There is no more overtime in labor negotiations between the NFL and NFL Players Association.
Talks for a new collective bargaining agreement fell apart Friday, as the players' union moved to decertify. This will undoubtedly lead to the league's first work stoppage in 24 years.
NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith delivered a passionate explanation for the players’ position to break off talks and decertify, saying the lack of trust was too much to overcome following two years of negotiation.
“So while the players were moving forward, thinking that this was about fairness and honesty and transparency, the National Football League was meeting in secret to talk about collusion, secrecy, leverage and breaking our union,” Smith said of the players’ intentions following the owners’ decision to opt out of the current CBA.
Packers president Mark Murphy told FOXSports.com exclusively: "I'm disappointed. It's a shame. I still think the best way to get a deal is at the bargaining table. They walked away. It's disappointing because in a lot of ways it takes us back to the '80s (labor discord)."
Smith said at about 4:45 p.m. ET that mediated negotiations could continue if the league would produce 10 years of audited financial information by 5 p.m. That offer was summarily rejected by the NFL.
Asked if the NFL seriously considered Smith's proposal, Murphy said, "No. We've given them financial disclosure."
In a statement, the NFLPA said it would "move forward as a professional trade association with the mission of supporting the interests and rights of current and former professional football players."
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones remained optimistic about the season starting in September.
"I think the answer is we'll get it done," he said. "And getting it done means we won't miss any football. Certainly that's our goal. ... Their route of litigation will ultimately result in negotiating (with the NFL again) in our view."
The news came Friday afternoon following a contentious Thursday of verbal salvos between both sides during heated negotiations. Nine NFL owners on the league's executive committee as well as a slew of NFLPA executives and player representatives were among those who attended Friday's session at Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service headquarters in Washington.
Several legal proceedings are now set to follow, which could continue the impasse into the regular season.
"As you know, the union walked away from the mediation process today to decertify. We do believe that mediation is the fairest and fastest way to reach an agreement to reach that works for the players and the clubs," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said. "And we believe that ultimately this is going to be negotiated at the negotiating table. They have chosen to pursue another strategy and that’s their choice. But we will be prepared to negotiate an agreement to get something done that is fair to the players and fair to the clubs.”
Federal mediator George Cohen said both sides could not agree on "core issues" after 17 days of mediation.
"The union left a very good deal on the table," the NFL said. "It included an offer to narrow the player compensation gap that existed in the negotiations by splitting the difference; guarantee reallocation of savings from first-round rookies to veterans and retirees without negatively affecting compensation for rounds 2-7; ensure no compensation reduction for veterans; implement new year-round health and safety rules; retain the current 16-4 season format for at least two years with any subsequent changes subject to the approval of the league and union; and establish a new legacy fund for retired players ($82 million contributed by the owners over the next two years)."
Jones said: "We've certainly were candidly taken aback when our proposal was not met with a level of acceptance that we thought it would be. We really tried."
The players will now allow the CBA to expire at 11:59 p.m. ET. The maneuver will prevent the NFL from instituting a lockout and allow individual players to sue the league for antitrust violations under the auspices of David Doty, a U.S. district court judge with a lengthy history of favorable NFLPA rulings.
Multiple media reports claim that three star quarterbacks — Drew Brees, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning — would be among those players who would participate in such a filing.
The NFL already has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board arguing that decertification would be a sham. The NFLPA decertified in the late 1980s so players could sue the NFL, an effective legal maneuver that led to a CBA agreement in 1993. The NFLPA later reformed.
The NFLPA’s website, NFLPlayers.com, was seemingly shut down. It has an displays an error message and delivers a message of: “Please be patient as we work on resolving this. We are sorry for the inconvenience.”
The biggest issues that derailed negotiations were revenue sharing and the increased "expense credit" that the league is asking from the NFLPA to help cover escalating costs and stadium funding. The impasse resulted in federal mediator George Cohen asking both sides for two extensions last week that extended the CBA expiration deadline by seven days.
The NFL already receives $1 billion a year in expense credit before the remainder of the revenue is split between the league and its players union. The NFL generated $9.3 billion in 2010 revenue.
The league initially asked for another $1 billion in early CBA talks but was believed to have come down greatly from that request. Smith said Wednesday that the asking price stood at $800 million, although NFL counsel and lead negotiator Jeff Pash disputed that claim on Thursday.
Smith had publicly balked at agreeing to any CBA deal until NFL owners "open their books" and provide more financial information about the league's 32 franchises. The NFL, which consists entirely of privately owned teams except for the Green Bay Packers, resisted doing so and claims the NFLPA already has sufficient data to consummate a CBA.
Brees, who was part of the NFLPA's negotiating contingent, expressed his frustration with NFL owners Friday morning on Twitter.
"They refuse to give that information to us," Brees wrote. "They think we should just trust them. Would you?"
The contentious stance also stems from Doty's recent court ruling that NFL owners conspired to create a $4 billion lockout "war chest" based upon payments from its television partners. The NFLPA had claimed that such an action violated the current CBA that calls for the NFL to maximize profits that will be split between the two parties.
Despite the apparent differences between the two sides and the collapse of negotiations, Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson said, "It makes it more complicated, but we shouldn't be discouraged. In due course, we'll have an agreement. I guess it's just a bump in the road."
Other major CBA issues that ultimately must be resolved include the NFL's request for an 18-game regular season — a change that Smith has publicly opposed — and rookie wage scale.
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