During another hearing later in the week, the NFL owners asked that the judge not enforce the decision. The judge refused their request and announced the injunction would be effective the following day. Articles appeared when the owners filed their request and were updated when the request was denied. The owners took recourse and filed an appeal with the Federal Appellate court. This time, there was a one-day delay between the filing and the ruling. Several articles were written, guessing at the judges’ decision and what it would mean to the negotiation process and the possible upcoming season. When the appellate ruling unexpectedly favored the owners, a whole new round of articles were posted and some of the older articles were updated to reflect the changes. On most sites, the updates were 8 time stamped. Readers could compare the speed of response by the sites by checking the updates and postings down to the minute. While faster is not necessarily better, the majority of articles were run as timelines. They were updated with new information and with corrections as needed. Reputable blogs While some of these blogs are dedicated entirely to sports, and in some cases entirely to football, their common thread is the professionalism and respect each receives from more formal or traditional journalistic publications. Deadspin and Bleacher Report are often referenced by other sites and blogs and closely followed by people in the sports industry. They consistently write timely, accurate pieces with reliable sources that are very “inside” the situation. National Football Post, Turf Show Times, and NFL.com are dedicated football sites similar to Bleacher Report and Deadspin. The majority of articles in this category were found on Bleacher Report, Deadspin, National Football Post, NFL.com, Turf Show Times, and Huffington Post. Team associated blogs Although unofficial blogs are common, not all blogs are created equal. SB Nation, a larger aggregate of fan blogs, hosts some of the best fan written blogs for each NFL team. These blogs are similar in structure, but contain a fan perspective for each team that affects the overall voice of the blog. The writing quality is nearly professional level and each blog tends to have a primary contributor. Depending on the blog’s acceptance by 9 the team, the writers may have access to the athletes and coaches that makes the accuracy and relevance of content even more valuable. Popular examples of such blogs include Big Cat Country, Jets Nation, Niners Nation, and Silver and Black Pride. New Media Formats The most commonly accessed social media channels (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube) were an invaluable resource for first hand comments from coaches, athletes, and officials. Many individuals associated with the negotiations were very active on social networks, especially Twitter. Twitter’s highly public concept allows for users to openly share their thoughts and information. Those close to the lockout used Twitter to communicate with several audiences: fans, media, the other side, and their own side. Players would tweet to other players, owners would talk to media members, and on one particular occasion, one NFL official argued with an NFLPA executive. Personal Facebook pages were not used to communicate with the public often. Most of the players/teams/coaches/organizations have a professional Facebook page separate from their personal page. These pages were used to talk about the dispute from whichever perspective the page’s owner presented. Fans were able to ask questions and offer support and receive responses from the owner of the page. While those sitting at the table during negotiations did not utilize YouTube frequently, fans took to the video site to express their frustrations and ask the players and owners to start working it out. Even with the lack of technical sophistication, it was evident the fans were very angry at the 10 negotiation’s interference with their favorite sport. In general social media was a great source for information coming directly from those involved. The lockout was a singular event occurring from March-July, 2011. Original information published over the duration of the event and for a short period thereafter could be collected and assessed. When drawing conclusions based on the information gathered, it was apparent that writers were unconcerned with maintaining an unbiased voice. The escalation of the conflict inevitably lead to the division of popular opinion and ended with a biased tone to almost every related article or blog post, with many articles lending supporting to both sides of the disagreement. While it is not unusual for each side to have supporters, the articles written during this stoppage stand out. The division of opinion was not drawn between writers, but by the timeline of the dispute. Since the public tends to misunderstand exactly what causes a lockout, they assume the term is synonymous with strike and that the players are withholding their services. Therefore the initial public opinion sides with the owners. This time, the NFLPA was able to reach out ahead of the lockout and plead their side in the media before fans assumed they were at fault for the suspension of America’s favorite sport. This one extremely important message set the stage for the rest of the negotiations. 11 CHAPTER 1: PROFESSIONAL SPORTS AND LABOR NEGOTIATIONS Since the formation of unions, labor disputes have become a common result of difficult contract negotiations. Management and union leadership enter negotiations for the purpose of gaining the most beneficial agreement on work conditions and wages for their respective constituency. For most labor/management relationships, union and management representation have developed tactics, learned compromise strategies, and found the other side’s weaknesses. Over the course of the last 150 years, many groups have learned how to successfully work with the other side of the table. However, even the most cordial of management/labor relationships have had to overcome obstacles. As a result, a breakdown in communication occurs and one side calls a strike/lockout. For nearly every organization, a strike or lockout is considered a last resort. Prior to the issuance of such a move, all other possible methods are exhausted and both parties feel they are no longer making progress. The remaining issues are significant enough for both sides to risk losing income. When most professional sports leagues started, their popularity was concentrated to a small, highly dedicated demographic. During the early part of the 20 th century, Major League Baseball (MLB) was known as “America’s Pastime,” but very few Americans had actually attended a professional baseball game. The NFL had an even smaller following, with average game attendance of 52,381 in 1970 (the first year of record for the combined AFL-NFL) compared to a game attendance range of 49,000-85,500 in 2011 (NFL). The NFL is now the highest attended sport in the world. The National Basketball Association (NBA) garnered more initial attention, most likely a result of college 12 basketball’s presence on the national sports stage. The NBA was also one of the last professional sports leagues to form and succeed. The National Hockey League (NHL) and Major League Soccer (MLS) are still fighting to maintain a committed audience, but have started to gain significance in recent years. Over time, each of the original sports leagues has grown. Profitability has increased for owners and players. While early professional football and baseball players may need an off-season job to live comfortably, today’s star athletes have multi-million dollar contracts with their teams as well as endorsement deals that provide the majority of their income. It has been said that the NBA needs its players more than the players need the league. Because of this realignment of power, more and more CBA negotiations have turned into full work stoppages. The most prominent work stoppage in professional sports history was the Major League Baseball strike of 1994-1995. It was the longest strike in modern professional sports and cancelled the World Series for the first time in 90 years. Although there were several points for which the players were willing to go on strike to win, the sport took years to return to pre-strike attendance levels. The year after the strike, attendance dropped 20 percent from 1994’s record high average of 31,612 to 25,260. Attendance levels did not return to the pre-strike figures until nearly ten years later (The Associated Press, “1994 Strike…”). In 2011, the MLB was one of three professional sports leagues (NFL, NBA, MLB) to enter labor negotiations and the only league to reach an agreement without a work stoppage. 13 The National Hockey League lockout in 2004 slowed the growth of the league and its visibility on the national sports stage. The owners were hoping to implement “cost certainty,” and the players pegged it as a salary cap. The final pre-strike proposals came down to the players offering a cap of $49M per team with stipulations and the owners offering $42.5M with stipulations. The teams felt the true distance between the proposals was much more than the apparent $6.5M and too far to cover. The entire season was cancelled, causing the league to also miss the Stanley Cup championship series for the first time since 1919. The NHL lost their draft and had to restructure the draft system for 2005. Sidney Crosby, one of the best prospects in years, had to wait an entire season to join the league and was drafted under new guidelines. At the time of the strike was viewed as a distant fourth in popularity behind NFL, NBA, and MLB (The Associated Press, "Lockout over…”). Post-strike, the league lost many players to other world leagues and lost even more ground on the national sports rankings. Although every sports league has had its share of shut downs and negotiation stalls, the work stoppages have become more focused on money and shifting power from the owners to the players. Some leagues transitioned quickly, such as the MLB after the 1994 strike. The NFL has a more balanced power structure that primarily favors the owners. “In the NFL lockout, the owners held power over the players. No NFL means no money for the players. Everyone wants the lockout to end, but the players hold little leverage. The NFL may benefit from having stars like Peyton Manning and Ray Lewis, but it doesn't need them to succeed. Conversely, the ball was in the players' court in the NBA lockout. Stars like Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade and Dwight Howard have the 14 power to single-handedly pack an arena. Stars are far and away the biggest marketing tools for the NBA. While the NBA needs its stars, the players don't need the league. Deron Williams' agent says the New Jersey Nets point guard will supposedly go to Turkey if the lockout continues, and surely he will make a boatload of cash balling abroad. Basketball overseas is a huge market. Teams are willing to shell out a ton of cash to get players to go play over there (Vasalo).” Because of the power shifts and explosion of revenue for professional sports leagues, negotiations during the last twenty years have become more vicious, often involve the public, and last longer than stoppages prior to this era. 15 CHAPTER 2: OVERVIEW OF THE 2011 NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE LOCKOUT The National Football League lockout started in March 2011, but it was nearly 10 years in the making. When the owners and players association could not reach a consensus on the CBA, the owners instituted a lockout. The complexity of issues involved in the negotiations were extensive: better protection of players’ health, additional games on the regular season schedule, television rights sharing negotiations focusing on how to split nearly $9B in revenues, Human Growth Hormone testing, and retirees’ benefits. Although most of the issues were not insurmountable, the item that delayed a resolution was the television rights revenue sharing. With new TV contracts just signed by the league, players felt they should maintain the previously agreed upon percentage for TV rights sharing while owners wanted a few percentage points returned. Green Bay Packers union representative Mark Tauscher looked back on the events leading up to the owner’s action: I actually think when they acted on the CBA in 2008, we knew it was coming. It was pretty well known when we elected a new executive director…we knew it was something coming down the pipe. So players knew it was coming for probably two years. As far as preparing, it was getting guys to start spending less than what they normally would, trying to get an understanding of their financial situation and get their finances in order. It was getting guys to get their own insurance because once the lockout started the insurance stopped. So lining up COBRA insurance, [save] a bunch of their check, and we also had collected dues, to try to put a little something out there [to the players once the lockout started]…. [A player] would get $50,000-60,000 in dues rebates and get royalty checks, that helped out. So when the lockout hit, the guys would get a check every month to help the lack of money. 16 Like any union, the NFLPA tries to get the best working conditions, pay, and benefits for its members. In most instances, the owners of a company know that a union will often try to get better circumstances for its members in a negotiation by improving their part of the contract to reflect an increase in benefits and pay. If the owners are unwilling to budge, the workers may call a strike. The NFLPA was content with the terms of the last CBA, and did not want too many changes in the new contract. Except for a few provisions regarding healthcare and player safety, the players felt the expiring CBA was completely acceptable. The owners, however, did not believe that they were receiving a fair percentage of the television revenue. They wanted several percentage points returned from the players portion to go back to the owners in the new agreement. The owners were also asking for a two game extension to the regular season. Both of these points were deemed unacceptable by the NFLPA who wanted to essentially renew the old CBA with very minor changes. As a result of their desire to maintain current conditions, the players did not need to declare a strike and an owner-initiated lockout was put in place. The owners were not locking out the players in hopes of actually missing a season. That would mean a huge loss in revenue, which could seriously hurt a team owner. The action was primarily a posturing move by the NFL. They needed leverage to change the CBA to an agreement they felt adequately balanced their gains with the financial risks and responsibilities they incur as owners. Once the union backed out of negotiations and the union felt it had no other option to end the lockout but to decertify, 17 the owners were less willing to give concessions on the players’ demands. The owners were less concerned with appearance and being the “nice guy” and were more blunt about wanting a larger return on investment (Levenson). The league announced the lockout with the following statement from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell: The union's abandonment of bargaining has forced the clubs to take action they very much wanted to avoid. At the recommendation of the Management Council Executive Committee under the authority it has been delegated by the clubs, the league has informed the union that it is taking the difficult but necessary step of exercising its right under federal labor law to impose a lockout of the union. The clubs are committed to continuing to negotiate until an agreement is reached, and will gladly continue to work with the FMCS (federal mediators) (Evans). Although the players said they were happy with the agreement they had and would not object to leaving it intact, decertification opened up a new set of issues. The 1993 CBA outlines the NFL pay scale, providing for a minimum and maximum salary. It provided for profit sharing amongst the league and a salary cap for teams. It also provided guidelines for the NFL Draft. Decertification meant none of these provisions were guaranteed in the upcoming years. If the stoppage lasted longer than a year, the NFL would not hold a 2012 draft. If salary caps and pay scales were not enforced through a union, star players may make inflated salaries while the 3 rd string position player would have little ground to negotiation a competitive pay. If team salary caps disappeared, smaller market teams such as Green Bay, Pittsburg, and Jacksonville would have difficulty competing with larger market teams who can sell out a 100,000-seat stadium every weekend. Right now, the NFL concept is equality. Every team has an equal opportunity to build a program over several years. If a team has a terrible year, they receive a higher draft choice the following year to help rebuild the program. If a team 18 cannot sell out a huge stadium, or if their stadium is simply smaller than the average NFL mega-field, they will receive help from the league to ensure they can still afford a decent team. All of the foundational components are level across the 32 teams (Goodell). The only variable is performance. The team with the best coaches and best player wins, not the team with the biggest stadium, most money, or best paid athletes. As with most labor negotiations, the tensions and issues began long before any actual meetings and negotiations took place. To understand the source of the 2011 lockout, one must go back five years to March 2006 when the existing 1993 CBA was last amended to include an “escape” clause for the owners. The clause allowed owners or players to opt out of the CBA in 2008. Players would most likely not be the party to execute the clause as they were receiving almost 60% of TV and attendance profits. Owners wrote this amendment counting on the players not exiting early, but as an escape route for themselves. Five months later, the longtime Commissioner of the NFL Paul Tagliabue retired. The next man to hold the position was Roger Goodell, the current commissioner. Goodell was elected with the owners’ full knowledge that they would be opting out of the then-present CBA and most likely entering very combative negotiations with the NFLPA. In May 2008, the owners used their self-written amendment to opt out of the CBA. Although owners knew they had to wait until the end of the uncapped 2010- 2011 season, they saw the return of their profits in the not-so-distant future. They also recognized the possible loss of one or more seasons of football and started a war chest for the worst-case scenario. Only five months after the owners voted to opt out, the President of the NFLPA Gene Upshaw passed away from a very brief struggle with an aggressive 19 pancreatic cancer. This was truly a loss to both sides. The trusting relationship between Upshaw and his league counterparts over his tenure had guaranteed many years of labor peace in the NFL. A president pro temp led the NFLPA until DeMaurice Smith was elected to the position in March 2009. Smith, a Washington D.C.- based attorney, was elected for one reason: to face the NFL in the upcoming negotiations. Knowing that the off season would be a very long and uncertain time, owners were confident in their war chest and newly-amended TV contracts that would provide a steady income regardless of the season’s status. Shortly before the March 11 expiration of the CBA, the courts ruled the owners would be unable to access their war chest and would also not be legally able to receive the money from the new TV contracts. Cut off from their anticipated funding sources, the owners would be forced to negotiate at the same level of urgency as the players (Haynes). While many sources say the stoppage was inevitable, some members of the media felt the groups should have found a way to prevent the old CBA from expiring before a new agreement could be reached. Sports Illustrated writer Jim Trotter felt that the league and players association would do what they could to prevent the situation from reaching any definitive actions: Well you had union people saying they felt all along it would go to a lockout. I thought after the first extension we might get a second extension. Until it actually happened, I didn’t think it would happen. In hindsight having it explained to me, it was always going to happen. When they extended it an extra week I figured they would keep doing that until they reached a decision. The series of events that followed made for a spectacle of modern labor negotiations, public relations, and new media communications. The NFLPA 20 decertification, the NFL Draft and NFLPA Debut, speculations for when a new CBA may be finalized, and the possibility of a lost NFL season all became national news. The true cost of losing a season was estimated at nearly $800 million for the economies of the host cities, not to mention the cost to the NFL owners and players. But the true loss could have been much greater had fans lost interest and respect for the league. The time it would take to rebuild a damaged fan base and the possible financial losses that would entail may have been a higher figure than the sum of one season. Most media members and individuals involved in the negotiations expressed their certainty that a deal would be reached; it was only a matter of time. As long as the owners and players felt they had time on their side and had not lost any games or revenue, they could continue to posture and push or stall negotiations as they saw fit. In July, both sides started to feel the pressure as the reality of the dispute’s effects became more visible. University of Southern California Sports Business Institute provided an evaluation of the lockout implementation: “The lockout effectively created a greater sense of urgency between the sides. Without a lockout, which prohibited interaction between management/coaches and players, the gravity of the end of the CBA may not have been felt as strongly. As voluntary practice sessions were missed, training camp got cut into, and pre-season games were cancelled, the importance of coming to an agreement was felt on all sides.” The players were not ready to play as a team after missing all their mini camps and summer training. The rookies still did not have contracts and free agents were still available for signing. Finally, both sides sat down in earnest to get the details in writing. 21 [The owners] came in asking for an 18% rollback and got 3% which is 3% of 9 billion dollars. The players knew they were going to have to make some concessions and they did. Some could say the players gave 3% but they got concessions on in season practices and better long-term health care. They got concessions on the TV contracts, they get 55% of the TV contracts moving forward, and as we know TV is the money that feeds the beast. They get a small guarantee on contracts for a year and a half. So you can see that both sides gave up something, but moving forward, you get to say you have ten more years of labor peace (Trotter). 22 CHAPTER 3: LEGALITIES OF THE LOCKOUT: DECERTIFICATION OF PLAYERS UNION, LAWSUITS, AND NEGOTIATIONS In March, after negotiations continued to produce little hope of a final agreement and finally broke down, the NFLPA leadership felt drastic measures were necessary to bring the NFL back to the table in good faith. The first step in this plan was the decertification of the Players Union. This ensured the owners would have to resort to a lockout rather than the players moving to strike. While this may appear to be semantics, the “Strike vs. Lockout” was a very strategic messaging move by the NFLPA as well as a legal tactic. Nearly all of the legal maneuvers by the NFLPA had communication strategy implications that reached far beyond sending a message to the NFL. The lawsuits, rulings, and accompanying briefs all reinforced to the public that the players were trying to maintain status quo while the owners were the entity responsible for the work stoppage. I think every negotiation is different; this one was going to be more contentious than ones in the past. Anytime someone is trying to give something up its hard. The owners wanted money back from us as players and that is unprecedented. It’s always been the other way around where the players are fighting for money and it wasn’t. This negotiation had players on the defensive. How it goes in the future depends on how this CBA plays out (Tauscher). Following decertification, the next step was the Brady vs. NFL suit, an anti-trust lawsuit meant to halt the owner’s actions. “The anti-trust exemption is a major issue that ultimately was a strategic move used by the players. If the court cases had continued [and no CBA reached], issues such as a full opening of the books for the players (and opposing owners) would have been detrimental. Losing the exemption as well would have also put the league and its players in legal turmoil for the foreseeable future. 23 Ultimately, neither side would have benefited in the short term from a prolonged anti- trust suit but the specter of it becoming an issue only applied additional pressure to reach an agreement. Decertification was another strategy that was attempted to force the league into ending the lockout (SBI).” Ten current players, including some of the NFL’s most notable names, filed a lawsuit in federal court hoping to get an injunction against the lockout. After the filing of the lawsuit, there were multiple ways for the dispute to end. The players could reach an agreement with owners and drop the suit without progressing to court. Both parties could settle the suit while the courts observe as monitors. The third option would directly involve the anti-trust suit being settled by the court. With quarterbacks like Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, and Drew Brees lending their names and voices to the lawsuit, the suit was also meant to show the NFL that even the most image conscious players were willing to stand up to management. The NFLPA also hoped this move would put pressure on the NFL to cooperate for a quicker resolution to ensure they keep their anti-trust exemption, therefore avoiding the third possible resolution (Mohices). The most notable week of legal maneuvering was April 23-28, 2011. On April 23, Judge Susan Nelson and the federal court seated in Minnesota granted the players’ request for the lockout to be lifted. Nelson sited free agent Peyton Manning as a reason for her decision, saying that by having an owner-imposed lockout, players “have demonstrated they are suffering, and will continue to suffer, irreparable harm.” Essentially, the absence of a CBA was preventing free agents from signing a contract and earning wages. Since theoretically no wages would mean no ability to provide for 24 yourself or your family this constitutes “harm” (Wells). The decision was implemented on April 27 after Nelson refused the NFL’s request to delay the execution of her decision. However, this decision did not require the NFL to enter into a contract with any player nor to direct the league’s conduct in the negotiations (Maske). This decision started a daylong frenzy of confusion on the operating rules, uncertainty of what contact coaches and players could have, and what ability agents, players, and teams had to negotiate contracts. In order to try and inform the players of the NFLPA’s view of the ruling, leadership sent out a letter to players stating that “unless or until” Judge Nelson issues a stay of her injunction, the NFLPA considers all business to be back to usual. The letter urges free agent players and their agents to start negotiating contracts, and suggests that if a team refuses to negotiate “you should contact class counsel immediately (Katzowitz).” This statement was released with the full knowledge that the NFL had filed an appeal with the U.S. 8 th District Court of Appeals asking for a stay, a request that could be granted at any time. Most teams did very little immediately following the decision, but others took the opportunity for coaches to check in on players’ health, distribute playbooks, ask about training camps that players were self imposing, and exchange enough information to be prepared whenever the lockout ended and play returned. The injunction was also a huge blow to the NFL. The leverage provided by the injunction showed the strength of the NFLPA case and the leanings of the court in Minnesota, the court where the original Brady class action suit was filed. During a panel discussion at New York Law School, NFLPA Assistant Executive Director George Atallah explained the importance of the 25 injunction, saying, “A lockout, by definition, is an economic tool to extract more favorable terms for the employer…When it comes down to it, the NFL and the NFL’s lawyers are in a position where they have to defend a lockout. That’s the bottom line. The players do not want a lockout” (Star-Ledger Staff). On April 28, after the lower court had denied the NFL a stay just 24 hours prior, the Federal Court of Appeals in St. Louis granted the NFL a temporary stay pending a further decision. Plainly, this means the owner imposed stoppage was back in place and would continue until the court could make a final ruling. The final ruling could take up to eight weeks from the temporary decision. The court’s decision came as a surprise, with a 2-1 vote in favor of the petition. Appellate Judges Duane Benton and Steven Colloton voted for the temporary stay, saying they wanted to “give the court sufficient opportunity to consider the merits of the motion for a stay pending appeal (Staff, The CNN Wire, and Justin Lear).” Judge Kermit Bye was the dissenting vote, qualifying his opinion by stating, “The NFL has not persuaded me this is the type of emergency situation which justifies the grant of a temporary stay. Because I expected our court will be resolving the actual request for a stay in short order, I see little practical need for granting an emergency temporary stay in this non-emergency situation (AFP).” Once the lockout was reinstated, negotiations continued under the direction of the courts as previously scheduled, but all lockout rules went back in to effect. This meant 12 hours after organizations were allowed to open their doors to players; they were once again forced to shut them. “While the first court ruling achieved that effect [of forcing the league into ending the lockout] the subsequent appeals court overturned the ruling. As a whole, 26 [decertification] didn’t impact the negotiation process that much other than creating another issue for both sides to deal with. Once the courts vacated the initial ruling, the owners were stronger because their ability to lockout the players was validated legally (SBI).” Although the Brady class action suit was the primary suit against the NFL, this was not the only filing by the decertified union. Players also argued that the NFL should pay them up to $1B for inserting “lockout” insurance into broadcasting contracts. After discovering this clause, they encouraged the federal judge to expand the scope of the case to cover all league commercial contracts. The players hoped to create more leverage in negotiations by burdening the NFL with more financial liability. Sources confirmed that nearly all NFL contracts include guaranteed payments clauses, and in most cases, sponsors are not due to get any money back until several games of the season are missed. To further prove owners added these clauses with anticipation of a long bargaining process in 2011, these clauses were inserted beginning in 2006. Media contracts, the primary focus of the suit, began to see this language starting in 2009 (Kaplan). While the majority of the lawsuits were between the NFL and current players, the retirees eventually filed their own suit against both parties, alleging their disagreement hindered the retirees’ ability to receive the benefits they were owed. Under the proposed original CBA in March, retired players stood to receive an increase of $114 a month per year played. Retirees would not be able to collect this benefit until the agreement was finalized. Since the negotiations delayed this increase, the suit was seeking nearly $5M in damages (Hagen). 