SPORTS UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, January 11, 1995
5B
Baseball may lose antitrust exemption
Unhappy players could challenge the salary cap
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Even if Congress takes away baseball's antitrust exemption, it's unclear what the effect would be on the strike.
"It has no practical effect on the labor negotiations," acting commissioner Bud Selig said last week. "It doesn't create any long-term solutions."
The Sherman Antitrust Act prohibits "every contract, combination or conspiracy in restraint of trade."
Without the exemption, the players could challenge the salary cap as an unlawful restraint of trade.
"The principle problem with the immunity they have now is it gives them an incentive not to bargain with the union," said Eugene Orza, the No. 2 official of the players' association. "They get, at least they believe they are given the right, to do what no other industry in North America could do. In football they didn't implement a salary cap. Hockey didn't do so. The reason is that in football and hockey they know it's
As the strike approached its 150th day Sunday, owners claimed removing the exemption wouldn't solve the sport's eighth work stoppage since 1972.
illegal."
However, the union would gain leverage. Owners would face the possibility of having to defend a salary cap against the antitrust laws and probably would lose.
Owners point to the NFL Players Association's difficulty with its antitrust suit, which was filed after its failed four-week strike in 1987. Courts forced the football union to give up its power to negotiate collective bargaining agreements and collect dues. But players eventually won in court and the final settlement, which didn't occur until 1993, gave the players greater rights than the Plan B free agency owners had implemented.
"Football didn't try to implement a salary cap," Orza said. "Hockey is willing to threaten the most significant season in its history in a bargaining dispute.
"Why is hockey not trying to implement a salary cap? Because owners know they're not allowed to."
Owners will be on Capitol Hill this week lobbying to save the exemption.
Intervention needed baseball players say
The Associated Press
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — What's it going to take for baseball's owners and players to reach a settlement?
Bret Saberhagen of the New York Mets isn't sure, but he knows one thing: "I'd like to see baseball played as much as anyone but we won't be playing on time (in 1995), that's for sure."
Saberhagen was one of several major leaguers in Palm Springs on Sunday for a charity softball game. A group of American League players beat the National League 14-0.
Bret Boone of the Cincinnati Reds said he is ready to embrace any kind of intervention in the strike.
"Everything's welcome," Boone said. "There's been a lot of talk about having this settled in court. I can live with that."
The game and other activities raised $50,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation.
NFL coaches.juggle job changes with playoffs
Bv Barrv Wliner
The Associated Press
The NFL coaching carousel is in full spin.
Pete Carroll is out in New York, with Rich Kotite heading up the New Jersey Turnpike to take his place with the Jets.
Dick Vernail appears set to replace Kotie in Philadelphia. Jeff Fisher looks safe in Houston, despite going 1-5 after taking over for Jack Pardee.
Wayne Fontes is staying in Detroit, smiling broadly with a two-year contract extension. Barry Switzer had his agreement with Cowbucks owner Jerry Jones rolled over, meaning he still has a five-year deal.
And Dennis Erickson is on top of the wish list in Seattle and Denver.
With the playoffs in full swing on the weekends, NFL teams are keeping the midweek period busy with all kinds of coaching moves. On Thursday, the Jets changed coaches for the second straight year, firing Carroll and hiring Kotite, who once was an assistant for them and was fired by the Eagles last month.
weekend.
Carroll, who was 6-10 in his only season as coach, was unable to get the Jets back on track after they blew a 24-16 lead over Miami in the fourth quarter of a battle for first place in the FAC East on Thanksgiving
Jets owner Leon Hess, who rarely makes such decisions, pursued Kotte without consulting general manager Dick Steinberg.
Short of going to the Super Bowl, Kotie really never had a chance in Philadelphia once Jeff Lurie bought the Eagles. Lurie wanted to hire his own staff, and when the Eagles lost seven straight games and fell out of the playoffs, Kotie was history.
Now he is the future with the Jets.
After a dozen years in the broadcast booth, Vermell's coaching spirit apparently has been rekindled. He's expected to return to the Eagles in the next few days.
That's what Vermell's coaching friends expect, especially since Lurie offered him more than $2 million a year for five years to be coach-general manager.
Fisher lost his first five games in Houston, then beat the Jets to conclude the season. Bud Adams rehired Fisher on Thursday.
Fontes led the Lions to consecutive winning seasons for the first time in 20 years. They've won the NFC Central twice in his six full years in charge, made the playoffs as a wild card this year, and have done well late in the season, when playoff berths are on the line.
Sports facts
NHL owners reject contract
Knight-Ridder Tribune
Free agency is main problem
The Associated Press
One owner, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said commissioner Gary Bettman was getting input from each owner as well as union head Bob Goodenow before submitting a revised proposal back to the Board of Governors at 6 p.m. EST.
NEW YORK—NEIL owners yesterday voted down the latest contract proposal in a rancorous conference call and said they would submit a revised "final" contract offer in an effort to save the season.
If the owners, who rejected the contract by a 14-12 vote, decide to accept the new plan, it would be submitted to Goodenow and the players.
One general manager told employees that either way, the 102-day lockout would end last night. The NHL could become the first major professional sport to end an entire season to a labor dispuite.
Hope grew as management's noon deadline was allowed to pass and owners discussed the latest proposal among themselves, but some owners were disappointed with the contract Bettman brought them. Free agency was an especially contentious subject, according to several sources.
"There's a lot of issues that have developed into a very substantial controversy among the clubs of the league," Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Cliff Fletcher said. "There's going to have to be a resolution of those before we can go forward."
Voices were raised and tempers flared during the 21/2-hour conference call, one owner said, adding that Betttm was often put in the
position of defending his actions.
Employees from teams around the league noted that several owners seemed intense, agitated or upright during the call.
"It was a very passionate conference call," Boston Bruins assistant general manager Mike O'Connell said. "Strong feelings were expressed on both sides."
Goodenow was conducting a conference call with player representatives within a few minutes after the owners' reelection.
Most of the issues — including salary arbitration, rookie salary cap and right to reopen the contract — apparently were resolved during the more than 20 hours of talks. Free agency was the main trouble spot.
A player representative, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the proposed agreement included a draft age of 19, a sliding free-agency scale from 32 to 30 years of age and a one-time $300,000 lump sum of retroactive pay to each team.
Edmonton Oilers owner Peter Pocklington said before the conference call there could be problems with unrestricted free agency dropping to 30.
The agreement also was believed to include a reopener clause that would allow the league to renegotiate with the union before the 30-year-old plateau is reached. Owners had proposed that players become unrestricted free agents at age 32; the union wanted it to be 30.
Negotiations hit a snag yesterday when Bettman pulled back some earlier concessions in an attempt to get the players to budge on the age requirement.
Bettman and the owners have said that the season must start by Monday if each team is to play 50 games followed by four full playoff rounds. Goodenow went into negotiations saying he felt that date was firm.
The subject is Savings
Buy Used Books & Save 25%
University Book Shop
*When Compared to the same book NEW!
- Avoid REALLY LONG LINES
- Enjoy FREE Parking
- Stock Up On School & Art Supplies
VISA
AMERICAN EXPRESS
MafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafiMafi
DISCOVER
1116 W.23RD 749-5206
Get Your Books From The #1 Supplier of USED BOOKS!
- Caps
- Shorts
- T-Shirts
- Sweatshirts
Complete Line of Gift Merchandise & Collegiate Apparel for KU Fans