If they partner up and agree not to do those things ( e.g., if they refuse to give out fully-guaranteed contracts), they are illegally colluding.Īs it relates to Lamar Jackson, the seeds of collusion (if any) were planted last year, with the blowback the Browns experienced for giving quarterback Deshaun Watson a five-year, fully-guaranteed contract. As it relates to the things the CBA allows each of them to do, they are competitors. The 32 owners are both partners and competitors. Any effort to, for example, cap wages or restrict employee movement from one good-food-quickly restaurant to the next would be an antitrust violation.įor the NFL, it’s a little more complicated. It’s no different than the CEOs of McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, Subway, Long John Silver’s, KFC, and every other fast-food ( good food quickly) restaurant meeting four times per year to compare notes on how they’ve been doing business and how they’ll be doing business. NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said during an October appearance on #PFTPM that the union refers to those quarterly ownership meetings as “collusion meetings.” So how does it happen? Well, it potentially happens four times per year, when the owners meet. (That’s why the union’s first move in the 2011 lockout was to shut down operations and to sue the NFL for violation of the antitrust laws.)Īs it relates to things the teams are permitted to do by the CBA ( e.g., give players fully-guaranteed contracts), an agreement among teams or a directive from the league (usually, the Management Council) to refrain from doing such things becomes impermissible collusion. The CBA permits coordinated practices for the player workforce, because the NFL and the NFL Players Association have created a “multi-employer bargaining unit.” Specific rules like the salary cap and the draft would violate the antitrust laws, but for the existence of the union. As used with respect to the NFL, collusion typically means owners coordinating their business practices in ways not permitted by the Collective Bargaining Agreement or the law. In recent years, the word “collusion” has come up in various contexts.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |