Focal Point of Players’ Lawsuit Is Lifting the Lockout
By JUDY BATTISTA
NYT
The name of the class-action lawsuit is captivating: Tom Brady v. National Football League.
The reality of the antitrust case brought last Friday by football players against the N.F.L., which now forms the cornerstone of their standoff since talks toward a new collective bargaining agreement broke off, might never live up to that name-in-lights billing, though.
Almost nobody expects that 52-page lawsuit to wind its way through the court system for the next few years, or to ultimately reshape the structure of the N.F.L., the way a class-action lawsuit in the 1990s ultimately won free agency for the players.
Brady v. N.F.L., then, is about something much more immediate and elemental: lifting the lockout to create more leverage for players in negotiations. On Page 48 of the suit, the first item listed under Prayer For Relief asks the court to declare the lockout a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act and asks the court to block it. There are mentions of the salary cap, the franchise tag, even the college draft as potential restraints of trade — and players would contend those violate antitrust law, too, if owners are forced to continue to play games. But for now the lockout is the focal point of the lawsuit. The players filed a request for an injunction to stop the lockout as part of the suit.
(More here.)
NYT
The name of the class-action lawsuit is captivating: Tom Brady v. National Football League.
The reality of the antitrust case brought last Friday by football players against the N.F.L., which now forms the cornerstone of their standoff since talks toward a new collective bargaining agreement broke off, might never live up to that name-in-lights billing, though.
Almost nobody expects that 52-page lawsuit to wind its way through the court system for the next few years, or to ultimately reshape the structure of the N.F.L., the way a class-action lawsuit in the 1990s ultimately won free agency for the players.
Brady v. N.F.L., then, is about something much more immediate and elemental: lifting the lockout to create more leverage for players in negotiations. On Page 48 of the suit, the first item listed under Prayer For Relief asks the court to declare the lockout a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act and asks the court to block it. There are mentions of the salary cap, the franchise tag, even the college draft as potential restraints of trade — and players would contend those violate antitrust law, too, if owners are forced to continue to play games. But for now the lockout is the focal point of the lawsuit. The players filed a request for an injunction to stop the lockout as part of the suit.
(More here.)
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