Agents Prepare for Opening of Market

INDIANAPOLIS, Feb. 24 -- NFL Players Association Executive Director Gene Upshaw told a group of approximately 500 agents Friday that he expects the league's free agent market to open as scheduled next week without an extension of the sport's labor agreement.

Upshaw left town after bargaining sessions earlier in the week with representatives of team owners failed to produce progress toward a labor deal. Upshaw had set Friday as his deadline for agreeing with the owners to an extension of the collective bargaining agreement to keep the league's salary cap system in place beyond next season. He indicated some flexibility in his two addresses to agents this week. He said that he'd leave open the possibility of a last-minute settlement with the owners as late as next Thursday, the day before the free agent market opens.

But Upshaw said during Friday's address to the agents that the players and owners are "just not there yet," leaving no one on the players' side of the dispute optimistic that a labor accord is imminent.

"I don't think there will be a new collective bargaining agreement by the start of the league year," said Leigh Steinberg, a prominent agent.

Executives from several teams said they believe there's a possibility that the opening of free agency will be postponed from next Friday until April 1 to give the owners and players time to complete a labor deal. "I think both sides have way too much to lose" if they don't agree to an extension of the labor contract, said Tennessee Titans Coach Jeff Fisher.

But Upshaw said repeatedly during the week that he sees no need to delay the opening of the free agent market because he's been given no reason to believe a postponement would produce progress in the labor negotiations. He told the agents Friday to get ready to begin signing players to contracts next week while keeping in mind that it would benefit their clients to be free agents in 2007, when there would be no salary cap to impede teams' spending.

"If we go into an uncapped year, that would be the Wild, Wild West," Steinberg said. "That would be the Oklahoma land rush. That would be an opportunity for a few clubs to greatly enhance their rosters. . . . It complicates the thought process in terms of long-term contracts [for players this offseason]. In the absence of a large guarantee or signing bonus, one would certainly be cautious about doing a long-term deal."

With many teams facing salary cap squeezes if there's no new labor deal, agents said they planned to move quickly to get players signed once the market opens before teams run out of money and cap space.

"I think the market for free agent players is significantly reduced by the amount of dollars that are available out there," agent Alan Herman said. "You have so many teams over the cap that you'll have to seize the opportunity and act quickly if you're representing a valuable player. We're going to find out on March 2 or March 3 if there's any movement [in the labor talks], or if these sides will remain as diametrically opposed as they are right now. If there's no movement, you'll have to get your top-end players signed. The players who are going to be hurt the most are the guys in the middle. Those guys are going to be left with nothing."

Said another veteran agent, Neil Schwartz: "The market will determine things on a case-by-case basis. Great players are still going to be compensated. Teams want great players. We might have to be more creative, but that's my job."

Several agents said they believe the union could complete a labor agreement with the owners if the owners could resolve their internal debate about increased revenue-sharing among the teams.

"We have this civil war right now that exists among the owners," Herman said.

Said Steinberg: "Until the teams solve these problems, I don't think they're in a position to conclude a collective bargaining agreement with the players. . . . The fact we have labor peace creates certainty in the fans' minds that games will be played and has . . . ushered in an era of unprecedented prosperity. If you pull the genie out of the bottle, I don't know that it ever goes back. If we go to an uncapped year, I don't know that we ever get back to it and we may go another 10 years without a collective bargaining agreement."