U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson asked the NFL’s owners and players why they were asking the court for resolution rather than negotiating. Good question. It’s the same question everyone on the outside has been asking since the March 11 labor stalemate between the NFL players and owners began.
The short answer: The egos are too big, and so is the money involved. Both sides let lawyers into the room, and chaos and billable hours are sure to follow.
And the real answer: Each side has wanted to get into the courtroom for a while, thinking it would crush the other in any decision.
Nelson won’t rule on the players’ request to lift the owners’ lockout for two weeks. Meanwhile, she suggested they return to mediation.
Fat chance, your honor. Both sides simply will await your decision. And based on Nelson’s questioning, she might well order federal mediation that will force both sides to negotiate or lose all chance of playing this season.
Nelson spent Wednesday listening to both sides in her St. Paul, Minn., courtroom. However, they couldn’t even agree on what they were arguing about, which pretty much explains why the NFL is in a labor shutdown.
The owners wanted Nelson to wait until the National Labor Board rules on the NFL’s complaint that the players association’s decertification is a sham. The NFL says the federal court has no jurisdiction. Nelson countered by saying she did; in other words, that wasn’t a good way for the NFL to make friends with the judge.
If the players get an injunction against the NFL lockout, everybody goes back to work, games are played and sometime in 2013 we’ll hear who won the contract dispute. Meanwhile, the players will get paid more than the owners want to spend.
If the owners win this round, they will try to starve players into submission come the fall. Sounds more evil than it is.
Of course, Nelson’s ruling will be appealed and likely heard in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in June. The loser could then appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which hears about 1 percent of requested cases and even then wouldn’t consider it before October, when it resumes after summer break. So whoever wins the second round could be the real victor.
This all comes with a price — fan disgust. A Sports Illustrated poll showed 44 percent of fans will be less interested in the NFL if the season is delayed or canceled. While 55.3 percent blame the owners, 63 percent said they would watch replacement players.
Translation: The owners will take a short-term hit as they’ve always expected, while the players are expendable considering fans will be OK watching scabs just like 1987.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s prediction that this conflict won’t be truly resolved in a courtroom is probably right. The problem is the players don’t trust the owners and asked the courts for help.
Unfortunately, the court can provide only short-term help. If the NFL wants true growth over the coming decade, both sides must reconcile, as all civil wars must. Unfortunately, judges can’t order that.
Examiner columnist Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more on Twitter @Snide_Remarks or email [email protected].