27 Players and former players were not the only people filing lawsuits against the NFL. A Browns fan in Cleveland filed a lawsuit against the NFL and the Browns, saying the owners’ action had violated his ability to buy tickets through his personal seat license. "It's a fight between billionaires and millionaires," Ken Lanci said in a telephone interview. "There isn't any sympathy for multi-millionaires. It's just not going to happen. And somebody has to stand up and say, 'Enough's enough.'" Lanci asked for $25,000 from each organization, citing breach of contract and bad faith counts by the Browns and alleged contract interference by the league. While the lawsuit was not heard by a court, the league responded to the Associated Press inquiry about the suit by saying they understood the fan’s frustration and that all teams have announced refund policies to protect fans in the instance of a lockout or strike. Greg Aiello, a recognizable name from NFL operations said, “The best solution to Mr. Lanci's concern is for the union to return to the bargaining table and complete a labor agreement that will put the game back on the field where it belongs (The Associated Press. "Cleveland Fan.”).” With all of these lawsuits and rulings being issued, one group had a huge stake in the outcome but also had to worry about maintaining relationships with both sides. The NFL Coaches Association was wedged directly in the middle of the NFL lockout dispute, and had little ability to express any allegiance in fear of alienating the other side. Regardless of the risk, the Coaches Association did file a brief in May with the U.S. 8 th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis that clearly showed the coaches favoring the players. The primary purpose of the brief was to urge the court to end the dispute, citing the instability of the NFL coach’s job. The stoppage had extensive effects on the coaches’ 28 ability to perform their job, therefore jeopardizing job stability even further. The brief emphasized this point by stating “Preparation is a coach's currency, and coaches rely heavily on the offseason to prepare their players for the season. If the NFL's lockout denied coaches the necessary time with players, coaches will be significantly more limited in their ability to prepare their teams and to prove their value as coaches.” The brief goes on to express the symbiotic relationship between coaches and players. One cannot function without the other. Other concerns expressed included first year coaches’ ability to fulfill their responsibilities and utilize the normally allotted extra minicamps extended to first years. The added knowledge that the 2011 coaching class included a higher number of first year coaches bolsters the briefs assertion that losing the preseason is tantamount to job endangerment by the NFL. To further prove that this was more than simply a brief, but also a communication tactic by the coaches to express their views of the current situation and its possible future effects on the outcome of whatever the season turned out to be, the filing goes on to state “Damages would not be an adequate remedy for NFL coaches who suffer from the NFL's illegal group boycott. The lockout will be responsible for avoidable professional failures, and damages cannot compensate the coaches and their families for such harm (Iver).” The negotiations as an entity were at times a point of contention. Players and NFLPA representation wanted the negotiations to take place in Minnesota under the federal court’s watch. The NFL hoped for meetings to continue in Washington, D.C. under a federal mediator. Since the NFLPA decertified, they were no longer a union but a trade organization and therefore no longer able to use a federal mediator for negotiations. 29 Due to a court ruling, NFLPA representatives were able negotiate for the players as a whole under the guise of working towards a CBA. Throughout the lockout, one of the most frustrating points for the NFLPA, NFL, and fans was the seemingly inconsistency of the negotiation schedule. The two sides would meet for several hours for three or four days straight, claim progress, then have one unproductive day and call a break for several weeks (Vacchiano). When negotiations first broke down on March 11, it took until April 14 for talks to resume (Bedard). This return to the table was not voluntary however. Judge Nelson had ordered the two sides to sit down with a federal judge and restart talks. Another example of these lengthy breaks early in negotiations was the recess from April 20-May 16 to focus on the initial court ruling on the lockout injunction. This three-week break came after only 4 days of continuous negotiations. These early breaks did little to convince fans that any issues were truly being worked out. Later in the process, “secret” meetings between the two sides were happening on a regular basis, with progress being made then lost and nearly the same interval, but at that point it was truly between the owners and players, as many of the lawyers had been sidelined in hopes of reaching an agreement privately. Radio personality and former NFL player Marcellus Wiley gave his perspective on the role of the lawyers versus the role of the players and owners in the negotiations. No disrespect to lawyers but they usually complicate situations more so than not because they allow the egos of the two to continue to bolster and allow the negotiations to continue to be a topic instead of the real issue. I have to tell my lawyer to talk to your lawyer to talk to you. In those kinds of conversations, this isn’t the kitchen table, we’re talking about 9 million dollars, that's going to prolong things and usually confuse issues. I’m a big believer that these guys could have handled this and worked this out. But Smith and Goodell could have walked 30 into a room and hammered out this conversation and ended this negotiation much faster rather than using the lawyers and wasting all this money and time. The first real progress on the point of highest contention, revenue sharing, came on July 1. The negotiations that day lasted nearly 19 hours, with the following day lasting nearly as long and talks continuing for nearly a week straight. League and NFLPA officials were talking to the media and taking to social networks to inform fans of the good news (Breer). At this point, players and owners started to see movement towards a finalized CBA. Then talks stalled again on July 8, but the two sides continued to meet regardless of “tough” hours at the table. In the midst of all negotiations and frustration, a moment of humanity grabbed the media’s attention. Patriots owner Robert Kraft had been a constant presence at the negotiations for the NFL. Although he had been an advocate of early resolution, Kraft had promised to sit at the table until a deal was reached. Near the end of the lockout, Kraft’s wife passed away after a lengthy struggle with ovarian cancer. The media quietly picked up on the story, and remarked about how he commuted daily from negotiations to his wife’s bedside. Indianapolis Colts center Jeff Saturday, a constant fixture on the NFLPA’s side of the table and a team member of Kraft’s largest league rival, gave Kraft a long hug at the press conference announcing the new CBA. Saturday said Kraft “helped us save football (Gregory).” While there were few positive stories during the negotiation process, the image of the embrace became the signal of the end of the dispute and a return to peaceful labor relations. On July 25 the lockout ended with the ratification of a new CBA by all 32 teams. The NFLPA and NFL reached an agreement with some final points to be addressed later 31 (NFL Communications). The owners ratified the new agreement quickly, with players taking more time to vote based on the group’s larger membership. The newly accepted CBA included smaller bonuses for rookies who are high draft picks, no two a day practices, and no additional regular season games. Kickoffs were moved to 35-yard line for player safety. Concussion monitoring has also become a focus of team trainers and league medical staff. There is a hard salary cap; a point the owners claimed maintained league competitiveness. On the most contentious item, players ended up with 47% of the revenues shared. But was all of this necessary? Could the entire situation have been handled without the court’s involvement? Obviously the players believed the courts were their best recourse to accomplish their goals. The owners had hoped to stay out of the court system, saying the only way a season could happen is if a new CBA could be finalized. Did it have to go the court? Yes for the leverage. The lockout fund had to be overturned otherwise players would have had huge blow [But] this deal started to get done when the lawyers were out of the room, and it was groups of players and owners face to face. The lawyers gain something by having it drag on. Owners counter with saying their lawyers were on a flat fee. The [players’] executive council was involved from the beginning. The difference with [Colts Center Jeff] Saturday and Foxsworth was they were at every meeting. And really Jeff is a good guy; Saturday had empathy with Kraft at that point as Kraft was losing his wife. You’d almost have to be a robot not to feel something (Trotter). Since Kraft and Saturday were eventually credited with essentially ending the lockout, all actions and those present at negotiation meetings during the negotiations served their purpose. 32 CHAPTER 4: TRUST ISSUES: NFLPA NEW LEADERSHIP, NFL SHOW OF STRENGTH, AND THE NEED TO ESTABLISH A FOUNDATION In 2008, the NFL and NFLPA lost one of its most long-standing and trusted figures when Gene Upshaw, a former player and longtime NFLPA President, passed away at the age of 63. Upshaw had been party to several CBA negotiations and helped to establish the league’s foundation for its most popular years to date. The trust that had been established between the NFLPA and NFL leadership during Upshaw’s tenure was responsible for 25 years of successful labor relations, with only minor work stoppages and no major negotiation breakdowns (Associated Press, “Hall of Fame…”). I think when you are dealing with negotiations, trust has to be established. Before Gene passed away I think there was a pretty good trust between him and Tagliabue and then Goodell took over on the NFL side, they didn’t have to have a lot of dealings with each other. When we brought DeMaurice Smith on there wasn’t a relationship or really a good understanding of what both sides were trying to get out of it. And there was a good feeling out process and that went on for a while and the lack of trust was a big hurdle to overcome when you are at the beginning stages of negotiations (Tauscher). After Upshaw lost his very short battle with pancreatic cancer, the players elected DeMaurice Smith as Executive Director of the NFLPA on March 16, 2009. Smith, a litigation and trial lawyer from Washington, D.C. with a distinguished career, was an obvious choice for a union preparing for a difficult negotiating process (NFLPA). Smith had his own ideas for how he wanted to lead the NFLPA. He wanted to keep the players close to the negotiations, to bring team representatives to the table with NFLPA executives, and to educate the players on the ramifications of proposed CBA changes. Although Smith ultimately succeeded on these goals, it was clear throughout the lockout 33 that Smith and Assistant Executive Director George Atallah were going to have a difficult battle against Goodell, Greg Aeillo and the league owners. Many leagues have difficulty negotiating contracts, especially with full knowledge that whatever is decided sets a future precedent. “Whenever there is new representation, it takes awhile for each side to get a feel for each other. Because these negotiations would set the table for any future discussions, each side wanted to establish a base of strength in negotiations that they could build from. This likely prolonged the discussion as each side did a little more posturing than they would have if there were an already established relationship. On the other hand, as we saw with the NBA, long- standing relationships don’t necessarily guarantee quick resolution either (SBI).” Although long-standing relationships are not guaranteed solutions for labor negotiations, the Upshaw-Tagliabue and later Upshaw-Goodell seemed to be a one of the best working relationships between management and labor in professional sports. The Smith-Goodell relationship has already proven extremely contentious. As green as this relationship was, it had already resulted in several lawsuits, scathing media commentary, and possibly the tarnishing of both men’s reputation. I think initially [Gene Upshaw] could have shortened [the lockout] because [Upshaw and Goodell] had a tenured relationship, a stronger relationship. I think it took a moment for each side to tell the other side that it meant business and that was part of the delay. What is the premise Goodell is standing on and what premise is Smith standing on? I think respect had to be earned throughout the lockout where as it may have already been engrained if it was Gene Upshaw (Wiley). Previous to the negotiations, Goodell’s reputation was built primarily on player discipline for on field safety violations, exactly hefty fines and punishments for rule 34 violations, and possibly being to “light” on players involved in criminal actions. Post- lockout, Goodell’s name became synonymous with the “billionaires vs. millionaires” fight, being portrayed as the angry, frustrated leader of a group of billionaires asking for even more money from their labor force. The scenario was all too familiar to the NFL’s fan base, which was dealing with a very troubled economy a many facing unemployment. Goodell became the face of the league ownership and the lightning rod for any negative press against the NFL and the lockout. Ultimately, Smith and Goodell were both portrayed as the “bad guy” on occasion. Bloggers and sports journalists were constantly speculating on when these two men would decide to work to resolve the dispute in earnest. Tauscher expressed his view of the delay in resolution: I think its part of the process. Whenever you are talking about as much money as there is at stake and the battle that is going to come down to, until deadlines are being it and you are missing paychecks and its hitting you in your pocketbook for both sides, I think its just a posturing move and there are going to be lawsuits filed and its just part of the natural process. I think when you have new people in their first CBA and they are trying to put their footprint on what was going to be established in the new CBA, what were going to be the targeting points what were going to be the things that had to get done, there was a natural feeling out process. It was just very contentious and I think once the rhetoric started slowing down you knew things would get done (Tauscher). One blogger expressed the combined opinions of many writers, stating, “It's scary to think that the $9 billion industry is teetering on the brink of either settlement or implosion unless these two strong-willed and probably egotistical leaders can play "give-and-take" to the point of ending the labor standoff and getting the 2011 season underway, with not a moment to lose (Raffel).” This seemed to be the ultimate takeaway for most fans and 35 media members: Roger Goodell and DeMaurice Smith were making the negotiations take much longer than necessary. However, Smith and Goodell did manage to reach a final CBA, end the lockout, and save the 2011-2012 season fully intact. Both sides were able to claim some victories, and did not feel they gave up more than what was acceptable. “Each side benefitted from the negotiation even though many things were left on the table. Owners did not receive their 18 game schedule nor did they receive what they had initially had hoped for in terms of revenue. However both sides appreciated the need for a rookie salary scale and received one. The owners also benefitted from the continued inclusion of the franchise tag. Players benefitted from additional benefits given to retired players as well as a relaxing of training camp requirements. Each side came out of the process with gains and the 10-year life of the deal was good for the overall game (SBI).” Now that the negotiations have been completed, what role will Smith play for the NFLPA? The association will hold its executive leadership election in March. Sports Illustrated columnist Jim Trotter, Green Bay Packer Mark Tauscher, and retired player Marcellus Wiley speculated on Smith’s future with the NFLPA: I think [Smith] will be reelected, I don’t know why he wouldn’t be. If he is reelected I think you will see a lot of changes at the union. He came in on the run and I think rather than starting to make changes in the middle of the negotiations, he thought ‘I’ll rely on some of the people that are already here as well as some of my own people, assess the situation, and I’ll address it after we get this done.’ I think he’ll reshape the look of the union and the focus of the union moving forward, he’ll look at football players as more than football players but as businessmen (Trotter). I think it’s going to be interesting. DeMaurice did exactly what we elected him and were hoping he would do. We knew it was going to be a battle and from a 36 legal standpoint we needed someone who was incredibly sharp and knew what the owners thought process was and could stay some of that off and get to an even playing field and I think he did that. As time goes on we’ll see how this plays out and it will end up D’s legacy. In ten years if it turns out nice, everyone will say he did a nice job. As of right now, we’ll see how it plays out (Tauscher). You have to respect that he earned the respect of those 32 owners and Roger Goodell. With membership of 1800 players currently playing as well as the thousands of players who are retired and thousands of players who will someday enter the fraternity. To continue to achieve that intact that tenure you gotta give the guy the respect. That said both sides will never be totally satisfied so I wouldn’t give any slight to smith I think he did a tremendous job (Wiley). With ten years until the next CBA will need to be negotiated, Smith will have plenty of time to work on his relationship with the NFL Commissioner’s office. Whether Goodell will remain the man holding that office is yet to be determined. Regardless of who holds the offices of NFL Commissioner and NFLPA Executive Director for the next CBA negotiation, hopefully the lesson that can be taken away from the 2011 process is that there must be a trusting relationship in place between the two positions prior to sitting down at the bargaining table. 37 CHAPTER 5: OTHER INFLUENTIAL PARTICIPANTS: ROOKIES AND RETIRED PLAYERS Rookies Most prospective rookies stood with the players unions by joining the lawsuit, not attending the draft, or speaking about the lockout. There was a surprising amount of focus on the rookies, mostly concentrated on the draft vs. the debut, salary caps, and their ability to be game ready whenever negotiations were over. Rookies represented an unusual group: they were the new kids who just wanted to fit in, but were forced to pick a side in a fight that started before they were ever in the picture. While most felt they owed their loyalties to their future teammates, the draft posed a special problem. The NFL Draft is a huge production, meant to make the top prospects feel welcomed and applauded for their high level of athletic achievement. It is a once in a lifetime experience. This made it difficult for some rookies, putting them between the owners and the players. Since negotiations were making little progress around the time of the draft, rookies became a public relations tool for both sides. The NFL wanted to continue the traditions surrounding the draft, hoping the invited players would choose to attend. The current players felt this would be a betrayal by the rookies, but wanted to offer them an alternative celebration of their entry into the league. The players announced they would be holding The Debut, originally intended to be a competing event with The draft. The NFLPA invited the top 20 prospects, including Cam Newton, Patrick Peterson, and Blaine Gabbert, to join current and former players for several events held in New York 38 City (Leahy). The NFLPA originally planned an event to coincide with the draft so boycotting draftees could stand with the NFLPA but still feel they had not missed out on a once in a lifetime opportunity. By the time the draft was held, the “debut” had been scaled back, and allowed draftees to attend both events without feeling as though they had betrayed future teammates. Although most rookies attended the draft, the league took some measures to involve former players in hopes of presenting some unity. Retired stars helped announce the second round picks for their former teams (Carroll). The draft was unique for reasons that went far beyond the rookies’ decision on which party to attend that night. This draft was especially difficult for those selecting players as well. Normally, the period of free agency for veteran players takes place prior to the draft. Teams get a chance to sign seasoned players for positions that they may need more depth or more talent to fill. Since the 2011 Draft was held without the preceding free agency period, teams had to pick blind. The opportunity to choose players who may be great for development is not as important as the need to fill open positions on the roster. Without the promise of free agents to complete the roster, development players become a higher risk choice. This draft may have elevated players that would otherwise have gone in later rounds to first or second round draft choices. This may have changed the value of a player to fans and changed expectations for first year performances (Langford). Other changes were rather frustrating as well. Draft picks could be traded for other draft picks, but teams couldn’t trade the rights to a player they just drafted. Teams can only trade unused draft picks in this draft for future draft picks. However, since the union decertified, there was no guarantee of a future draft (Legwold). 39 Green Bay Packers have a long history of bringing in young players and developing them before putting them into the rotation. "Ted (Thompson)'s drafted the best offensive and defensive player in the league right now," Wolf said, referencing 2011 Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers and star linebacker Clay Matthews. "Ted tilts the (draft) board in his team's favor. He has exceptional ability to see, dissect and pinpoint, which enables him to pick that right player." Green Bay said they would stick to their past practice of picking the best player available for their needs, regardless of free agency uncertainty. Teams who have had less success developing a winning team building strategy found it very hard to decide on how to approach a draft under these circumstances. The Washington Redskins are now pigeon holed into picking a new quarterback, then being unable to work with him until the lockout is over. Atlanta Falcons said they used the draft to tried to focus filling their roster needs and reaching their past season potential, especially because of the possibility of a very late free agent season. General manager Thomas Dimitroff commented on his teams’ draft philosophy: “I'm trying as much as possible to really focus on trying to make this team better. The only way I know is to be quite myopic …because everyone would agree you really can't plan for the future in free agency right now. You can only really focus on the sure thing right now — our draft." The team that seemed to have the best hand this year was the New England Patriots. With access to five of the top 74 picks, the Patriots were able to choose what they needed and what they wanted without worrying about (Corbett). Beyond what happened on Draft night and the subsequent rounds that followed, the true issue became bringing these new recruits onto their teams. Coaches were unable to 40 discuss strategy or hold mini camps, teams were not allowed to negotiation salaries, and with new rookie salary caps as part of the negotiations, rookies had little idea how much they should expect to receive in their contract. Retired Players Another group that had a huge stake in the outcome of the negotiations was the retired players. As with any career, NFL players receive a pension after their phenomenally short careers. With the exception of some low-impact positions, such as kicker and occasionally quarterback, the average player is productive for about 10 NFL seasons. This means many players rely on a pension provided by the NFL for at least a portion of their income by the time they reach 35 years old. Unfortunately, many current players do not look ahead to that “early retirement” and proactively protect the terms under which they will retire. The problem is the retired players always want more, and some are legitimately indigent, but there are some guys that only played two or three years and want the league to take care of them for the rest of their lives and that’s not what this is about. The biggest issue I see is medical care for retired players, and there were some concessions there. The thing is they are never going to please everyone. But there are elements of this CBA that give them more than they ever had (Trotter). Some players agree that while the pension received from the NFL is as important as it would be from any other job, the most important aspect of retirement is moving on and having a productive future. The guys are more worried about the transition. If you are worried about the CBA to live or survive, you probably aren’t going to make it to the threshold…. If you are trying to live off retirement, you aren’t going to make it because it's a steep fall from what you made in the league to what you get in retirement. You need to look at it like a ghost supplement, as money coming from nowhere you can used to invest. I have been able to supplement my benefits with a second career, but I 41 am probably in the minority of guys. I created my own safety net with by having a career (Wiley). Some of the older retired players felt they deserved more because of their foundational role in building the NFL. I'm a retired player, but I’m not part of that class. There was a small excerpt about retired player benefits. They were talking about guys with a longer tenure than me who retired earlier. This was about retired players in the sense of the guys who really paved the way but never saw the fruit of that, guys who retired in 1993. By the time I retired the game had definitely become economically profitable (Wiley). Eventually, retirees filed a lawsuit separately from the NFLPA and spoke on several occasions how the players’ union was not representing their interests. Early in the negotiations the NFL directed communications towards this group, saying the current stoppage would not affect their pension checks, insurance, or other benefits from being available per usual. What the owners did emphasize was that any increases that were due to the pensioners would not take effect until after negotiations were finished. I would say in this deal [retirees] got more than they’ve ever got. If you look at the deal it’s the first time the players have put money into the retirement fund. In the new CBA they are putting in 700 million over the course of 10 years (Trotter). This was obviously a point of frustration for retired players, knowing that they would receive a larger pension and better healthcare benefits, but not until the current players were willing to work with the owners. There are several levels of compensation. Workers compensation is one thing, that’s state law, but you have [wait] at least five years post retirement to draw benefit. You can then start taking it out at 45, that’s one level. 62 is another. But if you take that out early you take a penalty just like any other retirement. Its really about health benefits, that's the increase they wanted. That way there’s more than 5 years coverage after retirement… Many of these guys have the ability to retire 42 off their financial earnings from when they played, but this is about the benefits package once he is retired (Wiley). Many players still felt it was best to help the current players, hoping they might work out an even better deal retirees before the CBA was finalized. You are negotiating a CBA that is about the current players. Guys always think that when you are playing you want to get as much as you can get. Everyone knows they are going to be a retired player at some point but you never think it is going to happen immediately. So you want to do things that are fair and there are things that haven’t been fair in the past. So anytime you are going backward to negotiation you are not really negotiating from a place of strength. I think they did a good job of getting their message out; there are a lot of groups and a lot of players that felt things need to improve and things have definitely improved. If you talk to most guys it didn’t improve as much as they would like but it was a good starting point and a good step. As the CBA continues to play out and the money continues to grow, I imagine the retired players benefits will continue to improve as well (Tauscher). In recent years, the retired players have become very organized, forming local associations and the larger NFL Alumni Association. While most of the organizations are based on public service and comradery for former players, the groups found a voice during the lockout. Retirees lent their support to both sides during the labor dispute, some feeling the players would be a better voice while others felt the owners had their best interests at heart. A small group of retirees also sued the league to support the players’ antitrust class action. They claimed the lockout endangered their health benefits and pensions. With pension checks as low as $200 a month, retirees could not afford to have benefits suspended indefinitely (Oliver). President of the NFL Alumni Association George Martin has possibly been one of the most vocal figures for the retired players. The association has historically been a charitable and public service driven organization, but Martin has tried to focus the 43 group’s voice and vision in a different direction. Martin believes the group should maintain its charitable attributes, but also have a seat at the table with the NFLPA and NFL in CBA negotiations. “This is by far the hardest thing I’ve done,” Martin, 58, said. “It has been the epitome of crisis management at its finest or at its worst, I’m not quite sure.” Martin, who once served as the NFLPA’s president, has been trying to improve the alumni association’s relationship with the NFLPA with little success. The primary cause of the rift appeared to be a loan to the alumni by the NFL. The alumni’s acceptance of funding from the NFL gave pause to the NFPLA regarding the alumni’s loyalties. This has led to disagreements and friction between Smith and Martin. The NFLPA expressed concern over the association’s relationship with the owners and doubt over their allegiance. The only problem is that the NFL may have had some legitimate grounds in their doubts. