FORT LAUDERDALE — NFL Players
Association executive director DeMaurice Smith says the chance of a
lockout after next season is a "14" on a scale of 1 to 10.
Painting a bleak labor outlook Thursday, Smith
said the NFL would receive $5 billion from its network television deals
even if no games are played in 2011. He regarded that as proof owners
are preparing for a lockout.
"Has any one of the prior deals included $5
billion to not play football?" Smith said, referring to previous
collective bargaining agreements that were extended or redone. "The
answer's no."
Smith reiterated the union's demand that the
NFL's 32 teams open their books and show who is losing money and how
much. Citing financial reports by the community-owned Green Bay
Packers, Smith wondered how such a small-market franchise can make a
$20 million profit while other teams claim they are losing money.
But he noted that the Packers did have a
profit decline, which NFL executive vice president and chief counsel
Jeff Pash said was 40 percent.
"In most businesses, that would be a serious
cause for concern," Pash said. "It would indicate a serious issue that
has to be dealt with. You look at your single largest expense, which is
player costs."
Smith said the latest NFL offer to the players
would reduce their share to 41 percent of applied revenues from about
59 percent. He emphasized that the teams take $1 billion off the top of
the estimated $8 billion the league generates.
Pash argued that the $1 billion reflects
actual costs incurred, money spent in investments "in things like
stadiums, NFL network, NFL.com, putting on games overseas, all of which
is intended to and has the effect of generating substantial additional
revenues that go to NFL players."