NYT: N.F.L. Players Union Could Use the Help of Miller

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/22/sports/football/22rhoden.html?ref=football


Raul Demolina/Associated Press

Members of the striking Miami Dolphins in 1987.

By WILLIAM C. RHODEN
Published: November 21, 2008

During a dynamic run of 16 years, Marvin Miller built the Major League Baseball Players Association into one of the most powerful unions in America. Miller put caution, if not fear, in the hearts of owners, by convincing players that they were the game and that their power was in their unshakable unity.

As N.F.L. players prepare to elect a new executive director, I strongly suggest — actually, urge — the union’s executive committee members to arrange a fireside chat with Miller and his successor, Donald Fehr. It would be time well spent.

Sports leagues and their players associations are different by definition. The essential function of a union is not dictated by the shape of a ball but by the overriding mission of protecting its membership.

The National Football League is the most prosperous league in the United States. It earns the most money and has the largest television contract.

“Yet it has the lowest payroll per player, the shortest careers and the highest injury rate,” Miller said earlier this week in an interview at his Manhattan apartment. “These are not unrelated facts, because there has never been a successful strike.”

The N.F.L. monitors all aspects of player conduct, including the degrees of celebration after a touchdown. Penalties get handed down for too much of this or that. Still, could you imagine Major League Baseball trying to discipline Manny Ramírez because he stood at home plate watching a home run leave the park before trotting around the bases?

FULL story at link.