NLL Insider

It was just a few days ago that I was busy working on my NLL previews for Inside Lacrosse Magazine’s NLL Preview edition. Suddenly my priorities have changed due to Monday’s dramatic news. Can it be true that the season is cancelled?

To be honest, I’m not usually interested in the nuts and bolts of the CBA negotiations for any league. Unfortunately, I think many players might feel the same way. Before this past weekend, I was content to sit back and wait for this thing to get done. Real negotiations aren’t done through the media and I didn’t want to be the mouthpiece for either side.

My original take was this: the owners want to get this deal done soon — fair enough — so they gave the Oct. 15 deadline. I figured that that would not be a firm date as long as negotiations were progressing. Even when I heard that talks had ended, I figured it was just a timeout. Then, when the owners announced the season was over, I figured that that was just to get negotiations rolling again. Yes, I did believe the owners were bluffing.

Now I’m not so sure.

First, I should state my bias. I am an ex-player. I also have known Dave Succamore, the vice president of the PLPA, since we played Junior lacrosse for the Etobicoke Eclipse 28 years ago. We hoisted the Mann Cup together in the early ’90s with the Six Nations Chiefs and we carpooled to games and practices for those three years. I trust his integrity completely. That is not to say I believe he is infallible.

I’ve also dealt with the ownership of the Toronto Rock for the last 10 years. Although I am not a player, from my dealings and from what I have observed they have been a first-class operation and have treated the players that way from Day One.

I understand the owners want a long-term CBA. It would be the best thing for the growth of the league in terms of adding new franchises and securing TV and sponsorship deals. If it’s true that it’s too late to salvage the 2008 season, then I would think that maybe the owners had always felt a favorable long-term CBA was more important to them than a 2008 season. If that’s the case, then there is not much the PLPA could have done other than to agree to the owners’ terms.

When I spoke to Dave Succamore yesterday, he said: “We never told our players that the owners were bluffing. What we did say was that their offer was a step backwards for the players and we should not accept it.”

He also said that the assertion that the PLPA wanted to remove the salary cap was inaccurate. According to Succamore, the players have given the owners two cap options and the only scenario for removing the cap would be if the owners removed the player’s audit rights (provision 6.11). In fact, Succamore suggested that the owners owe the PLPA a minimum of $870,000 based on the team salaries being below 23% of average team revenue, as laid out in provision 6.10 B of the old CBA. That sum is for 2006, and he suspects the amount for 2007 to be similar. The owners want this clause removed. According to Succamore, this clause is the only assurance that the players will share the benefits of increased team revenues should the league continue to grow. Succamore was also emphatic that the PLPA was not stalling. He says that negotiations were delayed because of the owners’ unwillingness to give the PLPA full disclosure of its books, as is their right in article 6.11 of the old CBA.

Some observers have suggested that the owners want to break the union. The NLL has publicly suggested that the deal would be agreeable to most of the players if the PLPA brought it to a vote. I’ve heard there are many players who, “just want to play lacrosse.” This might sound like a noble sentiment of a true athlete, but a similar sentiment crushed the first attempt at an NHLPA in the 1950s when Gordie Howe, the world’s best hockey player, said, “I just want to play hockey.”

Of course I want to see a deal get done. The announcement that arena dates have been released is troublesome, but I am still skeptical. I may be naively optimistic, but I still believe there is hope. Sources have told me some team managers have contacted a few high-profile players and advised that the PLPA was standing in the way of a deal. While I find it upsetting that it looks like an attempt to divide the players, at least it seems to indicate that the door of opportunity is still not closed. If there is room to make a deal, I would hate to see it come at the expense of Dave Succamore and Peter Schmitz. They have worked tirelessly for the players for too long for that to happen.

Keep checking InsideLacrosse.com. I have a feeling there will be more developments soon.

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