Here’s What Was on the Agenda for the N.F.L. Owners’ Meeting Last Wednesday
Most of the things to talk about last Wednesday as the representatives of the owners gathered to plan the 2013 season were the owners’ latest move against the players. The owners are meeting again today, and here are the highlights of what they have to say about everything from football, to labor, to health insurance.
Football
They don’t want the players union to have the same power that the owners have in the last union, the N.F.L. Players Association, created in 1968 during the N.F.L.’s first season in the off-season by owners who were dissatisfied with it. The union has been gaining real power to hold owners accountable since the owners went on strike in 2009 and eventually won. “The owners have not been able to run the league,” [Robert] Kraft said. “We need not the players’ union to be as strong as the owners’ union.” Owner Robert Kraft is on hand to represent his club today.
The N.F.L.’s current collective bargaining agreement with the union expires at the end of the season. The owners would like the players to be guaranteed of $30 million in revenue sharing annually. A compromise was reached last week, and it was believed that the league owners and the president — owners’ meetings are always chaired by the owners — would agree, but that hasn’t happened.
Owners want a minimum wage hike to $13 per hour next year, to $15 in 2014, and to $20 per hour by 2016. The owners want to create a salary cap for the first time since 1972. The owners say that they have told the players that they need to be more competitive to keep fans from abandoning the game.
The owners still want their union to have equal power with them. “We can’t have two unions,” says [John] Mara. “We need to have one union.”
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