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was the initiating party for the formation of the NFL Alumni Association. “To realize that I didn’t have an honored place in that organization — to say it was disconcerting would be an understatement,” Martin said. “I’ve been through the strikes. I fought. That’s why I took this personally. To this day, it bothers me tremendously.” Regardless of the distrust and doubt, Martin made pension increases his top priority. As the NFL and the players union entered into labor negotiations, Martin saw a stage for his platform. He was ready to fight for the retiree’s pension and hopefully strengthen ties with the NFLPA in the process. Instead, it only added to the strained relationship with an eventual collapse after a meeting that left both sides indignant and 44 angry. However, the players and owners cannot deny that former players had a more unified voice, even if its tone shifted throughout the lockout. The strength of the association grew as well. Martin was able to secure long-term health benefits for retired players as well as improved employment, educational and career-transition opportunities. Players have expressed their commitment to seeing more improvements in the future and their commitment to Martin. “We’ve been waiting for something like this to come along,” said Russ Francis, a retired player and a friend of Martin. “George Martin has our attention. He has our commitment. With the right support, the right tools, he’ll make history again (Bishop).” Without even being in the league currently, both the rookies and the retired players were greatly affected by the newest CBA. The rookies were anticipating the institution of a new salary scale that would change their first contract and downgrade the expected payout they watched previous classes receive after draft night. Retirees had a very different set of problems. They were hoping to see their monthly payments increase, but knew that would not happen until the new contract was in place. These groups had almost opposite hopes for the finalized CBA with rookies wanting very little change from the last CBA, and retirees anxious to start receiving the increased benefits promised in the new CBA. In the end, the retirees were able to receive most of what they wanted in the finalized agreement while the rookies had to settle for a downgrade in pay even though they could have been considered one of the most important draft classes in NFL history. 45 CHAPTER 6: COMMUNICATION TACTICS Information was available from both sides at almost overwhelming levels. Media communication wasn’t merely a strategy for both sides; it was a tool in constant use. From players’ Twitter accounts to Commissioner Goodell’s daily press conferences, both sides were reaching out to their key audiences through every available platform, trying to get their side out there and win public support. As in all professional sports, the primary consumer is the fan. In recent years, the picture of the “fan” has changed drastically to include members of nearly every demographic. “Fans and consumers have shown through history that they’ll often come back to games even when they are disgusted by the actions of the owners and players during negotiations. When you have the fan attachment the NFL does, your messaging needs to always be tailored toward keeping your audience happy but you have the benefit of a compelling game to supplement any missteps you make. The popularity the NFL has protects it from what the MLB saw when it lost the World Series due to labor negotiations. While MLB has rebounded by listening to its fans, it didn’t have the attachment the NFL currently enjoys. In sum, the impact of your league messaging is greatly dependent on how “sticky” your product is to the fans (SBI).” Since the NFL is only marketable to TV stations or companies hoping to put their name on a stadium because of its immense and broad reaching fan base, both sides realized they could certainly benefit by as much positive public opinion as possible. The NFL released the full 2011-2012 schedules for teams, knowing there was a very real possibility that some, if not all, of the announced games could be missed. Regardless, the 46 NFL wanted to establish that it was looking forward to the end of the dispute and a return to football in a timely and efficient manner with no interruption to the season "We know that it is an important point where fans start looking forward to the season," Goodell said. "And I think there's every reason for them to do that. We have every intention of playing the full season (Cherner)." Some of the most resonating messages were not words but actions. The most significant strategy throughout the entire lockout was the first major step away from the bargaining table in March. When the NFLPA announced they had decertified as a union, they were telling the fans, media, and owners that they were no longer able work with the owners in a productive manner. Instead they felt the best resolution would be the courts, filing a class action lawsuit led by fan favorites Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Drew Brees. The players chose the “darlings” of the NFL to headline the legal process, knowing that these players’ squeaky clean images as leaders of their team, community involvement, and high performance players would convey the message they were looking to send to owners, media, and fans. As several players said throughout the negotiations “we just want to get back to playing football,” and that's’ what Brees, Brady, and Manning represented. Some guys its just not in their nature [to be vocal], but for the players the fact they could get Brady, Manning, and Brees, [on the class action suit] that’s big for the players and a bit of an embarrassment for the league. Especially for a team like the Patriots who don’t like making waves and now you have your quarterback standing up to the owner, and Brees doing the same thing, and a guy like Peyton Manning who might not have been as vocal but he was there when he was needed and put his name on it and if you know Peyton, that’s big for him (Trotter). 47 The NFLPA went as far as to accuse the league of having actively worked for a lockout of the players for over two years. "Any agreement reached from this point forward with the NFL will be as a result of the court system, not a collective bargaining agreement," the union said (Evans). The NFL released a statement to accompany the NFLPA’s announcement, saying, The union's abandonment of bargaining has forced the clubs to take action they very much wanted to avoid. At the recommendation of the Management Council Executive Committee under the authority it has been delegated by the clubs, the league has informed the union that it is taking the difficult but necessary step of exercising its right under federal labor law to impose a lockout of the union. The clubs are committed to continuing to negotiate until an agreement is reached, and will gladly continue to work with the FMCS (federal mediators). The clubs believe that this step is the most effective way to accelerate efforts to reach a new agreement without disruption to the 2011 season. The clubs want to continue negotiating intensively to reach a fair agreement as soon as possible. Our goal is finding common ground and resolving the issues with the union. That is why we ask the union to resume negotiations with the federal mediator. The negative consequences for the players and clubs will continue to escalate the longer it takes to reach an agreement (Evans). This move was not a surprise to the NFLPA, and was exactly what the players had expected. Messages from each side were well choreographed and very deliberate. I think we had a great group on the executive committee. We had Drew Brees, who is a star quarterback and a very high profile player in the league. Having a guy like that out front was outstanding. Jeff Saturday is really smart and really understood the players’ side of the negotiation. I really think he stepped up, everyone has a lot of respect for him and he’s been on the executive committee for a while. I think [Saturday] and Dante Foxworth being out front did a great job of staying on message, making sure that when it was time to get our message out to the other guys in the locker room we could do that (Tauscher). Everything from “NFL lockout” to the owners’ quick approval of the CBA in August was a strategized message to the media and public. The NFLPA was very aggressive in 48 ensuring the use of the term “NFL lockout” instead of “Player Strike.” They knew they had to win media and public support, and a strike by high paid athletes is rarely something the public will get behind, especially in a struggling economy. This message was very clear: the owners are the bad guys and preventing us from moving forward, therefore we are locked out. “Initially it buoyed the players’ case with the public as well as made them more entrenched regarding their position. With a league as successful as the NFL, the public perception was behind the players since they weren’t the one’s asking for a bigger piece of the revenue pie. As a result, the owners had a harder time making their case to the public and the players which knew the loss of profits associated with the loss of games would ultimately not be worth it for the owners. They were able to obtain concessions from the players but they weren’t as widespread as their initial negotiating requests (SBI).” To further drive home their point, as part of the negotiations the players requested that the owners open their financial books. The goal was to prove that the owners were making a substantial profit under the terms of the old CBA, an agreement the players still favored and wanted to keep. The owners were the party who wanted to change the terms of the CBA to increase their share of the revenue, and were willing to lock the players out because of their “greed (Levenson).” This was one of the first professional sports negotiations in history that successfully conveyed the message to fans that it was not the players asking for more, it was the owners. It was not the players walking away from the field; it was the owners preventing them from coming onto it. Although the leadership on both sides was very disciplined about staying on message with the media, some of the players and NFL staff were less careful about how 49 they reached out to the fans. Social media was used as a tool for good and evil. Players, owners, and other officials were taking to social media sites to express themselves, leading to a lot of controversy. “I think there were some instances where it allowed players and owners to get things out to fans and the media unfiltered but people also said things on there that they wish they could have taken back later (Trotter).” Players agreed it assisted in their ability to win public support. When you are talking about Facebook and Twitter you are able to bypass the media and get your message out there uncensored. Guys can say ‘this is what’s going on, this is what I heard’ you are getting messaging out instantly and you have ESPN and all these other companies picking up on it. It’s more of an unfiltered way to get your message out to the fans. From our standpoint, we really hit home that it was a lockout, not a strike. We got some of the points out to the fans so it was more ‘this is what is going on, this is what we want, and this is what we are looking for.’ It was a lot easier to keep players informed than it would have been in 1987 or other work stoppage. Now its just send a mass email or send a tweet. It made the communication process a lot easier (Tauscher). Notorious players, such as Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens, had their Twitter accounts quoted in the media often. Different events during the dispute also triggered more social media activity from those involved in the negotiation process. As mentioned in Chapter 5, the NFLPA was granted an injunction in April. Less than twelve hours after the injunction went into effect, an appellate court repealed the injunction. Several players took to Twitter to express their anger and disappointment in the situation. "Looks like we're unemployed again," New York Jets receiver Braylon Edwards - Twitter page "Chaotic. I dunno where to go," Minnesota Vikings receiver Bernard Berrian- Twitter. "I feel bad for our fans having to put up with this," Raiders quarterback Bruce Gradkowski - Twitter. (AFP) 50 Since the NFL and NFLPA have few guidelines on social media use, players’ social media activities went unchecked and unpunished. Many other players and owners felt these 3 rd party involvements were making the negotiation process more difficult and only angering those who were more directly involved. On the other side of the topic, players, coaches, sports reporters, and officials tried to reassure fans that a deal was close and the work stoppage would not interfere with the regular season. Though some individuals were using social media to comment on the lockout and their hope or frustration with the negotiations, several players were using their networks to fill the extra time. Chad Ochocinco tweeted about his bull riding attempts, staying on for 1.5 seconds and winning $10,000. Steeler Rashard Mendenhall expressed his views on America and support for Osama bin Laden, comments that the Steelers later apologized for and renounced the comments (Bonanni). Even worse, and possibly more worrisome, the executive staffs were getting into arguments on Twitter. George Atallah and Greg Aiello had a rather public Twitter battle, both expressing quite palpable anger during an exchange that any follower of either account could view. In the beginning emotions were running high. The more you can keep emotion out of it, and keep to the facts and what everyone is looking for, its better. It was happening more in May and June when the mediator started stepping in and taking the rhetoric out of it, you could see it really improved everyone’s demeanor and really got the ball rolling. Sitting around talking about George Atallah or the [Aiello]’s tweets, that stuff doesn’t really accomplish anything (Tauscher). To offer another view, the Twitter battle may have simply been an updated version of the newspaper’s point-counterpoint format. People undermine the value of Twitter and social media because they are still holding on to newspapers or magazines as ‘normal media’ as the way to transmit a message. But Generation X, they get it. Twitter is their new form of newspaper. 