The Freedom Strike

It was 94DEG at Northwestern's Dyche Stadium in Evanston, Ill., and Minnesota Viking Defensive Tackle Alan Page was working up a heavy sweat. Page, however, was not practicing his pass rush. Dressed in a T shut stamped with the message NO FREEDOM, NO FOOTBALL, he was marching in a picket line. With ten other National Football League veterans Page had exchanged shoulder pads for placards in a successful effort to persuade the College All-Stars not to prepare for their scheduled game with the Super Bowl champion Miami Dolphins later this month.

Page's picket line was only one of a dozen that cropped up at training camps across the nation last week as the N.F.L. Players Association--backed by most of the league's veterans--put pressure on owners to meet contract demands. At a minimum, the dispute threatens to delay the start of the exhibition season. At a maximum, the confrontation could wipe out an entire season and change the basic structure of the league.

At the center of the dispute are 13 "freedom" demands that--if adopted --would radically alter the system of team ownership of players by abolishing the option clause, the "Rozelle rule" and other procedures that have severely limited a player's opportunity to move from team to team. The option clause requires a veteran to play out his contract, then put in another year at 90% of his previous season's salary before he can join a new team. According to the Rozelle rule, named after N.F.L. Commissioner Alvin ("Pete") Rozelle, a team that loses a player must be compensated with someone of comparable worth. If the two teams cannot agree on a deal, Rozelle plucks someone out for compensation or awards a draft choice. The players say he often makes a team give up more than it has acquired simply to discourage player-initiated moves.

Potential Chaos. If the players win, pro football would become an open market with supply and demand as the only restriction on a player's movements. "Why shouldn't we be like the guy at the Ford plant who wants to go work at General Motors?" asks Page. "They do it every day and the System hasn't collapsed."

The N.F.L. owners, of course, fail to see the analogy. Instead, they envision chaos in an open market. "If we do what the players want," says Pittsburgh Steeler Owner Dan Rooney, "500 to 800 guys would change teams every year. What happens to fan loyalty?" Others worry about competitive balance. "The rich teams would dominate," says Washington Redskins President Edward Bennett Williams. "You can't run a competitive league that way."

The players and owners are at odds on other issues as well. The players want veto power over trades (in major league baseball, ten-year veterans who have played for their team for five consecutive years can reject trades), higher minimum salaries and an end to curfews and fines. At week's end the strike seemed far from settlement. A similar strike over the pension fund four years ago collapsed when the then champion Kansas City Chiefs decided to play in the All-Star game. This year most of the Dolphins decided to boycott. When the All-Stars refused to play without a settlement, the game was canceled. The other picket lines thrown up last week were honored by most veterans, but not rookies and free agents.

If bargaining eventually works, a new contract is likely to feature relaxation of curfews and fines, a higher base pay and partial player veto over trades. Modifications, if any, in the option clause and the Rozelle rule would undoubtedly be very gradually introduced.

If there is no settlement, the first casualty will be the exhibition season. The owners' threat to play preseason games with rookies and free agents can hardly delight fans who pay as much as $15 a ticket to see the Redskins stop O.J. Simpson. Moreover, other unions might well agree to honor the Players Association picket line, leaving the owners to collect tickets and sell beer. Even that would be better than the worst prospect --no season at all. "The owners can't afford that," says Page frankly, "and neither can we." If so, someone better start calling compromise signals soon.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.