Collapse of NFL talks frustrate Vikings' player rep

As a Vikings assistant player representative, Ben Leber participated in a four-hour negotiating session between the union and owners last week in Washington, D.C..

Leber said he felt optimistic at the beginning of this week that the sides could reach labor peace by agreeing to a new collective bargaining agreement. But his hope faded the past few days and was replaced by disappointment and frustration Friday afternoon when the NFL players union decertified and filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NFL in Minneapolis. Leber is a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

Leber spent the day following negotiations on TV and the Internet. He took part in an afternoon conference call with union leadership before the decertification.

"I'm really disappointed," Leber said. "I was really optimistic at the beginning of the week when we agreed to this one-week extension. I really felt like they were making some headway, and I was like, 'OK, this is a good sign' and [felt] that both sides are trying to get something done, that [NFL officials] are going to actually start playing ball and we can get something hammered out in seven days.

"As the days came closer to the deadline, it appeared more and more like they still weren't playing ball and still weren't even close to talking about some of the core economics of the dispute and it ended up with us, as a union, having to protect ourselves."

The union argued for financial transparency throughout negotiations. The players wanted owners to turn over more financial data as the sides debated how to divide $9 billion in annual revenues.

"It's a huge deal," Leber said. "You look at any sort of dispute, whether it be the NFL vs. the players or any sort of major industry, if someone says, 'Listen, I want X amount of dollars back from you.' I don't know any situation where the other person doesn't ask, 'Why?' That's all we've asked, is why. And they say, 'Well, just trust us. It's for the [good] of the game. It's to further the game and grow the game and grow this pie that everybody keeps talking about. ... You can't go very far in negotiations when one side doesn't even answer the simple question why."

Leber agreed that the labor battle becomes even more complicated and difficult to grasp now that it is in the court system.

"I think if players and the public were in the gray area as far as what was even being disputed these last two years, I think everybody is really going to be confused as to what's going to go on from here," he said. "I think legally you can probably break it down and say, 'OK, well here are a few avenues that can take place.' But now everybody has to wait for the other person to volley back. Now it just goes back and forth."

Leber's disappointment was obvious in his voice as he described Friday as a "bad day for everyone."

"Nobody ever thought that we would take this game that has been growing every year and the popularity has grown, even so much to where Commissioner [Roger] Goodell is talking about expanding outside the United States," he said. "To take this huge enterprise and shut it down, it just doesn't make any sense."