51 A Twitter battle is nothing to me but an instantaneous way to see newspaper articles being run back to back. If you put out an article today and I fire back tomorrow, you respond the day after. Twitter can do it in 20 seconds. I don’t think anything was wrong with what they did by using Twitter. Some things are better left unsaid obviously. But I think they all tried to pull the big guns out so they could win the battle of who was going to keep most of the pie (Wiley). To add to the Twitter wars, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay and Washington Post sportswriter Tony Kornheiser took to their pages to disparage each other, something they wouldn’t necessarily have time to do under regular conditions. Kornheiser: "Jimmy Irsay, who inherited his team. Worked very hard in the American way. He was in what Dan Jenkins used to call 'The son business.' He inherits a team, and now he says, 'Jeff Saturday and I could hang out, we could go clubbing, we could work this out on a napkin at Ralph's Boathouse." Irsay: "When he can win 115 games n a decade, build a top 3 stadium, win n host a Super Bowl, then he can chirp! I think he used 2 b Bill Tobin's mailman…but that would b an insult 2 mail men! I just droppin' knowledge… (Cherner)" Social media has changed the face of sports, allowing for some of its less articulate athletes, owners, staff, and media members to express their opinions and share information with fans that may not necessarily benefit their side’s argument. While most people would argue it is for the best and allows for quick, accurate, and direct communication, some would say it allows too much room for wandering off message and damages an otherwise well choreographed campaign. “While social media likely didn’t have much of an affect on negotiations, it did provide both sides the opportunity to take their case directly to the public. Media leaks from each side were often quickly and forcefully responded to via social media, which helped shape public perception. Ultimately, the potential loss of revenue from missing games mattered more than the 52 narrative developed through social media. The end result of social media use was a better-informed public (SBI).” Strategic messaging was not something that ended once the two sides announced they had reached a compromise. Even after majority of issues had been worked out between the two, the owners knew the players were still uncomfortable with a few points in the new CBA and felt that a little added public pressure might be useful to get the deal ratified quickly. The owners moved fast to approve the final version of the CBA, leaving the players (a much more populous group) to be the last guy standing in the way of an NFL season. Although the players moved relatively fast to approve as well, the owners left a bruise and threw off some of the “bad guy” image created by being the group to initiate the work stoppage. Once the NFL did resume normal business operations, the players and the league benefitted from their messaging throughout the stoppage. The fans returned in great numbers, forgiving any summer time troubles and focusing on the football. The NFL and the players helped in returning this focus to the field fulfilling the entire schedule. The only remnants of the lockout were the occasional article about possible effects of a shortened pre-season and training schedule on the athletes and the CBA item on HGH (Human Growth Hormone) testing that is still being negotiated for legality, definition, and necessity. But in general, fans are not concerned with these final details as they are with the actual games being played on the field. 53 CHAPTER 7: LOCKOUT EFFECTS- INTERNAL, EXTERNAL Professional sports are no longer just entertainment, but a multi-billion dollar business that affects other peripheral businesses as well. In some smaller markets, entire local economies could be brought to a halt should the team decide to leave or if the season is lost. Between the people directly employed by the team to the cities and towns who collect tax revenue and every business exchange resulting from the NFL presence, the loss of the NFL isn’t a financial blow to just the athletes or owners, but to bar owners, local news stations, team employees, hotels, and other local businesses that cater to the athletes and staff. These affected business owners, team employees, and cities create an entirely different audience for the NFL and NFLPA. They are stakeholders; they are directly affected by the NFL season and are dependent on the popularity of pro football. Once the lockout seemed inevitable, league officials started announcing staff furloughs and other temporary layoffs. The NFL directly and indirectly employees nearly 115,000 people nationwide, primarily in the 32 markets that host an NFL team. NFL employees had salary cuts of 12% since April, and seven teams started pay cuts or furloughs once the lockout was in place. Teams with layoffs/furloughs included the Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills, New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs, Detroit Lions, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Arizona Cardinals. As a show of solidarity with other employees who have had to take pay cuts, Commissioner Goodell and Lead negotiator Jeff Pash reduced their salaries to $1 until the labor issues were resolved. Many team owners made statements, saying they refuse to punish their employees for what is between the owners and the players. "My feeling is I'm interested in good morale around 54 here," Colts owner Jim Irsay said. "I look at someone who's making $40,000, $50,000 a year, who has rent to pay, and I don't see it for me as an owner to be asking them for anything (Wilner)." While the Colts made an effort to maintain their employees’ income, the Bills cut all employees’ salaries by as much as 25%. "We have made prudent preparations for the possibilities of a work stoppage," Bills CEO Russ Brandon said. "We have, for some time, been very upfront and transparent with our staff so that they, too, could make prudent preparations. We have built a program that focuses on shared sacrifice. As you move up the organization chart, the sacrifice increases in absolute and percentage terms, as it should. We plan no layoffs at this time. Our hope is that our advanced planning will allow us to avoid them in the future as well (Wilner)." The front office wasn’t the only group struggling to do their job during the stoppage. Trainers, coaching assistants, head coaches and physical therapists were waiting to get back to working on the athletes and readying their team for the season. While team doctors and other individuals involved with the health of injured players were allowed to keep tabs on any injury rehabilitation or health related issues, all coaches and assistants were banned from communication with their athletes. Since players could not work out as planned, they found other ways to train, sometimes to the dismay of the coaching staff. Players were off playing other sports, spending time on vacation, and spending time with their families. Team leaders held mini camps for any teammates that were in town or wherever the camp was being held. Although coaches were not allowed to talk to their players, several sports websites covered athletes’ off-season activities. 55 Presumably, coaches were able to keep informed on their players’ activities without speaking to them directly. Players were also able to communicate to their coaches by showing up to the mini camps. Many media outlets reported on the camps; who was hosting them and who was attending. Outlets also reported on other players’ activities that were less productive. By the end of the lockout, coaches were most likely very aware of which athletes would be ready to play and which were going to need extensive conditioning. The lack of preseason conditioning and trainer attention became more obvious once play started. An unusually high number of injuries during the early season games left some players out for several weeks. ACL, MCL, Achilles, and other season affecting or ending injuries were happening at a rate not seen during a normal year. Other players experienced slower recoveries from previous season injuries due to the lack of access to trainers and medical staff. This is not to say they did not have medical professionals monitoring their injuries and recovery, but the normal trainers and staff that handled the injuries were not available to the players as usual. Green Bay general manager Ted Thompson explained the trainers’ ability to track the progress of injured players during his pre-draft news conference. Thompson said team doctor Pat McKenzie is able to stay in contact with players who are rehabilitating their injuries. A spokesman for the NFL said team doctors are allowed to check on the progress of player’s rehabilitation as long as such contact happens away from team facilities (Jenkins). Colts quarterback Peyton Manning is an example of a casualty of the lockout. After having neck surgery at the end of the 2011 season, Manning had months of rehab ahead of him. He complained during 56 the stoppage that being unable to fully consult with trainers, doctors, and other personnel interfered with his ability to properly rehabilitate. Ultimately, Manning had to have another surgery right before the beginning of the 2011-2012 schedule started and the star quarterback missed the entire season. The Colts lost all but two games during the regular season, winning the first draft pick for 2012. There have been rumors he may not return or could be traded before the 2012-2013 if the Colts pick a quarterback (possibly Andrew Luck-Stanford) in the first round of the draft. Nearly every team roster remained incomplete and lacked players for several key positions. After a very controversial and less than inspiring draft, teams were still unable to make trades, sign free agents, or ascertain which positions on their rosters needed more depth. Once an agreement was reached, there was a scramble to fill these positions. Free agency scramble caused lack of team cohesion for many teams who were still looking for a “star” or roster bump after the end of lockout. A secondary draft was implemented, giving some college players a second chance to choose professional football over college. This had unforeseen consequences in some cases. Players such as Ohio State’s Terrell Pryor were able to wait to find out if the NCAA planned to hand down suspensions for actions during their collegiate time and decide if they would take the punishment or move on to the NFL. While the teams lost the majority of their training camp time, several players used their downtime in positive ways. Most attended practices and camps held by their team leaders. Many quarterbacks or prominent players organized the teams to meet at off site facilities so they could work out and train. Because of a short injunction, coaches were 57 able to get playbooks to some players, allowing them to practice in a useful manner for the upcoming season. Some players took jobs, completed some college courses, or interned at large companies such as Nike and Reebok. Other athletes took on alternative sports to keep in shape, playing in a variety of leagues or games to stay in condition for when they were able to return to work. Chad Ochocinco briefly joined a Major League Soccer club. Raven’s safety Tom Zbikowski has started boxing, showing up on fight cards in Atlantic City, NJ. Donovan McNabb took a position doing in studio analysis for Comcast’s NCAA Men’s Basketball March Madness tournament broadcasts (Browning). Players worked out with old high school and college coaches or trainers. Many saw this as a time to recover from injuries, having surgery or rehabilitating. Because of the early suspicion of a lengthy negotiation process, some even planned ahead to take this time to start families. Colts QB Peyton Manning and his wife had twins, while Steelers QB Ben Rothliesberger and Cowboys QB Tony Romo married their girlfriends. New York Giants defensive end Justin Tuck visited areas of Alabama recently ravaged by tornadoes. This area had special meaning to Tuck, having grown up in the area and with family attending the nearby University of Alabama. Tuck helped raise $300,000 for the affected area, with JP Morgan Chase and World Vision donating for the recovery efforts. Tuck individually donated $25,000 as well as his time and effort to help rebuild the area. “I plan on doing just about everything I can when I’m down there,” Tuck told the New York Daily News. “If that includes rebuilding homes or whatever it may be, I’m game for everything (Didinger).” All of these actions received a great deal of press coverage and were viewed as the “feel good” stories of the lockout. The owners could not match these 58 stories, especially with reported front office cuts, furloughs and lay offs to save money indefinitely. However, some became involved in negative situations, with player arrests skyrocketing, especially domestic altercations and drug arrests. Several players also started to feel financial hardships and were very vocal about their problems. Rookies also felt nervous as some had personal or family financial issues that they were depending on their NFL paychecks to help solve. Others did not go to practice or practice as they would have in a regular preseason, and the effects have been evident in the number of injuries in the early preseason games, leading the public to be less than sympathetic because of the perceived lack of personal effort during the lockout. Externally, several entities that depend on the NFL for income were starting to visualize what a year without the NFL would mean to their financial health. Estimated losses were reported by several groups and reported by CBS News.com as follows: • $3.5 million -- Amount the city San Francisco said it would lose from the closure of Candlestick Park. • $3.8 million -- Amount Maryland could lose in revenues because of ticket sales, according to one newspaper. • $6 million -- Economic impact of a single NFL game, according to the University of Minnesota. • $7.4 million -- Amount generated for Green Bay by the Packer's month-long training camp, according to Greater Green Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau. 59 • $7.5 million -- Estimated revenues lost by Electronic Arts due to decreased demand for the game NFL Madden 12, according to an analyst. • $14 million -- Annual direct taxes generated by the New England Patriots, according to the Patriots. • $16 million -- Annual economic impact of an NFL franchise, according to Robert Baade, one of the three economics professors of the previously cited study. (Economists. Bah.) • $64 million -- Annual economic activity generated by the San Francisco 49ers, according to the city of Santa Clara, Calif. • $3 billion -- Amount of gross national TV advertising dollars "at risk" from an NFL strike, according to a Nomura study. • $160 million -- Amount of economic activity each NFL host area could lose in the event of a year -long strike, according to a study by the NFL Players Association. Then there is what the owners and players stand to lose. In TV contract money alone, “ProFootballTalk.com speculates that if players receive 48 percent of league revenues under a new CBA, the loss of the entire preseason would cause players to miss out on a shared pot of $384 million while owners would lose $416 million (Staff Report).” While all of these numbers come from economic studies and reports, the NFL criticized only one number. Greg Aiello, the NFL’s Communications Director, calls the $160 million loss of economic activity during a yearlong strike a “fairy tale”. While this may be true, the number is what the NFL provides to local governments to justify public funding of new stadiums (Von Hoffman). 