Ncm 512 Slp 4

NEGOTIATION STRATEGIES:

NEGOTIATION STYLES AND COMMUNICATION

AN NFL TRADE: INDIANAPOLIS COLTS & MIAMI DOLPHINS

Colin Quinn

Trident University

NCM 512, SLP 4

BACKGROUND AND SETTINGS

The Indianapolis Colts were looking for ways to improve their team and reached out to the Miami Dolphins about acquiring Dolphins’ defensive player Vontae Davis. The Dolphins considered Davis a top commodity on their team. Dolphins General Manager, Jeff Ireland, and Head Coach Joe Philbin discussed whether Davis was in the long term plans for the Dolphins and how much compensation they should receive if they were to trade him. The Colts initiated the trade talks via text message to Ireland, only offering a fifth and a sixth round 2013 draft picks for the talented player. Ireland did not see this offer as reasonable compensation to trade his player, especially since the Dolphins were not originally looking to trade Davis. If the Dolphins were to trade Davis, Ireland wanted a trade offer that would blow him away to help the Dolphins in the future.

HOW WAS IT NEGOTIATED?

Ireland and Philbin’s handling of the negotiations played out on HBO’s Television Show, “Hard Knocks: Training Camp With the Miami Dolphins.” The two sides had to use a lot of mediation and litigation before they were able to serious negotiated. Before the CBA expired, both sides agreed to meet with federal mediator George Cohen to help with negotiations. This seemed to be a good sign that both parties agreed to meet with a neutral party to help with negotiations (CBSsports.com, 2011.) Both sides negotiated back and forth, with the owners coming down from the $2 billion credit to $1.5 billion, but the NFLPA would only come up to a $1.125 billion in owner credit of revenue (Kaplan, 2011.) If the NFLPA would have accepted the owners’ proposal with a $2 billion credit, they would only take a 40 to 42% share of all revenue; the lowest of any professional sports league. The NFLPA offered a flat 50/50 split of all...