The NFL Players Union has filed a lawsuit in a U.S. District Court in Minnesota that alleges the 32 teams agreed upon a secret salary cap in an uncapped year that cost the players to lose money, an estimated $1 billion in wages.
Timing couldn’t be any worse for DeMaurice Smith with this lawsuit. The NFL just penalized the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys $36 million for overspending in the uncapped seasons. Penalties for overspending seem to contradict Smith’s claims that teams agreed in secrecy to a salary cap of $123 million.
”Cartels do what cartels will do when left unchecked,” Smith said Thursday outside union headquarters. ”The facts justify the complaint.”
‘When we feel those rules are violated, we will, on behalf of our players, always act in their best interest,” Smith said.
In a statement the NFL said ”the union’s claims have absolutely no merit and we fully expect them to be dismissed.”
It’s been a busy offseason for the Players Union who have filed grievances against the NFL on behalf of the New Orleans Saints players suspended for their roles in bounty gate, and now this lawsuit. Though you have to wonder if the Players Union is going about this particular issue all wrong. Maybe they’d be better to challenge the penalties levied against the Redskins and Cowboys by declaring that reducing their salary caps the players are in fact being penalized and the two teams should be penalized in a different manner that doesn’t affect the players. For instance, fines or loss of draft picks.
”We all got along, and the league locked us out,” Smith said. ”We certainly had players across history who left every bit of blood, sweat and tears on the field. And yet, the National Football League continues to fight us on a number of workers’ comp cases.”
To sum up Smith’s words, this is discord is nothing new for the union and the league.
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