60 The true losers in the event of a lost season are the host cities. To show how these losses are calculated, San Francisco used the game day revenue, parking and concessions at the city-run Candlestick Park, and ticket sales to arrive at the $3.5 million. It did not include local business revenue, income taxes paid to the city by employees and players, hotels for out of town fans, or several other sources of economic activities associated with an NFL game (Farooq). Peter Franchot, comptroller for the state of Maryland, released a study on the impact of the lockout on the state if it were to continue into the season. The state estimates a loss of $40 million if the entire season is cancelled. The study finds that for every home game the Washington Redskins or Baltimore Ravens miss, nearly $2M in revenue would be lost. The estimates are based on income tax paid to the state by players and team employees, sales tax from the stadium concession stands, merchandise sales, admissions and amusement tax (Jones). What also needs to be addressed along with the loss of tax revenue is the way most modern NFL stadiums are built. Of the 31 stadiums around the country, 28 were built with public financing assistance. Most states and cities are all but excited to put money into a stadium, knowing the average return on investment back into the community will offset the initial cost (Maloni). Most new stadiums built in the last decade have also received the honor of hosting the Super Bowl. Arizona, Dallas, and Indianapolis have all built new stadiums and were rewarded with the rights to host an upcoming Super Bowl. The amount of economic activity surrounding such a massive event may make up for almost the entire public investment in the one-week time period preceding the game. 61 In retrospect, it seemed the players and owners only needed to feel the pressure of tangible deadlines to begin negotiating in earnest. Most parties familiar with the workings of the NFL believed the season would happen in some form, even if it was shortened or dates were altered. I never thought there wouldn’t be a season. These owners are businessmen, they aren’t going to turn their backs on 10 million dollars or let this get further into the courts where their anti trust exemption might be challenged. And the NFL as we know it could have changed. These are not dumb men. I never thought we’d lose the season, maybe a few games (Trotter). The opinion of these “business men” may have been severely tarnished however. I don’t believe any of the things the owners said because of what they did. There was always a disparity between the two. For most of the owners, owning a team is a hobby and they have the resources to own a team. This isn’t their primary business, owning a team. They make money somewhere else and then they think, “I work hard and have the money. I want to buy a team.” And with owning a team, there are tremendous financial benefits, and of course there is the ego. There is always a way to avoid these situations if you can remove the ego from the confrontation. Cooler minds must prevail and when you are telling guys you are taking money away from the players and when the owners are not participating, of course egos will arise. So I think in philosophy you can avoid the lockout but practically? No, no you can’t because the owners didn’t respect the players. They didn’t respect their intelligence or their backbone and will. And on the other side I think the players respected the owners as business partners to a detrimental level. Yeah we’re business partners but the players had to learn the hard way that in real life these are business men and business comes first (Wiley). 62 CHAPTER 8: FAN AND MEDIA REACTION THROUGHOUT LOCKOUT Anytime you have a positive public perception, its an advantage. That public perception can have influence because they are the ones that purchase tickets and can express their opinion and you have found another voice. If they players are in a PR battle, and the public is on the owners side now you have to deal with the owners and the public. Or vice versa for the owners. So it does create an advantage and you can see in negotiations it helps. They were trying to capture that audience and it makes sense because now everyone has a voice and everyone has an opinion, and that matters to a degree. But you have to keep it in perspective, at the end of the day fans just put their hands up in the air and say they just want football and they don’t care about the devil and the details (Wiley). Public opinion was inconsistent throughout negotiations. A mid-May “national poll of 1,070 people conducted by Suffolk University revealed that 32% of respondents blame the owners for the lockout that has brought the league to a halt. In the poll, 19% of respondents blamed the players, while 30% were undecided (Leahy).” Depending on the stage and recent developments of the negotiating process, bloggers and writers expressed wavering allegiances to the two sides. Players garnered support early after a push to increase awareness about the cause of a lockout, while owners were favored towards the end after a quick agreement to the final CBA. It seemed that whoever and whatever would end the lock out the fastest was the side most commentators favored. The blogosphere was filled with fans lamenting the dispute, suggesting solutions, and pleading for labor peace. Sports centric sites such as Yahoo! Sports, ESPN, and Bleacher Report regularly hosted guest articles and blogs from fans writing to express their frustration with different aspects of the stoppage and offering support to whichever side they favored. 63 Some say what doesn’t kill you will only make you stronger. Maybe, but then again being beaten to within an inch of your life doesn’t come without certain side effects (Cyprowski). …I am asking you to use your influence as a executive committee member of the former NFLPA to make sure that the court-ordered negotiations are actually producing results. The quicker the dispute ends, the quicker you guys can work toward building the Browns into AFC North contenders (Argobright). It could be that the owners are so hooked on making all of that money that they are posing ’empty threats‘ because they can not stand to loose money. Owners don't get knocked around on the football field and then suffer from injuries in later life that were incurred during their youth while playing NFL football (Binta). The NFL isn't fun anymore. They've done everything they can to sterilize it and make it as robotic as possible. It's not about the best athletes in the world demonstrating their athleticism. It's about who can watch the most film. It's about who can scream that they love the NFL the loudest (Jackson). …The players decided to break up and sue the NFL to get the lockout lifted, which it was for seven seconds leading up to the draft back in April. The owners then fought to have the lockout reinstated while they appealed, and managed to temporarily prevail. So here we have one side that has shut down the operations of football TWICE, and another side who A.) didn't instigate the lockout and B.) sued to STOP the lockout and get football played again. This is now the longest work stoppage in NFL history, and it is the result of a labor battle initiated by the owners. Those are facts. It should seem obvious whose cause you, Mr. NFL Fan, ought to get behind (Magary). The samplings from Bleacher Report and Deadspin are a highlight of the blogging commentary that is representative of the multitude of articles, blogs, and letters written by fans and sports contributors throughout the action. The possibility of losing the NFL season infuriated many fans, giving rise to other frustrations with the league that may have been more latent had the labor negotiations been less contentious. Although most fans were probably eager to get back to football by the time the season arrived, some fans 64 may not have forgotten the issues that angered them during the lockout. As one blog stated: The bitterness and stupidity of the lockout is what ultimately stopped me from renewing my season tickets, but it wasn’t the only thing. The NFL has put itself in the worst possible position a business can be: having to resell a lost customer. Good luck (Jackson). Regardless of the amount of media coverage, players expressed less worry about the opinions of writers and how they may have affected the public. I don't think [traditional media sources] did as much as it had in the past. Going back to social media, you could bypass them. Obviously you want the media getting out the message you are trying to get out. But with social media at your own disposal, you could really put out your message how you want it to be portrayed. Then you find people who have a better understanding of what you are going through and you get your message out through those people. Some platforms are going to be more pro owner; others will be more pro player. In the beginning I think people paid attention to it, but by the end it was just ‘lets get this thing finished up.’ Ultimately no one was going to win the fight for fans if there was no football. I think that was the big point to push forward and get this thing wrapped up (Tauscher). For better or worse, the pre-lockout image of both sides affected public opinion. While the NFL has had its share of player related issues, the league has obvious “heroes.” They are viewed as role models outside of their athletic ability. They are revered for their charity work, lifestyle, and personal values. Other players are in grey areas, where their abilities earn respect, but their personal lives warrant criticism. This duality affected the public perception greatly. When Peyton Manning makes a statement that his recovery from neck surgery is being hindered by lack of access to team doctors and trainers, fans feel sympathetic to a player who has given his all to his sport as well as very generous to his community. For those who concentrated on the heroes, it was easy to side with the 65 players. But because of several scandals in recent years, such as Plaxico Buress and Michael Vick’s prison sentences, many saw the league as troubled and hoped the negotiations would give the owners a better handle on the players’ outside actions. When Chad Ochocinco started a Twitter debate by asking how his followers felt about players having financial difficulties, only to have followers fire back with little to no sympathy, it was obvious that many fans agreed with the “billionaires vs. millionaires” label (Shilken). Cyclical promise-and-delay of a deal angered many. Both players and owners alike started to promise an end to negotiations starting in mid- to late June. The constant reports of being “close to a deal,” only to hear two days later of a breakdown in talks began to wear on the media and public audiences. With each promise, the reaction became more cynical and bitter. By the time an agreement was reached, most believed it was almost “too good to be true” but not in a positive way. It seemed most were simply relieved the ongoing fighting and drama would have an end. Jim Trotter summarized his view of the public opinion shifts: I think initially when the talk started, fans were against the players, traditionally that’s the way it is. People believed it was a strike and players were withholding their services. Union did a good job of getting the message out on ‘lockout’ and fans came back to the players. Once the lockout happened, fans came back because owners went public and misrepresented proposal to the media. They said it was a good proposal when in fact they failed to address several issues the players had wanted addressed. Players took a hit there, but by the end fans were sick of both sides. Really the union was the little engine that could because you are dealing with the NFL one of the biggest and most popular sports leagues in the country if not the world, and you are trying to get your message out versus that machine. I have to give them a lot of credit. When you look at the players combined wealth and what they spend that on, the thing that bothered me is its one thing for the owner and the players were beefing, but when they were cutting the pay and furloughing office workers where most were living paycheck to paycheck, that’s what really got to me (Trotter). 66 In a survey of 100 people from various demographic groups, several active and passive fans provided their opinions on the dispute, the traditional and social media coverage of players, owners, and fans, as well as their take on how a shortened or missed season would have affected their interest in the game. The demographic divisions are as follows: 42% male, 58% female; 1% under 18 yrs. old, 29% 19-25, 48% 26-35, 20% 36-55, 2% Over 55 yrs. old; 4% Living in the Northwest 1 59% in the West 2 3% in the Southwest 3 4% in the Southeast, 4 8% in the Northeast 5 20% in the Midwest 6 , and 1% in Outlying States 7 . To provide a context for the familiarity of the respondents with football, 67% reported watching at least one college or professional football game a month during season. The largest group (31%) reported watching at least 2-3 games a week. Additionally, 50% of respondents reported having attended an NFL game. While many of these fans could be deemed familiar with the game of football, the group was split on their knowledge of the lockout and the difference between a lockout and a strike. Most fans acknowledged they were less understanding of the differences between the terms and how they applied to the NFL labor dispute. 1 (WA, OR, MT, ID, WY) 2 (CA, NV, AZ, UT, CO) 3 (TX, OK, NM, KS) 4 (LA, AR, MS, AL, FL, GA, SC, NC, TN, VA) 5 (WV, DC, MD, DE, JN, PA, NY, CT, RI, VT, NH, MA, ME), 6 (KY, IN, OH, MI, IL, WI, MN, SD, ND, IA, NE, MO) 7 (HI, AK) 67 Figure 1. Survey question #8 from Qualtrics How well do you understand the term Lockout versus Strike? # Answer Response % 1 Extremely well 16 18% 2 Very well 11 12% 3 Somewhat well 21 23% 4 Not very well 24 26% 5 Not at all 19 21% Total 91 100% With 53% believing they understood the terms at least “somewhat well,” respondents provided their own definitions of lockout and strike: “In a strike the players union decides to have its member players not play. In a lockout, the team owners decide to not have games and prevent the players from playing” “Owners lockout the players, Players strike against the owners” “A strike is when the players refuse to play until they receive a deal that is to their satisfaction, a lockout is where the owners refuse to allow the players to play until they are willing to renegotiate their collective bargaining agreement.” “A strike is an agreement among employees to not work, enforced by their union towards an employer, a lockout is an act by the employer to halt production, cut or even suspend hours of the employees to force the organized union to accept lower wages or lower benefits, etc.” Although several responses were inaccurate, they still provided a very telling opinion or interesting bias that gave more insight to the public perception of the lockout: “I thought they were the same” “They are both based on contract disputes, but can’t explain the difference” “Lockout is the refusal to work because of the renegotiation of a contract; strike is a refusal to work for any sort of issue.” 68 “Lockout = owners/commissioners/players can't negotiate contracts. Strike = Protest” “Strike is workers (players) refusing to play until terms are met. Lockout is both sides at an impasse...” “Strike is the players protesting while lockout means both sides can't come to an agreement” What is most interesting about several of the incomplete or errant responses is that, much like the last two samples, one of the terms is defined as the players refusing to play but the other definition is not related directly to the owners. Tellingly, most respondents did provide correct information and attribution for the terms lockout and strike. Whether this was previous knowledge or a result of high levels of media coverage this year on both the NBA and NFL Lockouts, it is hard to tell. It is certainly not from interest in the situation itself. An overwhelming majority of respondents (71%) said they didn’t give the NFL labor disputes much attention as represented by a “Not Much” or “None” response. Figure 2. Survey question #7 from Qualtrics How much attention did you give to the labor disputes between the NFL and the NFL Players’ Association? # Answer Response % 1 A lot 6 6% 2 Quite a bit 8 8% 3 Some 14 14% 4 Not much 39 39% 5 None 32 32% Total 99 100% 69 Regardless of the attention given the, everyone still had an opinion when it came to the causes and who was at fault for the prolongation of the dispute. To prove how effectively the union communicated the meaning of a lockout instead of a strike, 59% of respondents blamed the owners for the prolonging of the lockout. Figure 3. Survey question #10 from Qualtrics Who do you feel was most at fault for the prolonging of the NFL Lockout? # Answer Response % 1 Players 26 31% 2 Owners 50 59% 3 Media 9 11% Total 85 100% To further define how respondents spread blame, they were asked to give a percentage value to each party (players, owners, media) based on how responsible that group was for the prolongation of the lockout. Again, the owners’ average given value for responsibility was higher than the other two groups, but not by many points. Overall, it appears as if players were also considered to be highly at fault for the continuation of the dispute. Media was not viewed as strong of a factor but still averaged 26.5% responsibility. 