Upshaw Says He's Staying Put Through Negotiations

Gene Upshaw said today that he intends to keep his job as executive director of the NFL Players Association through the upcoming set of labor negotiations with the sport's franchise owners, but he already has informed the players that they should be prepared to choose his successor after that.

Upshaw said that when Baltimore Ravens kicker Matt Stover outlined his proposed process for overthrowing Upshaw and hiring a new union executive director by next spring, Stover used the same steps that Upshaw had recommended to the players for finding his eventual successor.

Those steps were outlined by Upshaw for the players' executive committee during the union's annual meetings last month in Hawaii, and then again for the players who serve as their teams' union representatives during a conference call last week, Upshaw said. Stover participated in that conference call, and days later sent an e-mail to members of the executive committee and player representatives saying that Upshaw should be replaced by next March.

"I was the one who put together the conference call," Upshaw said in a telephone interview today. "It was me telling those guys I was not going anywhere until this [labor negotiation] is done. I told the committee in Hawaii what the process should be. That's my process. I said on the conference call, 'I want to repeat to everyone what I told the executive committee in Hawaii about what the process should be when the time comes.' "

Upshaw said he will not resign and Stover's plan to oust him will not succeed.

"I'm not going anywhere until this [labor] deal is done," Upshaw said.

Upshaw, who has been the union's executive director since June 1983, turns 63 in August. His contract runs through 2010, when he would be 65.

He spoke in the past about considering retirement after the last labor deal between the union and owners was completed in March 2006. Former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue announced his retirement soon after that agreement was completed and was succeeded in September 2006 by Roger Goodell. Upshaw didn't retire then, but he said today he has told the players to be ready to hire his successor after this set of labor negotiations.

He also has instructed the players, beginning at last month's meeting in Hawaii, how they should go about it, he said.

"I said it should be an open and transparent process," Upshaw said. "I said the president and four members of the executive committee should interview eight to nine candidates and then cut it down to three, and then present that to the full committee to hire one candidate. Everything that's in there [Stover's plan] is my process. I told them that at the meeting in March. I told them because they asked what the process should be. Everything you see from Stover is what I told them. What he's done is decided it should happen by next March."

Upshaw said the idea of replacing him immediately was not raised by any players at the meetings in Hawaii or during last week's conference call. He conducted the conference call last Wednesday, Upshaw said, to address his decision not to hire a successor-in-waiting as a current second-in-charge of the union.

"It never came up in Hawaii," Upshaw said. "It never came up in the general session. It never came up in a sidebar.... Not one guy on the conference call said, 'We should do this by next March.' They said, 'The time is not now. We have bigger fish to fry right now.' But it was my process."

The 2006 labor deal with the owners gives the players 60 percent of total league revenues under the salary cap system. Upshaw pushed in those negotiations for the pool of revenues from which the players are paid to be expanded, and the owners agreed to the new system. In recent months, several owners have complained that the deal is overly favorable to the players. The labor agreement allows either side to reopen negotiations by informing the other side by Nov. 8 of this year or next year.

If the owners exercise the reopener clause this November, as expected, the 2009 season would be the final season in the agreement with a salary cap and the labor deal would expire after the 2010 season. Upshaw has said he expects the owners to give serious consideration to a lockout of the players in 2011. But he also has said the players would decertify the union as a tactic to avoid a lockout.

So unrest over leadership of the union comes at the wrong time, Upshaw said today.

"I know how important it is to enter into this round of negotiations being united," Upshaw said.

The union's newly elected president, Tennessee Titans center Kevin Mawae, said in a written statement Tuesday that Stover's plan did not represent the views of the other players in leadership positions in the union. Other players expressed support for Upshaw and said they thought Stover's plan had little support. Upshaw said today he will not be pushed aside.

"The players will address it," Upshaw said. "We're just moving ahead.... I'm not going anywhere."

By Mark Maske |  April 9, 2008; 11:05 AM ET  | Category:  League
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