Potential labor stoppage looms

Lombardi Trophy. TV contracts. New stadiums. Huge profits. Those are some twoword phrases that mean the most to NFL owners. Another that should be listed: labor peace.

NEW YORK >> Lombardi Trophy. TV contracts. New stadiums. Huge profits.

Those are some two-word phrases that mean the most to NFL owners.

Another that should be listed: labor peace.

That has not been an easily attained objective, particularly since the NFL Players Association was created in 1956. There have been in-season and preseason strikes and lockouts and contentious negotiations. Costly court actions, too.

Even during Paul Tagliabue’s era as commissioner, when there were no disruptions, players pushed hard for freedom of movement and owners sought — usually with success until 1993 — to keep the status quo. It wasn’t until 17 years after baseball players won free agency that their football brethren got it, with some restrictions.

In order to ensure the 32 teams remain moneymaking machines — and can compete for that Super Bowl bauble — there must be a collective bargaining agreement with the players’ union. For two commissioners, Pete Rozelle (196089) and Roger Goodell (2006-present), that has proven a difficult challenge.

Under Rozelle, there were two strikes and three other work stoppages, though only the strikes affected the regular season. And, to be fair, Rozelle was not involved in negotiations with the union, then led by Ed Garvey; the NFL’s management council had full authority.

Goodell, of course, was leading the league in 2011 when there was a 132-day lockout of the players before a 10-year deal was reached.

Only Tagliabue avoided the black mark of a labor stoppage. He did so, in great part, because of a strong working relationship with Gene Upshaw, who served as the players’ union president or executive director from 1980 until his death in 2008.

“We respected each other,” Tagliabue says. “There was a credibility to what we did. We would say we were going to do something and then do it.

“We had an attitude, Gene Upshaw and I, of let’s get in there and see how many issues we can solve by negotiations, instead of a ‘heads I win, tails you lose’ approach. I think that attitude has disappeared for the most part.”

It rarely existed during Rozelle’s tenure, when Garvey went up against owners such as Hugh Culverhouse and Joe Robbie and Cowboys President Tex Schramm on the all-powerful management council. All could be acerbic and unbending, causing a deep separation between management and labor that led to several stalemates.