Hacksaw: Potential labor dispute looms large for Chargers

Your name is Philip Rivers and you are headed toward the end of your contract and a payday.
Your name is Shawne Merriman and you are in the final year of your deal, with uncertain health and value.
Your name is Antonio Gates and you will have to go through this again, another bitter negotiation.
Your name is LaDainian Tomlinson and you might have to have one last big season to prove your worth.

Marquee players on the Chargers are headed toward NFL free agency, but they, like so many other players, are headed into an area of uncertainty.

Related: Opportunity lost in Chargers stadium quest | More SDNN sports

Phrases like lockout, work stoppage, war chests and uncapped year are floating everywhere — in the corridors of the NFL office in New York, in the hallways of NFL team headquarters and in the backrooms of the NFL Players Association.

The collective bargaining agreement in football is about to expire and no one knows what the future holds. Not Roger Goodell, the new commissioner. Nor DeMaurice Smith, the union leader. Nor players like Rivers, Merriman, Gates or LT. Owners from Jerry Jones to Dean Spanos to Mike Brown don’t know either.

The last work stoppage in the NFL was bitter — a nasty three-week strike in 1987. It brought in replacement players, picket lines, ill will, a salary cap and drug testing — but eventually profits for all.

Not the case now though. The owners, who worked hand-in-hand with the late Gene Upshaw, the union chief, found a common ground. There was never a threat of another strike. Gross revenue in the league went up. The salary cap went up. The TV contracts went up. Players paychecks went up.

Now it could all come tumbling down, because one side — the owners — wants money back. The other side, the players union, obviously doesn’t want to give anything back. Ownership has opted out of the collective bargaining agreement, setting the stage for nasty negotiations.

It has been win-win since we saw veteran players spit on Chargers replacements players in 1987; since scab players saw the tires on their cars slashed; since Cincinnati police escorts took the Bolts players into old Riverfront Stadium, while union members mocked them as they got off the buses.

That replacement team, led by quarterback Rick Neuheisel, now the UCLA head coach, crossed the picket lines, and went 3-0. San Diego kept a truckload of the replacement players on the roster, cutting veterans when they returned from the work stoppage. It shattered a team that started 8-1 but lost its last six games. Dan Fouts, in his final year, saw friends cut and the locker room become a war zone even though everyone in it wore the same Lightning Bolt helmet.

The Chargers face a massive challenge to get the top trio of soon-to-be free agents signed. It will take an enormous cash outlay in signing bonus money. Knowing the guaranteed monies in recent contracts, Rivers could wind up with $25 million in his next package. Merriman, if retained, might get as much as $15 million. Gates could be in line for a $10 million bonus. Tomlinson could get one more deal if he strings together a couple of vintage LT seasons.

DeMaurice Smith has replaced Upshaw. He has opened dialogue with Goodell, who replaced the lawyer-like standoff style of Paul Tagliabue. They have already met. But talking is one thing. Negotiating is another.

Those are storm clouds off in the distance. The players get 60 percent of the gross revenue, an extraordinary figure in a bad economy. The owners want to scale that as far back as 55 percent. The players make the plays, draw the crowds and the television ratings. The owners pay the bills, carry the debt load from all the new stadiums, and have to live with forever escalating medical costs in a violent sport.

The threat of a work stoppage is very much there. The favorite NFL term is the “uncapped year.” It sounds all inviting, that big market teams like the Giants, Redskins and Cowboys could spend whatever they want, rather than be limited. The rich would get richer. This year’s cap number will be $127 million on opening day.

An uncapped year threatens the existence of the small market teams. Revenue sharing ratios could change. The floor on spending, which this year is $107 million, would go away, meaning notoriously cheap franchises like Cincinnati and Arizona might cut payroll and reap profits, but lose their star players. The glory-story of a tiny little Green Bay might end. Small markets could be left out in the cold.

But an uncapped year should also scare the players. If we get to that, players eligible for free agency at four years would have to wait until after sixth year to go on the open market. Teams that currently can franchise tag one player per season, locking him in for one year, will also be given two transition tags to use each year. It could mean an additional 45 prime players per season would be kept off the market.

Free agent movement would be limited even more. The Final Eight plan could go into effect. Super Bowl teams would be blocked from acquiring name talent. The teams in the AFC-NFC championship games could not sign any unrestricted free agent, unless he was waived by some other club. The four losers in the AFC-NFC divisional games could only sign an unrestricted free agent if they lost one of their own free agents. It would be roster gridlock like the Interstate 5-805 exchange during rush hour.

In addition, the NFL might stop funding the lucrative players’ 401K programs. Rumblings are the league would not fund family insurance for those guys who play on Sundays either. The players would lose a lot if the uncapped year takes place in 2011.

The rhetoric has begun already. Goodell has already announced the NFL gets its TV money from its network partners, even if there are no games that year. Smith says his union is prepared for a work stoppage. Charlie Batch, the Steelers player representative and the longest serving active player, says there is a 100 percent likelihood of a lockout.

Free agency may look very different in the future. There may be no football after the 2010 season. Don’t say it cannot happen. Baseball had a 232-day strike and cancelled the World Series. The NHL wiped out an entire season.

Rivers could be a rich man soon. Merriman could be let go, or locked in with more years to serve before he becomes free. Gates and Tomlinson may have limited time left, especially if they are forced to sit out a year when they are both over the age 30.

The NFL labor peace may turn out to be a civil war. Billionaires fighting millionaires with football fans and game days caught in the crossfire. The game will survive, but there may be lots of casualties. Rivers, LT, Gates and Lights Out may be about to find this out the hard way.

Lee ‘Hacksaw’ Hamilton, the longtime voice of the San Diego Chargers on XTRA-690, will broadcast games for the NFL-Compass Media Network this fall. He writes columns twice a week for SDNN.com

Tags: Chargers, labor dispute, lockout, NFL, SDNN, strike

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 at 7:28 pm and is filed under Chargers, Football, Sports . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.