The owners didn’t want to say much about the pending lockout; the players have taken a different tact. Which is why Redskins union rep Vonnie Holliday had no problems discussing the labor issues, including the 24-hour extension of the talks with the NFL. And for players the rallying cry is this: “Show us your books.” Holliday discussed financial issues for players; an 18-game season and others impacted by a lockout.
Are you optimistic after the extension?
“I don’t know how optimistic I can get given that we have not received any formal proposal or anything that we can discuss as a board in terms of a new CBA agreement. So for me I would have to think this 24 hours is just to discuss how much longer they’ll extend the talks or if they’ll lock us out.”
Is this postponing the inevitable?
“I just don’t know … what we’ll get accomplished in 24 hours that we haven’t gotten done in the past two year or even two months. I’m not in the war room with the executive committee, but I think if something were close to a deal or if we had anything we would be having discussions about it. We’re just not there yet.”
What do you think we’ll be talking about in 24 hours?
“We’ll be talking about a lockout or having conversations about a longer extension. But I don’t know what exactly happens or where it leaves us if we extend it another week. I want to remain optimistic. I know the fans want us to clear this thing up.”
Are you optimistic at all, thanks in part to Judge Doty’s ruling?
“That was huge for the players. I think the owners certainly have to be … that ruling shook things up over there, with Doty coming in and seeing the facts and the fact that they were not negotiating in good faith I guess and we knew that the whole time. For that to come out and the ruling to be as such helps to give us optimism. At the same time these guys are billionaires. Our guys are not all millionaires. If it comes down to finances and who can outlast, they’re going to outlast us. But hopefully moving forward we will negotiate and they will be trying to get something done here sooner than later. There’s not much motivation for the owners now. My gut feeling is that nothing happens until after the draft. What motivation is there to get something done before that? They’ll put pressure on these players and see how serious they are, see if they can stay together and see what happens. It’s a good strategy on their behalf. At the same time there’s so much blood, sweat and tears that have gone into building this league and the NFL and making it the best professional sport in our country, to mess that up – to toy with the fans and their emotions and loyalty – it would be a travesty if we come out of this and lose like baseball did.
“We’re all hoping and we want to get a deal done and show us your books. If there’s a problem with the money, there should be no problem showing us the books. If you show us the books then we can say, ‘You’re right, we’re wrong, let’s work it out.’ The fact that they’re not showing us that, the TV contracts being what they are and continuing to go up and every time I play in a stadium it’s filled …. Let’s get a deal done and keep this credible game and the integrity of it up to par.”
Do you worry about guys making it through the lockout financially?
“I do. We all do. That’s why we prepared as much as we could as a union, as reps, as the executive committee really thinking it through in the event we do get locked out, knowing our locker rooms and the hardships they can encounter. We certainly know there are some guys who will need help. We’ve done things to prepare for that as a union, set up funds. We planned accordingly so when guys do have problems, we don’t want them to hesitate and get in a bigger bind. They can come to the union or their rep so we can help them get through this. …
“We’ve been encouraging guys for over a year now to prepare for this. And I know back in August we had talks in camp with DeMaurice [Smith] and other board members about preparing. Some guys listened. But there are always some guys that need help. So we have set aside a fund to help guys in need.
“I do know we have to prepare for the worst. It’s tough as a rep when every time you turn on the TV or look at the news, you think people would be educated on the issues; they’re comparing it to a strike or to it being millionaires vs. billionaires. In this league you don’t become a free agent until after your fourth year and then you can go out and get a mega-deal. But if you’re not a first rounder, some never make it to that million-dollar contract. Even some other guys, if you have three million in the bank, when you leave the game and once your health coverage runs out, you’re taking about if you have serious medical needs you can run through that fairly fast. I know for fans it’s entertainment, but this is our livelihood and how we’re making a living. Most guys wouldn’t have an opportunity to make this money doing anything else.
“Our peers have earning curves that shoot straight up but for us after four or five years, there’s a dramatic decline and you go back down. We’re not complaining about it, we understand there are risks and rewards in everything we do. We just want to take care of our players and continue to take care of the game. So many have worked hard to build this brand; we want to keep it that way. At the same time we want to take care of our retired players, their health issues as well as ours.”
Your thoughts on an 18-game season?
“It’s certainly off the table for us. We can’t agree to an 18-game season. I’m not saying it can’t happen, but that’s something we’d have to talk through but as of right now it’s something we’re not even discussing.”
A lot of people will be impacted by a lockout.
“The staffers in the building … the random steroid tester. I was talking about it with him and he said, ‘If you’re locked out, I’m out of a job.’ You hear that all the time, about how all these other people are affected. Even our trainers, who aren’t going to be treating anyone. They have to prepare for a lockout, too. They’ll get 50 percent so they have to budget and they’re affected by it all. At the end of the day, who’s still sitting there fat with big checks. The billionaire owners. I’d trade places every day with those guys.”
