MANAGEMENT COUNCIL WANTS END TO HOLDOUTS

IPBprez

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MANAGEMENT COUNCIL WANTS END TO HOLDOUTS

We're hearing that the NFL management council has raised with the NFLPA the league's concerns regarding the use of holdouts and threatened holdouts as a device to leverage contract extensions.

Behind the scenes, we're told, the management council is suggesting that the union rein in agents who use this device if the Players Association hopes to gain some of the concessions that it seeks in the ongoing Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations.

The issue is one of philosophy, and the folks on both sides of the issue can agree only to disagree on whether it is appropriate for a player who has outperformed his contract to withhold future services until he gets more money. The argument in favor of holdouts and threatened holdouts is that, because teams have the ability to break contracts with players who underperform, players who overperform should have the same power.

The argument against this tactic is that the NFL system for which the NFLPA bargained allows teams to part ways prematurely with a player (subject to certain rules regarding injured players). That same system does not contemplate players who believe their play has been more valuable than their pay to refuse not to play at all.

It's ridiculous, really, when you think about it. A guy agrees to play football for a specific wage, and because he plays football better than he expected he refuses to keep playing until he gets more money?

These are issues that could be -- and should be -- addressed through the terms of the contract. If a player thinks that he might "overperform," he can request the placement of incentives in his deal to compensate for such overperformance.

Or the player who thinks he might become a Pro Bowler in short order can request a shorter-term deal. To get there, of course, the player must accept less signing bonus money -- and no one wants to do that.

Our overriding belief regarding this issue is that holdouts and threatened holdouts are wrong because they fall beyond the boundaries of the current system. Although agents should be trying to get the best deals possible for the players they represent, they need to do so within the confines of the rules. Breaching or threatening to breach a contract simply isn't within the scope of the rules, and therefore it is inappropriate and wrong.

So how does a player generate leverage? Easy. The player puts in the years to which he agreed and he suggests that he'll hit the open market and leave for another team is he doesn't receive a fair offer from his current team.

Sure, the player could find himself when the time comes on the wrong side of the franchise tag. But, again, this is the system to which the NFLPA agreed in order to persuade the owners to devote more than 65 percent of designated gross revenue to player wages.

In the end, that's the issue. If the players want to play football they need to accept the fact that the union and the league has created a system that will, for some players, lead to unfortunate outcomes. But this doesn't mean that a player who thinks he's worth more than the ongoing terms of the contract that he signed should be able to refuse to play until he gets more money. In the end, it's something that the current system simply does not contemplate.

So as we see it the players and their agents have three choices. Change the system. Live with the system. Or try to find in some other industry a job that pays anything remotely close to what you're making now.
 
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IPBprez

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vixtalkn said:
Prez, did you write this article?
No - I did not - but, if you go back to the Article - you'll notice I always try to make sure that the TITLE of the message(posting) is an "active" hyperlink to the source of the Online Article - You should be able to right-click on the Title and "open in new window" - when you do that the actual article will appear in a different Internet Explorer window...

Some of these Articles I wish I had written.. others not so much....

Hope that helps.!!! :D
 

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