NFL labor deal shortened

ATLANTA - NFL owners had until November to opt out of the collective bargaining agreement, but in an authoritative statement yesterday, they said, "Why wait?"

In a 32-0 vote at the league's spring meeting, they voted to shorten the current CBA by two years, through the 2010 season.

"We have guaranteed three more years of NFL football," commissioner Roger Goodell said. "We're not in dire financial straits. What we're looking for is a fair deal for both sides - the players and management."

The league's salary cap - a key part of creating competitive balance - will remain in place for the 2008 and 2009 seasons. But if an extension is not reached by February of 2010, the 2010 season would be played without a salary cap, threatening the core of what has helped the league thrive.

So, in essence, the sides have two years to work out a new agreement.

The decision sparked some immediate back-and-forth between owners and players, setting the stage for what could be a multiyear labor battle.

"It's gotten a little out of whack," Patriots chairman and CEO Robert Kraft said at the conclusion of the meetings at the Ritz-Carlton. "Any long-term relationship always has to be recalibrated to get back in line."

NFL Players Association executive director Gene Upshaw indicated the decision was expected, as players have been preparing for it since last fall.

"This just starts the clock ticking," he said.

Owners laid out three important issues at the heart of their decision to shorten the CBA. The primary sticking point is that about 60 percent of their revenues are spent on player costs, and with tougher economic times, they say it's put a crunch on their profit margins. Owners said they paid about $4.5 billion this year in player costs. They feel the current CBA does not factor in the growing costs of stadium construction and improvements. The other hot-button issues are recouping bonuses paid to players who subsequently breach their contracts - such as former Falcons quarterback Michael Vick - and the system that allows some rookies to secure contracts that pay them more than top proven veterans.

Upshaw denied that players have not accounted for the growing costs of stadium construction and renovations, pointing out recent approval for renovations in Atlanta, Baltimore, and Carolina, and exceptions made for personal seat licenses. He added that players were against any changes that allowed teams to recoup money already earned by players, and that a change to the rookie pay scale is "something we're not willing to embrace or make it a part of the future."

Upshaw noted that if the league goes into the 2010 season without a salary cap, he would instruct players to never adopt it again.

"When you get to 2010, a lot of crazy things start happening," he said. "We like our chances in 2010."

Other changes, however, wouldn't be as beneficial to players. Under the current system, players reach unrestricted free agency - where most big-money contracts are signed - with four accrued seasons. Yet in an uncapped year, players would need six accrued seasons to be unrestricted free agents. Teams also would be able to use both the franchise and transition tags - instead of just one - to restrict players' ability to test free agency.

As owners departed the Ritz-Carlton in Buckhead yesterday afternoon, they were buoyed in their solidarity of a 32-0 vote to shorten the CBA. Kraft and Broncos owner Pat Bowlen felt the timing was right, instead of November, when it could have become a distraction during the season.

"Really, there was no reason not to do it now, because it isn't working for us," said Bowlen, one of the league's most influential owners and co-chairman of the Compensation Committee. "We might as well get that part out of it out of the way, so we can hopefully get into some serious negotiations with the NFLPA about it and get a deal."

Still, both sides indicated it's unlikely any agreement would be reached for some time.

"The point of no return will be the beginning of the league year in 2010; that will push us into an uncapped year," Upshaw said. "That's what we see as a realistic deadline.

"Obviously, we'll work hard to try to get something done, but all labor agreements go down to the 13th hour and then you ask for extensions."

Mike Reiss can be reached at mreiss@globe.com