70 Figure 4. Survey question #11 from Qualtrics What percentage do you feel each party is responsible for the prolonging of the lockout? # Answer Min Value Max Value Average Value Standard Deviation Responses 1 Players 8.00 100.00 46.84 23.46 74 2 Owners 5.00 100.00 54.37 22.46 75 3 Media 0.00 100.00 26.50 23.16 58 But what was not surprising were the comments concerning what individuals believed was the primary problem in the dispute. When asked, “What did you feel the key issue was in the NFL lockout?” the most popular answers to the open-ended question were “greed” and “money.” Considering many fan and media references to the action included the tagline “millionaires vs. billionaires,” these two words do not fall outside the general population’s opinion. The most stinging and poignant statement from the survey exemplifies a more insightful view beyond just greed and money: “They do not exist in my tax bracket therefore their pain is meaningless to me.” Although they do not say if “they” are the players or owners, a fair assumption would be both groups are fairly far out of the average tax bracket. 71 CHAPTER 9: AFTER THE LOCKOUT: RESULTS, ANALYSIS, AND PREDICTIONS After the two parties finally agreed on a new CBA, the true test started. What effects would the lockout have on the NFL’s fan base? How would each group handle the return to peaceful labor relations and positive relations rhetoric? Would a missed preseason of training, conditioning, and team practices affect the teams’ performances and would this cause a loss of interest early in the season? The answers to these questions and several others could only be guessed until the first kick off. From that point on, the effects of the work stoppage became more and more obvious as the season went on. There was a significant increase in serious early-season injuries and several unexpected upsets that could only be attributed to the lack of conditioning and team unity. The two sides continued to argue over the proposed HGH testing through the regular season. The negotiations went in front of Congress and prolonged any return to positive relations. Luckily, the fan base was so ready to return to football that the lockout was all but forgotten. All of the blaming, posturing, and stalling that irritated and angered fans over the course of the summer was no longer the focus of fan blogs or sports centric websites. Blogs, twitter accounts, and most media personalities turned their attention back to the game and away from the troubles between the reformed NFLPA and the NFL. Almost every team in the NFL received a bump in attendance this season (ESPN), as fans realized how close they came to losing a season. As a retired player and fan of the game, Wiley shared his perspective on the outcome of the labor dispute: “In the end we got football so really yes [everyone got what they needed]. Everyone needed to see football 72 continue. …. The main thing is, the football was snapped on opening day as scheduled (Wiley).” Players were not entirely pleased with the CBA, but most felt it was acceptable. More than their satisfaction with the CBA, players were ready to return to football. After the NFLPA ratified the new agreement, there was an obvious shift in attitudes and messages coming from players. This shift is part of any contentious labor deal. Neither side will be completely satisfied. It is important to remember that once the deal is finalized, all parties need to move towards acceptance. Green Bay Packer Mark Tauscher felt the end result of the negotiations was less than ideal, but had improved from the original proposal. The players won a few things, the owners won a bunch. There are always these other things, like player safety, but in the grand scheme of things it comes down to money. From that point of view, the owners did take back a bunch of money. But with any good negotiation it's a give and take. You are going to get some things you wanted and give up some things you wanted. With the scheduling and different things the players were able to get, it will lengthen their careers. A lot of the budgets are already approved and there will still be a lot of money in play, and the owners can’t say they didn’t get what they wanted. From a financial standpoint they picked up a bunch of percentage points off the pie, and you’re talking $300-400 million a point. They got what they were looking for from a monetary stand point and the players, while not getting everything they wanted monetarily we were hoping for, we were able to secure a lot of off the field stuff and work conditions that will lengthen guys’ careers. I think there are always tweaks that need to be done. There are always going to be a few things you wish there were better. I know there are a lot of things we may not have a final answer on how they are going to look down the road. But we didn’t miss any games, the guys didn’t miss any paychecks, and when your career is as short as an NFL players’ that is important. With all this TV money and other things coming into play, those percentage points we gave up are a lot, but there are a lot of positive things that came out of it. Until you see how things play out in four or five years and see how the players are doing, I think we accomplished a lot of the things we were hoping for. You never know how a deal looks until four or five years down the road and then you can gauge how things were split up (Tauscher). 73 From the NFLPA executives’ and NFL commissioner’s office final positions, both sides were still working to place the finishing touches on a very complicated and complex agreement that will last the next ten years. As mentioned earlier, Human Growth Hormone testing was included in the final agreement. The issue continues to be the ability to define standards for the test, its accuracy, and how the test will be administered. The other immediate issue was the fair issuance of fines and penalties from actions while the players had decertified. When Goodell started his tenure as commissioner, one of his first statements was a promise to the fans to “clean up the league” and impose large monetary penalties on athletes who engaged in criminal or inappropriate behavior both on and off the field. The end of the lockout was a true test of this statement, and reporters and fans referenced his promise often when discussing his treatment of teams’ and players’ activities during the lockout. Goodell was careful to protect his image as a strong commissioner while realizing it would be difficult to punish players and teams for actions during the lockout without the consent of the NFLPA. Although the NFL agreed not to punish any players who had legal or other troubling issues during the lockout, the NFLPA submitted eight names to the NFL that they named as repeat offenders and would not object to punishment (Florio). Three teams were fined for breaching the lockout rules by communicating with players (Florio). Goodell continued to assert control over a league that was in the process of regrouping. Terrell Pryor, a college quarterback from Ohio State University, declared himself eligible for the supplemental NFL draft after an NCAA ruling that imposed a five game suspension on a handful of players from OSU following a rules violation scandal. 74 Since the NFL did not want to set a precedent of college athletes “escaping” punishment by going pro early, Commissioner Goodell announced the NFL would impose a similar penalty on Pryor. Although the NFLPA initially fought the suspension, leadership quickly agreed that it would set a bad example and allowed the suspension to be carried out. Initially, Pryor agreed to the punishment, but he quickly tried to appeal the decision without success (La Canforna). The five game suspension from both practice and game play was carried out. Interestingly, his college coach Jim Tressel also received a five game suspension during his first season as a consultant for the Indianapolis Colts (Plaschke). The NFL took the post-lockout confusion as an opportunity to send a strong message to athletes and college coaches alike: the NFL is not a place to escape your punishments. With the NCAA imposing more and more sanctions on teams in violation of their recruiting, amateur athlete, and practice regulations, the NFL has struggled to successfully enforce a punishment on athletes and coaches who have essentially found sanctuary in the professional league. With the approval of the NFL team owners, Goodell has attempted to put pressure on collegiate level athletes and coaches to adhere more closely to NCAA laws or face equal punishment in the NFL. The league received a major rearranging this year. Teams that had previously suffered consecutive losing seasons topped the rankings and dominated opponents. San Francisco 49ers, Denver Broncos, and Detroit Lions posted their best record in recent memory. Whether this was a result of several years of high draft picks and strategic free agent signings or a byproduct of a strange and unorganized off-season for the league as a 75 whole, it would be difficult to say. The at-times confusing result added a level of excitement and unpredictability to the season. Still, many of the teams who won their divisions have appeared at the top for several years running. The New York Giants eventually became Super Bowl Champions after beating the New England Patriots. These same two teams played for the same title just two years earlier, with the same outcome. With the new CBA valid for ten years, it is impossible to tell what the issues will be in the next negotiation. It would be an educated prediction to say that money and revenue sharing will always be on the table. Beyond that, it is hard to predict which items will appear or reappear for either side. An 18 game regular season may return to the list, as many analysts believed a longer season would be a point of contention during this CBA. New performance enhancing drugs may appear that the league wants to include in testing. A new league could emerge in Europe and compete with the NFL, giving the players more leverage to go elsewhere if they are not happy with what the NFL offers. If that happens, the NFL and NBA may have similar owner/union relationships. New leadership would have a profound effect on the next negotiation as well. If Goodell or Smith leave their position, the relationship building process would need to start over. As difficult as it is to predict the issues, it is equally as challenging to speculate the messaging tactics and tools that will be available to the players, owners, media, and fans. Regardless of the circumstances, the next negotiation will undoubtedly be equally intense. In 2011, three sports leagues renegotiated their CBAs. Two went to a lockout, one was resolved without a work stoppage, but the result was professional sports players 76 evolving from athletes to businessmen. This shift is starting to provide more conviction to players, a confidence that makes them feel like an equal partner at the negotiating table. While this evolution happened sooner in the MLB, the NBA and NFL are just starting to collect on this equality. The NFL always likes to talk about their partners. But it’s funny how they like to change the definition of partners depending on the situation. So when you are involved in a collective bargaining issue, I don’t know how they look at the players and say they aren’t their partners. They are partners up until they have to sit across the table from each other… I think the league and the owners view the players as employees, and I think the players are the product (Trotter). Professional sports are as much a business as any corporation on earth. It provides a service through a product, but this product is a person. The employees are in the office making sure the tickets are sold or the media has proper access. The product is the player, and without the player, the company would have nothing to offer the public. The next ten years will be the true test for success. With the new CBA still so early in its adoption, any predictions on the outcome or effects of this agreement are almost entirely speculation. It has truly come down to a very old cliché: wait and see. 77 BIBLIOGRAPHY AFP. "AFP: NFL Lockout Reinstated as Appeal Process Unfolds." Google News. AFP, 30 Apr. 2011. Web. 01 Mar. 2012. <http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g9Yjx4UoLjg3BFKqu mNQJ_fuUz6A?docId=CNG.1f40565b25e794cb96a05f2636922abc.d71>. AFP. "AFP: NFL Lockout Reinstated as Appeal Process Unfolds." Google News. AFP, 30 Apr. 2011. 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Abstract (if available)

Abstract This paper examines the messaging strategies and tactics of all parties associated with the 2011 NFL lockout. During the lockout players, media, and owners started searching for outlets to express their frustration, talk about how they were using their extended off season, and to show fans that all parties would be ready to return to football once the lockout ended. Facebook, Twitter, sports blogs, and traditional media became the formats for arguments and disagreements between several different factions. The focus of this paper is to document the positive and negative uses of multiple medias to inform the public of the events occurring as part of the labor agreement negotiation process. It also aims to document the timeline of the lockout and compare messaging strategies as different milestones in the labor dispute occurred. The key issues discussed in this thesis are the influence of public messaging on the progression of negotiations, the effectiveness of using legal strategies as a posturing and communication tool, and the positive and negative uses of social media. The primary conclusion is that the success of labor negotiations in modern professional sports is affected by the messaging from both sides, and both sides need to be fully aware of the effect public statements, interviews, tweets and other communications have on fans.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Francis, Sara (author)

Core Title 2011 National Football League lockout: messaging in the context of professional sports labor disputes

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Strategic Public Relations

Publication Date 05/09/2012

Defense Date 05/08/2012

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Football,labor dispute,NFL,NFLPA,OAI-PMH Harvest

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Swerling, Jerry (committee chair), Kotler, Jonathan (committee member), Lynch, Brenda (committee member)

Creator Email foor@usc.edu,sara.francis4@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c3-37857

Unique identifier UC11289291

Identifier usctheses-c3-37857 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-FrancisSar-835.pdf

Dmrecord 37857

Document Type Thesis

Rights Francis, Sara

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA