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How I got into sports law and the NFL Lockout

By Rick Karcher, Michael McCann, Geoffrey Rapp, Greg Skidmore, and Howard Wasserman

Jared Pendak of the Valley News (serving Hanover New Hampshire and surrounding community) interviews me about how I got into sports law and also about the NFL lockout. Here's an excerpt:

Valley News: Overall, how much leverage do you feel like the players have?

Michael McCann: I think they have a lot of leverage until they start missing game checks. When the fall comes, if they're not getting paid their normal salaries like they would during the season, it will be interesting to see how unified they are. Right now, they're unified in the offseason, but when the game checks are missed, the players will be relying on $60,000 lockout insurance from the Players Association. For us, that sounds good, but if you're making $1.9 million, which is the average salary in the NFL, I don?t know how that?s gong to play out. Will players have enough savings?

They've been encouraged to save, particularly during the last several years with the future of the CBA unclear, but I think a lot of players live lifestyles that are very expensive and don't lend themselves to going a long stretch of time without getting paid.

Owners generally have the leverage there, because they have more wealth, their pockets are deeper and they have other businesses that generate income for them. Some of the owners would suffer, yes, especially the ones who need to pay off debt for their stadiums, but the owners generally are more equipped to withstand a long period of no football than the players.

To read the rest, click here.

Full post as published by Sports Law Blog on March 22, 2011 (boomark / email).