The 2011 National Football League lockout was a lockout that lasted from March 11 to July 25. It occurred primarily during the offseason for 18 weeks and 4 days. Although it initially threatened to postpone or cancel the 2011 season, the only game that was called off was the August 7 Pro Football Hall of Fame Game because of the insufficient time the teams had to prepare for that contest after the lockout ended.
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In 1993, the National Football League (NFL) and the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) came to terms on a collective bargaining agreement.[1] This agreement was renewed four times.[2] In May 2008, the owners decided to opt out of the 1993 arrangement and play the 2010 season without a salary cap due to the 2010 season being the last year of the CBA.[3] That last labor agreement gave players 57 percent of the league’s $9 billion in revenue, after the owners took more than $1 billion for operating and development costs of the league.[4] A major reason the owners opted out of the CBA early was that they wanted a larger percentage of league revenue. Part of the previous CBA involved a transfer of revenues from the higher earning teams to the lowest, even though some of the higher earners also had higher costs. The players, represented as the National Football League Players Association, were very skeptical that the owners were losing money as a result of their payments to players, and believed the labor dispute was deliberately generated by some owners in order to renegotiate their own revenue sharing agreements which are attached to the CBA. The players resisted any pay cuts across the board.[5]
The major changes the owners wanted implemented in the next agreement were to significantly reduce the players' percentage of revenue, to extend the regular season from 16 to 18 games, and establish a rookie wage scale and/or rookie salary cap that would limit first-round draft pick compensation.[6][7] The players wanted guaranteed a higher percentage of league wide spending and cash spend by every team per the salary cap on players, more benefits for former players, and changes made to improve health and safety including offseason and in-season training.[8]
Anticipating an owner-imposed lockout, players on every team voted unanimously in Fall 2010 to agree to decertify the union if a CBA extension could not be reached prior to expiration of the current CBA. Decertification would expose the owners to potential antitrust lawsuits.[8] The players would then lose the ability to collectively bargain with the owners.[9] The league is exempt from most facets of antitrust laws as a result of Public Law 89-800, passed in the wake of the AFL–NFL merger in 1970, thus complicating any potential lawsuit against the league. The NFL hired firms to lobby members of the U.S. Congress on their behalf, and the NFL's political action committee, "Gridiron PAC," made several large donations to lawmakers who oversee the league in numerous capacities, as well as several other influential lawmakers. The players union also hired firms to lobby members of the U.S. Congress on their behalf, claiming that a lockout could potentially cost each NFL city $160 million in lost business.[10] Congressmen also indicated a willingness to intervene if necessary.[7]
Just before the CBA expired on March 3, both the players and the league owners agreed to extend the negotiations by one week.[11] However, talks eventually broke down, and on March 11, the union formally decertified,[12] after which a group of ten players filed an antitrust lawsuit against the league. (The players involved were Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts, Tom Brady and Logan Mankins of the New England Patriots, Vincent Jackson of the San Diego Chargers, Ben Leber and Brian Robison of the Minnesota Vikings, Von Miller who was drafted by the Denver Broncos with the second pick overall, Osi Umenyiora of the New York Giants, Mike Vrabel of the Kansas City Chiefs, Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints as well as several former NFL players including Priest Holmes of the Kansas City Chiefs.[13]) In response to the decertification, the league officially locked out the players.[14][15] On July 5, 2011, a group of retired NFL players led by Carl Eller, Franco Harris, Marcus Allen and Paul Krause filed its own class-action lawsuit against both the NFL and NFLPA, stating that the decertification disqualified the NFLPA from bargaining on the former NFL players' behalf.[16]
On July 6, 2011, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman opened an investigation into the league for possible violations of New York State's antitrust law, the Donnelly Act.[17]
This was only the second time in which a labor dispute affected the preseason. The other was during the 1974 NFL season, in which the College All-Star Game was canceled due to the threat of a work stoppage; an agreement was struck shortly thereafter, and the rest of the preseason, beginning with the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, was unaffected. The 1982 and 1987 strikes began after the regular season was already underway. The 2011 lockout was the longest in the NFL's history; however, because the majority of it was imposed during the offseason, it had much less of an effect than shorter strikes in 1982 NFL season and 1987 NFL season, both of which led to more canceled games.
