Apparently the settlement of last year's NFL lockout actually won't create a decade's worth of labor peace between the league and its players.
The NFL Players Association filed a complaint in the United States District Court of Minnesota on Wednesday accusing NFL owners of collusion during the 2010 season.
DOCUMENT: �Reggie White et al. v. NFL
The crux of the complaint boils down to the union's assertion that teams operated with an artificial $123 million salary cap in 2010 even though the season was officially played without a cap under the terms of the previous collective bargaining agreement, which expired following the 2010 season.
The 2010 cap arrangement was originally negotiated by the players in the belief that if the cap expired (an outcome triggered when the owners opted out of the previous CBA two years early), they would realize a financial windfall. Instead they claim salaries were suppressed, costing them at least $1 billion given 28 of the league's 32 teams apparently worked within the faux cap.
The union is now seeking at least $3 billion in compensatory damages.
"Our union recently learned that there was a secret salary cap agreement in an uncapped year. The complaint today is our effort to fulfill our duty to every NFL player. They deserve to know, above all, the facts and the truth about this conspiracy," said NFLPA President Domonique Foxworth in a statement.
The complaint comes one day after arbitrator Stephen Burbank�upheld the league's decision to dock the Washington Redskins $36 million in salary cap space over the next two seasons while the Dallas Cowboys suffer a $10 million hit after both teams overloaded on contracts in the uncapped 2010 season despite warnings from the league not to do so.
It was revealed in March that the Redskins spent nearly $103 million over the cap while the Cowboys exceeded it by nearly $53 million; the Oakland Raiders ($42 million) and New Orleans Saints ($36 million) were also cited for violating the artificial cap but were subject to minor cap consequences.
The union cites a statement from New York Giants owner John Mara as evidence when he said: "What they (the Cowboys and Redskins) did was in violation of the spirit of the salary cap. They attempted to take advantage of a one-year loophole ... full well knowing there would be consequences.
"It has to do with teams attempting to gain a competitive advantage through a loophole in the system. They attempted to take advantage of it knowing full well there would be consequences. ... When you look at the overall scope of what they did, they were trying to take advantage and they were told not to."
It seems the players now seek to take advantage of what they view as a serious miscalculation by their bosses.
"When the rules are broken in a way that hurts the game, we have an obligation to act. We cannot standby when we now know that the owners conspired to collude," said NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith.
Source: http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~r/UsatodaycomSports-TopStories/~3/zh_YaNqf_i0/1
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