Farewell to Feudalism

O.J. Simpson, Franco Harris and Larry Csonka, attracted by the glamour of Hollywood, will all play for the Los Angeles Rams. Joe Greene and his colleagues along the Pittsburgh Steelers'defensive line, plus the front four of the Minnesota Vikings, will follow the sun to Miami to sign with the Dolphins. Dozens of other stars will auction off their services every year to the highest bidder, and some cold-weather cities such as Green Bay and Buffalo won't be able to buy enough players to field a team.

That, say pro football owners, is the kind of chaos that will strike their sport if the reserve system is abolished and athletes are allowed to move from team to team at will. If so, the apocalypse is on its way. Players, who have bargained unsuccessfully and gone on strike for the right to choose where they play, are now winning their battles in the courts. For the third time in the past 13 months, a federal judge last week found the N.F.L.'s reserve system in violation of antitrust laws. This time, ruling on a suit filed by John Mackey, former Colts tight end and past president of the N.F.L. Players Association, Minneapolis Judge Earl Larson ripped the so-called Rozelle rule, linchpin of the reserve system. Calling it "an unreasonable restraint of trade," he concluded that the reserve clause "is so clearly contrary to public policy that it is per se illegal."

Contract Catch. His decision, stayed temporarily pending appeal, was a blow to more than the football establishment. It was an ominous sign to baseball and basketball, whose own reserve rules are under attack. The week before Larson's decision, a baseball arbitration panel stunned owners by deciding that two pitchers who have played out their contracts--Andy Messersmith of the Dodgers and Dave McNally of the Expos--are free to negotiate with any team. In basketball, legal skirmishes have already caused setbacks for the reserve system. A Players Association suit against the N.B.A. is expected to eliminate all restraints. Federal Judge Robert Carter, who will hear the case, concluded in a previous decision that "the life of these restrictions appears to be all but over."

To athletes, their demise has not come a moment too soon. In all three sports, the structure of labor-management relations is almost feudal. Under baseball's reserve system, players are theoretically bound in perpetuity to the team that signs them. Even if they complete their contractual obligations to a franchise, they are not free to sell their skills elsewhere. In the N.F.L. and the N.B.A., they can bargain with other teams--but there is a catch. If a man jumps to a new team in football, the new owners must compensate the old with a player or draft choice of equal value. If the teams cannot strike a deal, the commissioner has the power to set the terms himself. (Hence the name Rozelle rule, for Commissioner Pete Rozelle.) The N.B.A. has a similar, though unwritten, arrangement.

Owners argue that special constraints are required to maintain competitive balance. Without them, the rich teams could buy up all the talent.

Says Kansas City Chiefs Owner Lamar Hunt, football would become "complete bedlam."

Who is right? In basketball and football, the courts clearly feel that whatever the merit of the owners' position, their policies are illegal. In baseball, the law upholds the reserve clause because the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly granted the game an exemption from antitrust prosecution. But the two most recent opinions by the high court have been grudging at best, and the majority in both cases suggested that Congress pass legislation to end the immunity. Until then (and Congress shows no signs of following the court's advice), players can try to follow the example of Messersmith and McNally.

Changing Teams. Elimination of reserve rules would undoubtedly increase the number of players changing teams, and might force a few football franchises to move to warmer cities, but turbulence can surely be kept to a minimum. Superstars, for instance, may not want to share the spotlight by congregating on a handful of teams, and even the wealthiest owners will not be able to afford a team of All-Stars. Moreover, the average player, settled with a home and family, rarely wants to move. "Even though the L.A. Rams beat the hell out of us in the play-offs," says St. Louis Cardinals Center Tom Banks, "I don't want to play with them." Adds Randy Vataha, the Patriots' wide receiver, "Football players are basically insecure. They don't want to move because they're afraid they won't make the new team."

If too many players do try to move, leagues can simply create a pool allowing no team to hire more than 5% of the free agents unless that team has lost more than 5% to the pool. Signing players to long-term contracts would also discourage the footloose. "There are sensible solutions to these problems," says Dave DeBusschere, commissioner of the A.B.A., a league that already keeps its reserve rules to a minimum. "The archaic system sport has been operating under has got to change."

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