On April 25, 2011, U.S. District Court judge Susan Richard Nelson invalidated the lockout and ordered the league to resume operations. The league asked Nelson to stay the order while it appealed to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals; Nelson refused.[18] The NFLPA advised players to arrive at their teams' stadiums for work uninvited; most teams allowed players to enter the front office but refused further access.[19] The order to resume operations without any CBA in place left the league in "chaos" because, without a CBA, there were no rules in place regarding a salary cap or floor, free agency, and similar labor-related issues.[19] On April 29, 2011, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals granted the league a temporary stay of Nelson's ruling; the league reinstated the lockout following Day 2 of the draft.[20] The stay was extended through at least June 3, when a full appeal was heard;[21] the Eighth Circuit vacated Nelson's ruling on July 8, affirming the legitimacy of the lockout.[22]
A provision in the CBA ensured that the 2011 NFL Draft was allowed to take place despite the lockout.[8] In addition, there was also some cushion in the schedule just in case the labor dispute lasted into September and the planned start of the regular season. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stated that Super Bowl XLVI could be moved a week later if needed, so that the entire season could be played in full.[23] In addition, every contest in Week 3 had teams which shared the same bye week later in the season, which would have allowed these games to be made up on what were originally the teams' byes. Weeks 2 and 4 were set up so that there were neither any divisional rivalry games nor teams on bye in those weeks, which would have kept the season as fair as possible if those games had to be canceled.[24] The league could also have eliminated the normal off week between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl.[24] All in all, up to six weeks of the season could have been lost (moving week 3 games into the bye weeks, canceling weeks 2, 4, and 17, and moving weeks 1 and 5 to the end of the season while postponing the playoffs one week) while still keeping a generally fair schedule with five division games and eight non-division games. The league also had a plan for a longer stoppage, which included an abbreviated eight-game season beginning in late November.[25]
Goodell had stated that the league did not consider using replacement players.[26][27]
The NFL owners announced on July 21, 2011 that they had approved a settlement of the players' antitrust litigation by a 31–0–1 margin (the Oakland Raiders abstained), but the players decided not to vote on the settlement because they did not approve all of the terms outlined in the proposal.[28] [29] After continued negotiations, the ten players named as plaintiffs in the Brady case approved the settlement on July 25, and the agreement became effective after ratification by a majority of the players in the NFL on August 4, 2011.[30][31] Although the settlement was approved on July 25, the NFL didn't officially recognize the NFLPA’s status as the players’ collective bargaining representative until July 30, 2011.[32] When NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith signed the agreement, the lockout officially ended.[33]
ESPN writer John Clayton notes that there are five major parts of the new CBA: free agency, salary cap, rookie compensation, minimum salaries, and franchise tags. First, free agency guidelines returned to the way they were from 1993 to 2009. This means that a player needs four years of experience to become an unrestricted free agent, and three years of experience for restricted free agency. Second, the salary cap is now $120.375 million, with a salary minimum of $107.1 million (89 percent of the salary cap). For the 2011 season, teams have the option of using a $3 million exemption on a signed player. For the years following the 2011 season, teams have the option of designating three player exemptions at $1.5 million each. Third, the rookie compensation was altered. There is a limit to the amount of money given to rookies, with the maximum total in 2011 being $874 million. First round picks receive four-year deals, with a fifth year option. In the second through seventh rounds, there are slotted four-year deals. Fourth, the league minimum salary for players increased by 10-12 percent, based on tenure. Fifth, a team's ability to place a franchise or transition tag on top players to retain his rights did not change. Other major concerns included health and safety of players, as well as former player benefits and pensions.[34]The new 10-year collective bargaining agreement runs through 2021, and has an estimated value of $12-$16 billion per year.[35][36]
The players won $1 billion in additional benefits for retired players, an opportunity to stay in the players' medical plan for life, increased minimum salaries, the continuation of a 16-game regular season schedule, improvements in player safety, increased injury protection, unrestricted free agency after four years, a true salary floor, and increased roster size. Some of the major player safety improvements included five fewer weeks of organized off-season practice, limited on-field practice time, limited full-contact practices, elimination of two-a-day practices in pads, and an increase in the number of days off of work. The players also prevented the owners from knocking them down to 42 percent of league revenues, with a decreasing percentage each year. Starting in 2012, the players also won 55 percent of national media revenue, 45 percent of all NFL Ventures revenue, and 40 percent of local club revenue.[37][38]
The owners won franchise and transition tags, not having to pay $320 million in benefits for an uncapped year, no judicial oversight in disputes between players and owners, settlement of all pending litigation, a rookie wage system, full regular season game revenue, more equitable revenue sharing and supplemental revenue sharing, player testing for performance-enhancing drugs (including human growth hormone), no opt out clause for players for 10 years, and credit for stadium investments with up to 1.5 percent of revenue each year.[37][38]
The owners were unable to get an additional $1 billion off the top of all revenue, an 18-game season, and rights of first refusal for the 2011 unrestricted free agents.[38]
The owners also credited the resolution of the CBA as a key factor in the continuance, extension and greatly increased revenue from the league's television contracts.[39]
The two teams involved in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game had set a deadline of July 22, 2011 for both sides to ratify a deal in time for training camp to be opened and the game to be played (under normal circumstances, each team opens training camp 15 days before their first preseason game).[40] When that day passed without both sides agreeing to a deal, the league canceled the game. The Pro Football Hall of Fame Game was the only on-field cancellation of the lockout.[41][42]