We’ve promised a stream of items regarding the Supreme Court’s ruling in the American Needle case. Here’s the one containing the union’s official response to the decision.
“Today’s Supreme Court ruling is not only a win for the
players past,
present and future, but a win for the fans,” NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith said. “While the NFLPA and the
players of the National Football League are pleased with the ruling, we
remain focused on reaching a fair and equitable collective bargaining
agreement. We hope that today also marks a renewed effort by the NFL to
bargain in good faith and avoid a lockout.”
So why is the union crowing about a case to which it wasn’t a party, and which had no bearing on labor issues in any way? In today’s PFT Daily, which has been recorded and is currently being cleaned up (apparently my toupee had slipped), we explain the connection.
The NFL has not yet issued a statement regarding the case, apparently due in part to the fact that many of the key players are en route to Dallas for a Tuesday ownership meeting which just had an unwanted item added to the agenda.