The League

Smith Says Players Want Labor Peace

DeMaurice F. Smith, the D.C. attorney who was elected Sunday night to succeed the late Gene Upshaw as executive director of the NFL Players Association, said during a conference call with reporters today that he expects to begin collective bargaining talks with the sport's franchise owners soon and hopes to avoid a labor confrontation that might result in a work stoppage in two years.

But Smith also said the players will be ready for a labor tussle if they find that's what the owners want.

"There isn't a day where I don't hope for peace," Smith said during the approximately half-hour conference call. "But at the same time, there isn't a day where we won't prepare for war.... I hope that our discussion with the owners is both early and fruitful. It is my sincere hope that we can come to an agreement extremely quickly so that everybody knows that this game will continue in a great way."

Smith reiterated what he'd said in a recent interview with The Washington Post, that he feels the union and current players have "a moral obligation" to address the needs of retired players. Smith said the transition team that he's forming will include former players.

"We want them to be a part of our team," Smith said.

Smith, a Washington native and a D.C.-based partner at the law firm Patton Boggs, was elected on the first ballot Sunday in a vote by the players who serve as union representatives for the 32 NFL teams. The votes were weighted by how many dues-paying union members are on a team; a team with 80 dues-paying union members, for example, had 80 votes. Smith received a majority of the approximately 2,600 votes on the first ballot, according to a source. The union announced the vote as unanimous, perhaps in part as a signal to the owners of the players' solidarity.

Smith will serve a three-year term, the union announced.

"In the end, it was a very easy decision for all of us," New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, a member of the players' ruling 10-member executive committee, said during the conference call.

The vote was taken at the union's annual meetings in Maui. Smith and members of the executive committee participated in today's conference call just before beginning an early-morning meeting in Hawaii.

"We're ready to get to work," Smith said.

Said Philadelphia Eagles safety Brian Dawkins, another executive committee member: "We're very, very pleased to move forward with who we see as a leader who can lead us in the right direction, right now. There's a lot of business to take care of, and we're very pleased with the result."

Smith, 45, had no significant connection to the NFL when he was identified as a candidate by the union's search committee. The players wanted some candidates from outside the sport in an effort to potentially find someone who could bring in new ideas. Smith was chosen Sunday over a group of fellow finalists that included two former NFL players and former union presidents, Troy Vincent and Trace Armstrong, and attorney David Cornwell, who has close ties to the league and the union.

Tennessee Titans center Kevin Mawae, the current union president, said that Smith won players' support by being open and honest whenever he addressed them.

"We never viewed him as an outsider or a guy that had to come and sell something to us," Mawae said. "He walked in the first day of his first interview and was himself."

Smith said he "always considered myself a candidate who could bring to this organization a good plan and a vision not only for the future but most importantly, a vision for unity. With respect to whether I was a long shot or not, I never looked at it that way."

Smith said his first call when he got back to his hotel room after the vote was to Upshaw's widow, Terri. Smith called that "a special call for me," and referred to his election as "a step forward to build upon the legacy Mr. Upshaw created."

Gene Upshaw died last August, only days after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Smith said he also spoke after the election to his fellow finalists. But he didn't say during today's conference call whether he envisions hiring any of the other candidates for a position in the union leadership. A source said that some players would like to see Vincent hired as a union executive. Vincent once was viewed by many players as the favorite for the executive director's job, but his candidacy was plagued by a string of controversies that included an allegation that he improperly disclosed confidential information about agents to a business partner.

Smith said he planned to speak to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell later today.

"It is my hope that the first conversation about our collective bargaining agreement as well as other issues starts today," Smith said.

Smith inherits the NFL's long-standing labor peace, but it is a peace that soon could be imperiled. Many owners consider the last labor deal that Upshaw negotiated in 2006 to be overly favorable to the players. The owners voted last year to exercise a reopener clause in their collective bargaining agreement with the players, ending it two years early. The labor deal now runs through the 2010 season; the 2009 season is the final one in the agreement with a salary cap.

Before his death, Upshaw predicted that the owners would consider a lockout of the players in 2011.

Smith spoke during today's conference call of wanting to avoid a lockout not only for the players' sake, but also for the sake of the stadium workers and others who depend in the national economic crisis on having NFL games played.

He said he agreed with Upshaw's longtime stance that if a season without a salary cap ever is played, the players never will allow a salary cap to return to the sport.

Smith hinted that he will use his familiarity with the ways of Capitol Hill--he served as counsel to Eric H. Holder Jr., the U.S. attorney general, when Holder was the deputy attorney general--to create negotiating leverage with the league and the owners.

"There will not be a time where we do not think about the friends that we have and the issues that we have in common," Smith said.

He faces the tasks of unifying the players after a divisive search--Smith called the players "a family" today--and of repairing the union's sometimes-combative relationship with retired players.

In recent years, many former players have criticized the union and the league for allegedly failing to address their medical and financial needs. Many retired players were sharply critical of Upshaw.

Smith said today that the union, the league and everyone else who benefits economically from the sport must work together to take care of former players.

"We all have a moral obligation to them," Smith said.

By Mark Maske  |  March 16, 2009; 1:48 PM ET  | Category:  Union Save & Share:                 
Previous: Jaguars Release Matt Jones | Next: Smith Seeking Dungy's Help

Posted by: broadriver | March 16, 2009 8:09 PM

Posted by: mrpjs1976 | March 16, 2009 5:36 PM

Posted by: margiepaul88 | March 16, 2009 5:01 PM

The comments to this entry are closed.