2011 NFL Lockout Negotiation

Introduction

            The 2011 NFL lockout was one of the major challenges for the NFL players, the NFL owners, and naturally NFL fans, although the latter were not involved financially in the lockout and negotiation process in contrast to the NFL players and the NFL owners, who actually had a lot at stake. In fact, the 2011 lockout emerged because of the failure of the NFL players and the NFL owners to come to terms on the collective bargaining agreement. The NFL players wanted better conditions for them, especially in regard to their safety and health, while the NFL owners were apparently unwilling to share their profits with the NFL players. Instead, they were rather interested in the maximization of their profits than negotiations of better employment conditions for the NFL players. In such a situation, the NFL players’ response was expected, but their lawsuits just accelerated the NFL owners’ decision to launch the lockout, which actually put the end to the collective bargaining agreement negotiations for three long months. Nevertheless, the negotiations were eventually restarted and the parties have managed to come to agreement, although each party had to give in a part of its interests, but the hard negotiation process could be more efficient, if the parties were ready for negotiations and conducted them wisely.

The chief negotiators

            On the one hand, there was DeMaurice Smith, who has become the executive director of the NFLPA. In fact, he represented the NFL players in the course of the 2011 lockout negotiations and was the chief negotiator from their part. At this point, it is worth mentioning the fact that he took his position just a year before the lockout. Therefore, he probably did not have the extensive experience in the field of the NFL employment relations. In this regard, the professional background of Smith is not the only factor that determined his position in the course of the lockout and negotiations. In fact, the understanding of the players and owners relations, the history of the NFL, and implications of possible changes in the collective bargaining agreement as well as many other factors had to be taken into consideration, while Smith probably did not have substantial experience in those fields.

            On the other hand, there was commissioner Roger Goodell and the owner selected to be a part of the negotiating team. In fact, Goodell was more experienced in the NFL and he was backed up by other NFL owners. In this regard, he had certain advantage over Smith, but his advantage has probably played a trick on him. To put it more precisely, Goodell probably believed that he was more experienced in the NFL affairs and, therefore, he could negotiate better conditions for the NFL owners than Smith could for the NFL players. Goodell could believe that his experienced could have helped him to defeat Smith.

The main issues/barriers

            The NFL decertified players, while players filed anti-trust lawsuits in response that eventually made any negotiations impossible and resulted in the lockout. However, the players were rather driven to this decision by the NFL owners because the latter did not accept requirements of the NFL players concerning improvements of their conditions of work. As the NFL owners were not ready to negotiate and accept the key requirements of the NFL players, the latter filed lawsuits against the NFL owners.

            The lack of trustworthiness of the NFL owners was one of the main issues because the players just did not trust them. Hence, the NFL owners had to rebuild the trust to continue negotiations right till the end. In this regard, the time they spent without negotiations probably contributed to the rebuilding of the trust of the NFL players. However, in its essence, it was rather a waste of time than the preparation of the NFL owners for the negotiations. In fact, Goodell could just make the first step and offer the players some employment benefits, which would attract the players and engage them into the negotiation process. Instead, Goodell rather stood on the superior ground and probably believed that he could defeat his opponent, Smith.

            As the case went to the court, the parties have failed to restart negotiations for three months, although, if they have managed to restart the negotiations sooner, they could have resolved the issue faster. Hence, the parties were probably too stubborn and closed to negotiations, which were virtually the most efficient way to resolve the dispute between the NFL owners and the NFL players. The final collective bargaining was a compromise that basically met interests of both the NFL players and owners, although each party had to give in some of their demands to come to the final agreement.

Stakes in negotiations and their impact on the balance of power

            The NFL owners attempted to retain their power. They were willing to maintain the status quo in the new collective bargaining agreement. In fact, their collective bargaining agreement were quite tough because the agreement was signed in 2008, when the economic recession urged the parties to tougher conditions compared to the 1993 agreement to minimize the negative impact of the economic recession on the NFL. However, as the crisis has passed, the NFL players naturally wanted to regain better employment conditions. In contrast, the NFL players attempted to gain more benefits and enhance their role in the decision making process in the NFL. The NFL players wanted to improve conditions of their work under the new collective bargaining agreement. To put it more precisely, they were looking for the salary cap, their safety and health benefits, revenue sharing and television contracts, transparency of financial information, season length and other issues. In its essence, financial issues comprised the core of the dispute between the NFL players and owners since the players wanted to gain more and obtain more employment benefits, while the owners attempted to maximize their profits and avoid increasing costs being spent on the players.

