{"id":402352,"date":"2011-04-27T15:55:27","date_gmt":"2011-04-27T15:55:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/04\/27\/players-ask-judge-not-to-restore-lockout-ap\/"},"modified":"2011-04-27T15:55:27","modified_gmt":"2011-04-27T15:55:27","slug":"players-ask-judge-not-to-restore-lockout-ap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/players-ask-judge-not-to-restore-lockout-ap\/","title":{"rendered":"Players ask judge not to restore lockout (AP)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

MINNEAPOLIS (AP)\u2014NFL players urged a federal judge Wednesday to deny the league\u2019s request to essentially restore the lockout, saying their careers were at stake. Commissioner Roger Goodell, meanwhile, said owners were preparing for every contingency.<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson is weighing a request from the owners for a stay, which means the injunction she issued to stop the lockout would be frozen during the appeals process.<\/p>\n

The waiting game was on.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell leaves the federal courthouse in Minneapolis last week.
(AP)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cYou have to react to the judgment and make sure it\u2019s done in an orderly process,\u201d Goodell said Wednesday during a predraft event in New York.<\/p>\n

The players dismissed the NFL\u2019s argument that it risks either violating antitrust laws by coming up with new league rules without a collective bargaining system in place or harming the league\u2019s competitive balance by a potential free agency free-for-all.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the NFL defendants are faced with a dilemma, they put themselves in that position by repeatedly imposing rules and restrictions that violate the antitrust laws,\u201d the attorneys wrote. \u201cAny alleged predicament is of their own making.\u201d<\/p>\n

The solution, the players argued, is to simply implement a system that does not violate antitrust laws.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no reason why the NFL defendants cannot devise a lawful player system, and their complaints about potential antitrust scrutiny are not well-founded where such scrutiny is a reality of doing business,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n

If Nelson grants the league\u2019s request, players want the NFL to post a $1 billion bond, roughly 25 percent of player compensation last year.<\/p>\n

There was no immediate response from the NFL or its attorneys, but the league has said it needs the stay to make sure any rules it puts in place are fair, clear\u2014and legal.<\/p>\n

If Nelson denies the league\u2019s expedited motion for a stay, the owners will ask the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis for the same thing. They\u2019re also asking the appeals court, viewed as a more friendly venue to the league than the federal courts in Minnesota, to overturn Nelson\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

The NFL draft starts Thursday night, but it will be far from normal. The lockout has prevented teams from adding free agents and adjusting their rosters, so their strategy this year is more complicated, not knowing exactly when they\u2019ll have a chance to sign or trade for veterans to stock various positions.<\/p>\n

The players argued that the nonexistence of free agency this offseason has hurt them greatly.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlayers should be marketing their services to find the right team in which they have the best chance to make a roster, be a starter or otherwise advance their careers,\u201d attorneys for the players wrote. \u201cThis process requires an extended period of time to play out in a fair manner for all players, and any elimination or compression of this free agency period will lead to a set of scrambled outcomes and harms to different players that cannot be undone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Repeatedly in Wednesday\u2019s filing, the players took an argument the league has made and turned it into their own.<\/p>\n

They referred to Goodell\u2019s expression of concern that the longer the uncertainty around the 2011 season continues, the worse it is for everyone involved. The players said teams won\u2019t be harmed if the judge denies the motion for a stay, meaning the NFL would be back in business.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the only way to preserve the 2011 season announced by the NFL, given the need to sign free agents, to complete the NFL draft and sign drafted players, to plan and to hold training camp, and to plan for the season itself,\u201d the players wrote. \u201cDenying a stay will enable the NFL defendants to go back to operating their multibillion-dollar business and making enormous amounts of money, as they did previously.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NFL has said it expects a hearing from the 8th Circuit by early June, though the players said the length and outcome of the appeal is unknown and every day \u201cplayers will continue to suffer significant harm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some players tried to go back to work Tuesday, but most who did were told they couldn\u2019t work out at team facilities once they entered the building in one of the oddest days in league history.<\/p>\n

Most left in a matter of minutes with more questions than answers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt drives me insane, that\u2019s what it does,\u201d said Chicago rookie J\u2019Marcus Webb<\/a>(notes)<\/a>,<\/span> who was told he and a handful of other Bears couldn\u2019t use the team\u2019s weight room. \u201cI\u2019m trying to eat healthy and work out, do my job and right now I\u2019m just stuck at home working out and watching cartoons all day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s up with that? Let me get back to what I do best.\u201d<\/p>\n

That could take a while. The 2011 season, and the business between 32 teams and their thousands of anxious players, are in a holding pattern. The NFL said Tuesday that it needed \u201ca few days to sort this out\u201d and provide some rules for everyone to follow.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in the process of determining throughout the league as to just how we\u2019ll proceed and when we\u2019ll open the new year across the league, the new football year,\u201d Dallas Cowboys<\/a> owner Jerry Jones said. \u201cWe have not done that.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a question-and-answer memo distributed by the NFL Players Association and obtained by The Associated Press, free agents were told they can contact teams and shop their services, putting pressure on the NFL to set up a free-agency system that complies with antitrust laws.<\/p>\n

The document also told players that teams are responsible for care of any football-related injury, meaning it\u2019s \u201csafer for players to work out on club property.\u201d<\/p>\n

NFL lead negotiator Jeff Pash said it was too soon to tell exactly when free agency would begin and which players would be eligible. He expressed optimism and confidence about the league\u2019s case\u2014and the appellate court.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn these issues in particular, the history of appeals court rulings has been quite different from how trial courts have looked at this,\u201d Pash said. \u201cWe feel we have very credible legal arguments to assert, and we\u2019ll know in a short period of time whether we\u2019re right or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

AP Football Writer Barry Wilner, AP Sports Writers Jimmy Golen, Jaime Aron and AP freelance writer Gene Chamberlain contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Read More:
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