NFLPA Files Collusion Lawsuit Against NFL, Owners

[CRedskinsRule]

And if they win it, it means the next CBA battle will be fought on VERY different terms.

[BigHairedAristocrat]

Originally Posted by CRedskinsRule

And if they win it, it means the next CBA battle will be fought on VERY different terms.

regardless i think it will be fought on very different terms. The NFLPA has been distrustful of the NFL for a while (remember all the concerns regarding the NFLs refusal to open its books?). Now there are additional points to cause distrust:

1. The League knew the salary cap would go DOWN this year; yet negotations were based on the understanding that it would go UP every year
2. When the NFLPA realized the Cap would go down in 2012, the NFL strong-armed them into agreeing to penalize the redskins and cowboys in exchange for deferring future cap money to 2012
3. During the discussions regarding the penalty, the NLFPA became aware that some collusion occured.
4. the NFLPA subsequently discovered that the NFL lied about the extent of hte collusion

Any goodwill the NFL built with the NFLPA in the recent discussions is completely gone. GONE. No doubt, the discovery process of this lawsuit will only uncover more of Goddell and the league's lies.

In the last CBA discussions, the NFL had all the leverage. I fully expect that to change in the new discussions, regardless of the outcome of this suit.

[FRPLG]

Originally Posted by BigHairedAristocrat

In the last CBA discussions, the NFL had all the leverage. I fully expect that to change in the new discussions, regardless of the outcome of this suit.

The outcome is very important. While I do believe the next set of negotiations will be different and the NFLPA may have more leverage, if the league somehow loses this then the NFLPA has ALL the leverage in the next CBA. They'll have dinged the league for a massive amount of money that could stock up a "work stoppage" fund to help players financially and public sentiment will largely if not entirely rest on their side.

I SMH at the NFL big time for totally screwing the pooch on this. They basically made it so the NFLPA had to do this. The were so overly public about it. The NFLPA could have just looked the other way behind the scenes but once all the players kwen this had happened they were forced to respond in some manner.