MINNEAPOLIS, MN – MAY 16: Former NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith speaks to members of the media after leaving court-ordered mediation at the U.S. Courthouse on May 16, 2011 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mediation was ordered after a hearing on an antitrust lawsuit filed by NFL players against the NFL owners that followed a breakdown of labor talks between the two in March. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) (Getty Images)
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell leaves court-ordered mediation at the U.S. Courthouse yesterday in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mediation was ordered after a hearing on an antitrust lawsuit filed by NFL players against the NFL owners that followed a breakdown of labor talks between the two in March. (Getty Images)
The NFL owners got off the mat in a huge way last night.
Pro football’s labor war took a stunning swing in their direction when a federal appeals court let the owners continue the lockout indefinitely while casting serious doubt on the players’ antitrust case against the league.
By a 2-1 vote, a three-judge panel from the 8th Circuit Court in St. Louis put a permanent freeze on the injunction by a lower-court judge that had briefly lifted the lockout last month.
As a result, the longest work stoppage in NFL history will continue unabated until the court hears a full appeal of the players’ case — a process that starts June 3 but likely won’t be complete until late July — or the two sides somehow reach a new collective bargaining agreement.
The owners also wrested away much of the leverage, enabling them to pursue what has seemed to be their strategy all along — testing the players’ fortitude in the face of missed paychecks.
Perhaps not coincidentally, the ruling came down at the end of the first day of court-ordered mediation between the owners and players in Minneapolis on a new CBA that, despite claims of a “breakthrough offer” from the owners, appears unlikely to break the stalemate.
The decision from the decidedly conservative-leaning 8th Circuit is a stinging blow to the players, who until last night had been riding a wave of favorable court rulings since the lockout began in early March.
Adding to the players’ woes, the panel signaled in the decision yesterday that its sympathy lies with the owners and their claim that a Depression-era federal statute called the Norris-LaGuardia Act negates the union’s decision to decertify and pursue its case in court.
The lower-court judge, Susan Nelson, in the course of lifting the lockout last month ruled that statute didn’t apply and that the players’ antitrust case was strong. The appeals panel strongly disagreed yesterday.
“Our present view is that Judge Nelson’s interpretation is unlikely to prevail,” the court wrote in its decision.
The judges also chided Nelson for not taking into account what they said was the damage her ruling inflicted on the owners.
“The district court gave little or no weight to the harm caused to the League by an injunction issued in the midst of an ongoing dispute over terms and conditions of employment,” the panel said in the decision.
The decertified union, now acting as a trade association, offered an acid dig at the league after what, by all accounts, was a bruising haymaker from the heavily Republican appeals court.
“As far as we can tell, this is the 1st sports league in history that’s sued to not play its game,” NFLPA chief DeMaurice Smith told NFL.com. “Congratulations.”
Perhaps realizing federal judge David Doty could soon bring them back down to earth by imposing $700 million or more in damages in the “lockout insurance” case, the owners refrained from taking a victory lap last night.
“We remain confident that the appellate court will determine that this is a labor dispute that should be governed by federal law,” the league said in a statement. “But the league and players, without further delay, should control their own destiny and decide the future of the NFL together through negotiation.”