Secret salary cap is alleged

Union files lawsuit against league over 2010 ‘collusion.’

The players’ union claimed Wednesday that the NFL imposed a secret salary cap during the uncapped 2010 season that cost the players at least $1 billion.

The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, which oversees the Reggie White settlement covering NFL labor matters.

The complaint claims a “conspiracy” to set a $123 million salary cap for the 2010 season, when owners did not have the authority to do so. The Cowboys and Redskins have had their future salary caps lowered for overspending in 2010, Dallas by $10 million over two seasons, Washington by a whopping $36 million.

Both teams lost a grievance against those reductions Tuesday.

“When the rules are broken in a way that hurts the game, we have an obligation to act. We cannot stand by when we now know that the owners conspired to collude,” union chief Demaurice Smith said Wednesday.

In response to the reopening of the Reggie White lawsuit, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said, “There was no collusion. There was no agreement. These claims are totally unfounded.”

A league statement said the collective bargaining agreement signed last August to end the 4½-month lockout prohibited the filing of these claims, and that players’ attorneys signed a separate agreement agreeing to the terms.

In other words, the NFL considered the 2010 uncapped season a closed matter ever since the new labor deal was signed last summer. Clearly, the players do not.

The union has claimed a conspiracy by the 32 teams and the league office, which the union says approved contracts enabling the Redskins, Cowboys, Raiders and Saints to exceed “a secret, collusive salary cap.” And the players say the real reaon for the punishments was to penalize the four teams for not abiding by an agreement among all the teams to collude to keep salaries lower in 2010.