It’s not surprising that the union hasn’t leaped at the owners’ small gesture of financial openness:
N.F.L. players union officials on Tuesday rejected an offer from the owners to turn over audited profitability data from all 32 teams for the past several years. The offer, made Monday night, was the first time the owners indicated a willingness to share financial information with the players beyond what is required by the collective bargaining agreement.
Union leaders told the owners’ negotiating committee that they wanted each club’s audited full financial statements, according to two people who were briefed on the talks.
The standoff could significantly hamper negotiations because union officials have indicated they will not make any more financial concessions without receiving fully audited financial statements, data it has been seeking for nearly two years.
One person involved in the negotiations called full financial disclosure a potential “silver bullet” in the negotiations.
Negotiations on football matters like the drug-testing policy and off-season camps had taken place Tuesday morning, but the split of the $9 billion in annual revenue the N.F.L. takes in remains the biggest stumbling block toward reaching a new collective bargaining agreement before the Friday night deadline.
The financial situation may indeed be as dire as the owners are claiming, but it’s hard to believe them when they won’t actually show the full financial picture to prove it. The continuing refusal to open the books has a strong appearance of deception.
