March Madness in the United States usually refers to the college basketball championships, a 64-team tournament that begins this week. But last week it took another form as the future of the National Football League (NFL) was held hostage in a dispute between the owners and the players union. With billions of dollars at stake, the sides reached an impasse on a new collective bargaining agreement. No agreement raised the spectre of unrestricted free agency over the next two seasons and a strike following the 2007 season. The very essence of the game was threatened. But once again, the NFL stepped up and showed why it is the world's greatest sports league. Commissioner Paul Tagliabue interceded and brought both sides back to the bargaining table "for the good of the league." And two days later, the NFL had a new agreement between the owners and the players. There will be no strike. This is not the National Hockey League (NHL), the National Basketball Association (NBA) or Major League Baseball (MLB). The NFL might be the only professional sports league in America where the owners and players basically agree. Baseball? The wealthy teams from big market cities like New York, Boston, Los Angeles and Chicago call the shots. They have blocked all attempts at a salary cap on payroll and only reluctantly accepted the idea of revenue sharing in the form of a "luxury tax" that kicks in only when they have gorged themselves on all available free agents. And this is the league that played through World War II, but cancelled its 1994 championships due to a labor dispute. The NBA? Serious turmoil two years ago. The NHL? Remember the 2004-2005 season? No one does. It never happened. As for the NFL, professional football has a long history of looking out for its smallest teams. And it is the one league that learned its lesson regarding a work stoppage. Memories of the league's 1987 strike still burn. It was the late Pete Rozelle who designed the model for the NFL in the late 1950s. Rozelle was facing a tough problem. No other sports league in America has a wider range of geo-economic bases. How does tiny Green Bay, Wisconsin, compete with teams in New York? The question grew even more complex as television began buying rights to NFL games. In other American sports, teams strike their own television deals and pocket the proceeds. Rozelle argued that the NFL should have a league-wide television package and that all teams share equally. The NFL plan means the Green Bay Packers can compete equally with the New York Giants while in baseball the revenue generated by the New York Yankees through television far exceeds what, say, the San Diego Padres can develop in a market one-tenth the size. The NFL, for example, was also the first American sports league to adopt a salary cap, another step toward maintaining parity. The biggest difference between the sports is that the robber barons of baseball have traditionally fought against sharing the wealth while the NFL has a tradition of looking out for the small guy. However, that tradition was threatened in this latest round of collective bargaining negotiations. Some of the large-market owners favored eliminating the salary cap and creating an open market. As the owners fought amongst themselves, the chances of reaching an agreement seemed to be slipping away. Enter Paul Tagliabue. He refused to allow the owners to walk away from the table. It took three extra days, but an agreement was reached. The players will get 59.5 per cent of the NFL's football-generated revenue. Starting this year, each of the 32 teams will have a salary cap of $102 million - or $7.5 million more than last year. And by the time the new contract expires after the 2011 season, NFL players will have reaped some $900 million in additional salary. Did the players union win? No. The contracts of NFL players are still not guaranteed beyond the first year and signing bonus. Teams annually dump high-price players at the start of the free agency signing period. Among those players dumped this year are quarterbacks Dante Culpepper (traded from the Minnesota Vikings to the Miami Dolphins for a draft choice) and Drew Brees (signed by the New Orleans Saints after the San Diego Chargers dumped him following a shoulder injury). But the owners didn't win either. The power of the NFL still rests in its parity. Smart is more important than the power of the dollar. It is the last league in America that can make that statement. Copyright 2006 Times Newspapers Ltd. |
