The Pewter Plank » DeMaurice Smith

DeMaurice Smith Speaks

Patrik Nohe — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 15:12:03 +0000

After talks broke down last night we mentioned DeMaurice Smith broke the self-imposed media blackout. Both sides came out swinging after Jeff Pash made remarks about the lack of commitment from the NFLPA side of the negotiations and things quickly came to a boil as both sides got in their licks. If you’re not into reading the summary article that was posted yesterday, here’s the ESPN update essentially covering the same information.

Talks Break Down, Both Sides Swinging

Patrik Nohe — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 00:52:49 +0000

The NFL labor negotiations just took a turn towards high school with both sides getting involved in petty squabbles that aren’t going to be productive in regard to getting a new CBA done by tomorrow’s deadline. Things started when negotiations broke down in the afternoon and DeMaurice Smith sent the NFLPA reps home. Smith most likely did this more as a publicity stunt than anything else, mentioning they could all be back to resume negotiations as soon as needed. But that lead to NFL general counsel Jeff Pash publicly questioning the player’s commitment to negotiations.

“Things can come together quickly. Things can fall apart quickly,” Pash said when the NFL negotiating team left for the day. “I’ve said it many times: If both sides have an equal commitment to getting this deal done, it will get done. I don’t know if both sides have an equal commitment. … Obviously, we have the commitment.”

That in turn set DeMaurice Smith off, who offered a full rebuttle in spite of the self-imposed media blackout. His response hardly pulled any punches.

“We have been committed to this process. But for anyone to stand and turn to the American people and say they question that?” Smith said. “Look, I understand that there’s probably some things Jeff Pash just has to say, but this is the truth: We know that as early as March of 2009 … the National Football League engaged in a strategy to get $4 billion of television money … even if the games weren’t played.”

Then things just got weird, after the NFL general counsel and the NFLPA Chief squared off, all hell broke loose. George Atallah of the NFLPA made some remarks regarding the NFL owner’s negotiating strategy.

(more…)

18 Game Schedule Off the Table

Patrik Nohe — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 16:24:23 +0000

DeMaurice Smith shut down the idea of an extended season.

It seemed like something that only the owners wanted to see anyway, but DeMaurice Smith, in speaking publicly for the first time in weeks last night, confirmed that the proposal for an extended season was no longer on the negotiating table. Since before last season, the NFL seems to have been intent on squeezing two more regular season match-ups out of an already physically rigorous season.

The player response to this was never good, with a higher risk of injury and a longer season with likely less compensation the proposal to extend the season was never popular with players. Where the NFL tried to sell it was with the fans and they missed the point entirely. Fans weren’t crying for more games, they just were tired of paying full price for preseason games. Somehow the NFL took that complaint and turned it into two extra regular season games. DeMaurice Smith didn’t mince words when the extended season came up yesterday night.

“First of all, the league has never presented a formal proposal for 18 games,” he told SI.com. “But more importantly, it’s something that our players don’t want. Eighteen games is not in the best interest of our players’ safety, so we’re not doing it.”

Well there you have it, no 18-game season.