The possible strategy and tactics to be used in the negotiation

            The possible strategy for the negotiation could involve the maintenance of the ongoing communication between the key stakeholders. In fact, the ideal situation should involve the negotiation that would include representatives of the NFL owners, the NFL players and the third party. In this regard, the involvement of the public, like representatives of fans and broadcasters could be beneficial for the negotiation process. For example, broadcasters can take part in the negotiation process to share benefits from broadcasting between the NFL owners and players. The involvement of fans could increase the public pressure on the NFL owners to accelerate the negotiation process.

            The parties involved in the negotiation process should choose the effective tactics. In this regard, the refusal from the negotiation process was not the best tactics used. In this regard, the NFL players could set out their conditions of the collective bargaining agreement and determine the key points, which they would not give in at any condition. They could also introduce some requirements, which they would abandon to show the NFL owners their readiness to give in and negotiate a plausible agreement.

            In case of the NFL owners, they should stick to their points, but they should also offer the NFL players more employment benefits, which can help them to persuade them that they are ready for negotiations and that they are concerned with the players’ interests and needs.

The media impact on the negotiation

            The mass media have a considerable impact on the negotiation process in case of 2011 NFL lockout because the NFL season attracts millions of viewers and the mass media cannot ignore problems within the NFL. In such a situation, the way the mass media highlight such issues as the NFL lockout determines to a significant extent the perception of those issues by the public. In other words, the mass media influence the public opinion in regard to the issues concerning the NFL. In this regard, the lockout and negotiation were also highlighted by the mass media and the coverage of the negotiation by the mass media has influenced the public opinion consistently.

            In this regard, the position of broadcasters was particularly important because viewers rely heavily on broadcasting NFL matches. The halt of the season for several months have raised the public opinion and triggered the negative publicity of the NFL. In fact, the public could take sides depending on the coverage of the conflict and negotiation process by the media but the overall impact of the media rather contributed to the enhancement of the position of the players rather than the owners. However, the longer the lockout lasted the more concerned the public became. NFL fans were ready to accept virtually any decision or solution to the conflict, if this solution opened the new NFL season.

            At the same time, it is also necessary to take into consideration the impact of social media, which have become the new power in the media industry, which neither the NFL owners nor NFL players could ignore. Social networks became not only tools for the communication between fans or the ground for self-expression, but they also became tools which could be and actually were used by the parties involved in the conflict. In fact, both the players and owners could use social media to clarify their position and uncover details of the negotiation and problems that have actually caused the lockout. In such a way, the party that used social media more effectively could gain a stronger hold in the negotiation process. In fact, the full potential of social media has remained unrealized to the full extent during the 2011 lockout and negotiation process.

Conclusion

            Thus, the 2011 lockout negotiations were hard but the NFL players and the NFL owners could come to the agreement faster, if they have managed to conduct their negotiations more effectively.  In this regard, the involvement of the third party in the negotiation process could have helped to accelerate the negotiations and make both parties to come to agreement. However, the NFL players and the NFL owners have lost three months by simply refusing from any sort of negotiations and relying on the court’s ruling too much. In fact, the negotiation process was apparently more efficient than the trial, which was unlikely to resolve the problem at all, but just delayed negotiations. Even though the court’s ruling would give some advantages to either party, they could still negotiate plausible conditions even before they went to the court. In fact, they should stick to their negotiation strategy and tactic and offer each other plausible conditions setting their requirements above their actual expectations to let the opposing party have some wins in the negotiation process. At the same time, they should determine clearly the points, which they would not give in on any conditions. In such a way, the NFL players and the NFL owners could negotiate more effectively.

Works Cited:

Eggen, D. NFL Labor Dispute Heads to a New Gridiron: Halls of Congress, Washington Post, 2011. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/15/AR2011011502945.html

Rishe, P. Who Won the 2011 Lockout? Forbes, 2011. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/sportsmoney/2011/07/21/who-won-the-2011-nfl-lockout/

Spencer, S.T. NFL Lockout Ends: Why negotiations between players and owners took so long. Bleacher Report, 2011.Retrieved from http://bleacherreport.com/articles/779650-nfl-lockout-ends-why-negotiations-between-players-and-owners-took-so-long

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
Available at:

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]
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