National Football League Lockout 2011

National Football League 2011 Lockout

“How the professional sports lockout affects our economy”

By: Ashley Hayes

September 6, 2011

Economics 405 Summer Session

Professor Lee Stradtner

On March 11th of this year what use to be a possibility as far back as May 2008 became a reality, the NFL lockout. The lockout sometimes referred to as work stoppage initiated by management, forced all player transactions to cease. The only activity was a 3 day draft in late April. There was no training camps, rosters fixed, free-agents signed during this time. In some cases, owners took to the term “lockout” literally and placed a metal chain on the main gates to parking lots and added extra security to ensure the players could not access any facilities such as the weight rooms. Out of 32 teams only one, New York Giants, allowed their players to workout at their facilities.

While in the possibility phase owners and players agreed to extend the deadline for a new collective bargaining agreement. This agreement was essentially about how to divide the $9 billion in annual revenue generated by the league. The two sides (owners and players’ union) met 16 days to talk through mediations before the owners acted when the players decertified the NFL Players Association, moving the bitter dispute into the courts and ending the era of NFL labor peace. This peace lasted 24 years, since the players went on strike in 1987. The owners’ lockout began sometime that Friday and was confirmed shortly after midnight Saturday March 12th by The Washington Post.

By decertifying the NFL Players Association, the players were able to file antitrust litigation against the owners. The players did just that, while also seeking an injunction to lift the lockout. Many superstar quarterbacks, Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Peyton Manning, were among the 10 plaintiffs named. The players were seeking the owners to turn over 10 years’ worth of audited financial records needed to verify claims that the current...