History of the NflpaThe BeginningThe National Football League Players Association union got its start in 1956. Initially the reason for the union’s birth was a range of demands of players from two of the league’s teams; the Green Bay Packers and the Cleveland Browns. Players from both teams organized and demanded that clubs provide amenities such as a minimum league-wide salary, per diem pay, uniforms and equipment provided and maintained by the clubs, and a continuous payment of salary if injured and unable to play. Eventually most players gave authorization for the union to negotiate on their behalf. This group was scarcely successful at first however, receiving no real face time or response from their proposals to the owners association.
The Packers, in spite of the league’s claims, refused to sign the union during the lockout. Players have held onto the NFL’s largest-ever offer and had their contract renewed by the league’s commissioner, the commissioner of baseball.
• • •
“The collective bargaining agreement is still in effect here in the United States, and that’s what I’m talking about,” said Hall of Fame defensive tackle Gary Bell, who played at the San Francisco 49ers in 1968 and 1969, helping turn the franchise into the Super Bowl champion and the NFL league’s most dominant. That is when it finally became a real thing.
Last December, the NFL issued a formal response to the league’s demands: The organization agreed to accept the Nflpa, including a five-year, $10.1 million contract extension, no changes to player health pay, or the possibility that NflpaPlayers would play all years, a new national uniform for all NFL franchises, with a single game-day jersey — a non-invasive gesture of solidarity from the league, not just with current players.
That was the latest twist in a saga at the league of over-reaching that was long in the making. In 2009 the league announced an investigation that began investigating football operations in 1998 and began determining the scope of its misconduct. Many players had been aware of the investigation until that, at least under the most recent settlement. By the time the investigation would determine the scope and extent of NfcPA wrongdoing, the process would have been over. By November there had been a new national uniform, a rule-forged game and the creation of a new league to represent all franchises. The NFL claimed that the new national uniform was needed to address allegations that NflpaPlayers were misusing millions of dollars by buying “over-the-hill” uniforms. However, by December NfcPA officials said they had already found no wrongdoing and that the new national jersey would not be necessary to meet existing national standards as the new “non-invasive” uniform was. In March the NFL announced that some of its officers were retiring from football operations in exchange for a $3.4 million settlement.
The NFL then announced a new five-year contract. By June, $4.5 million was finally won in a settlement that included $1 million for each player who had played fewer than 20 regular season games in the current contract and more than $25,000 for each player who was non-injured.
It was also a step in the right direction. The union has been willing to settle for more since, with each new franchise the NHL has made significant progress toward reaching its goal of providing more equitable benefits of health benefits to all players while also reaching meaningful health benefits for veterans.
Despite this progress, union member James Thompson told me in an interview that the league plans to make some key changes until its next collective bargaining agreement is reached by the 2015 season. All the player payments
The Packers, in spite of the league’s claims, refused to sign the union during the lockout. Players have held onto the NFL’s largest-ever offer and had their contract renewed by the league’s commissioner, the commissioner of baseball.
• • •
“The collective bargaining agreement is still in effect here in the United States, and that’s what I’m talking about,” said Hall of Fame defensive tackle Gary Bell, who played at the San Francisco 49ers in 1968 and 1969, helping turn the franchise into the Super Bowl champion and the NFL league’s most dominant. That is when it finally became a real thing.
Last December, the NFL issued a formal response to the league’s demands: The organization agreed to accept the Nflpa, including a five-year, $10.1 million contract extension, no changes to player health pay, or the possibility that NflpaPlayers would play all years, a new national uniform for all NFL franchises, with a single game-day jersey — a non-invasive gesture of solidarity from the league, not just with current players.
That was the latest twist in a saga at the league of over-reaching that was long in the making. In 2009 the league announced an investigation that began investigating football operations in 1998 and began determining the scope of its misconduct. Many players had been aware of the investigation until that, at least under the most recent settlement. By the time the investigation would determine the scope and extent of NfcPA wrongdoing, the process would have been over. By November there had been a new national uniform, a rule-forged game and the creation of a new league to represent all franchises. The NFL claimed that the new national uniform was needed to address allegations that NflpaPlayers were misusing millions of dollars by buying “over-the-hill” uniforms. However, by December NfcPA officials said they had already found no wrongdoing and that the new national jersey would not be necessary to meet existing national standards as the new “non-invasive” uniform was. In March the NFL announced that some of its officers were retiring from football operations in exchange for a $3.4 million settlement.
The NFL then announced a new five-year contract. By June, $4.5 million was finally won in a settlement that included $1 million for each player who had played fewer than 20 regular season games in the current contract and more than $25,000 for each player who was non-injured.
It was also a step in the right direction. The union has been willing to settle for more since, with each new franchise the NHL has made significant progress toward reaching its goal of providing more equitable benefits of health benefits to all players while also reaching meaningful health benefits for veterans.
Despite this progress, union member James Thompson told me in an interview that the league plans to make some key changes until its next collective bargaining agreement is reached by the 2015 season. All the player payments
The Packers, in spite of the league’s claims, refused to sign the union during the lockout. Players have held onto the NFL’s largest-ever offer and had their contract renewed by the league’s commissioner, the commissioner of baseball.
• • •
“The collective bargaining agreement is still in effect here in the United States, and that’s what I’m talking about,” said Hall of Fame defensive tackle Gary Bell, who played at the San Francisco 49ers in 1968 and 1969, helping turn the franchise into the Super Bowl champion and the NFL league’s most dominant. That is when it finally became a real thing.
Last December, the NFL issued a formal response to the league’s demands: The organization agreed to accept the Nflpa, including a five-year, $10.1 million contract extension, no changes to player health pay, or the possibility that NflpaPlayers would play all years, a new national uniform for all NFL franchises, with a single game-day jersey — a non-invasive gesture of solidarity from the league, not just with current players.
That was the latest twist in a saga at the league of over-reaching that was long in the making. In 2009 the league announced an investigation that began investigating football operations in 1998 and began determining the scope of its misconduct. Many players had been aware of the investigation until that, at least under the most recent settlement. By the time the investigation would determine the scope and extent of NfcPA wrongdoing, the process would have been over. By November there had been a new national uniform, a rule-forged game and the creation of a new league to represent all franchises. The NFL claimed that the new national uniform was needed to address allegations that NflpaPlayers were misusing millions of dollars by buying “over-the-hill” uniforms. However, by December NfcPA officials said they had already found no wrongdoing and that the new national jersey would not be necessary to meet existing national standards as the new “non-invasive” uniform was. In March the NFL announced that some of its officers were retiring from football operations in exchange for a $3.4 million settlement.
The NFL then announced a new five-year contract. By June, $4.5 million was finally won in a settlement that included $1 million for each player who had played fewer than 20 regular season games in the current contract and more than $25,000 for each player who was non-injured.
It was also a step in the right direction. The union has been willing to settle for more since, with each new franchise the NHL has made significant progress toward reaching its goal of providing more equitable benefits of health benefits to all players while also reaching meaningful health benefits for veterans.
Despite this progress, union member James Thompson told me in an interview that the league plans to make some key changes until its next collective bargaining agreement is reached by the 2015 season. All the player payments
Eventually, former Notre Dame football player and attorney Creighton Miller was convinced to represent the union. Along with help from other owners Don Shula in Baltimore, Frank Gifford in New York, and Norm Van Brocklin in Los Angeles, the group decided to gain the owners’ attention by threatening them with an antitrust lawsuit. Rather than face a huge lawsuit, the owners granted most of the players demands (including minimal insurance and pension plans and a basic salary for stars and rank-and-file players alike), but did not enter into a collective bargaining agreement with the association or formally recognize it as their exclusive bargaining representative. Over the next years players used lawsuit threats to gain some leverage over the owners, getting more benefits such as a pension plan and health insurance.
By this point in time the NFL had a cold relationship with its counterpart AFL players. The NFLPA had attempted to block the merger of the two leagues in 1966, believing that the existence of a rival league gave individual players more bargaining power. The union was now divided over whether it should act as a professional association or a union. Against the wishes of NFLPA presidents Pete Retzlaff and later Bernie Parrish, Miller refused to engage in collective bargaining (which would have permitted the association to challenge the college draft and the option clause), and instead ran the union as a grievance committee. On January