More Than 50 Years Ago When A Player Challenged The NFL Draft
By Dan Lust for LVSportsBiz.com
And let’s check out that time in history when a federal judge determined the NFL Draft was illegal.
In 1968, the Redskins drafted James “Yazoo” Smith with the 12th pick. Smith, an All-American CB at Oregon, signed with the Skins for $50,000. As a rookie, he suffered a career-ending neck injury. Frustrated that he didn’t earn more in his brief playing window, he sued for $4.2 million.
The NFL and Redskins were named as defendants. He argued the Draft violated the Sherman Antitrust Act since it prevented teams from having to bid for his services – like Free Agency entailed. Being forced to go to one team felt like an unreasonable restraint on negotiating power.
Notably, Smith’s lawsuit came in 1970 – the same year Curt Flood sued Major League Baseball to open the door for modern Free Agency in all sports.
Some believed Smith could do the same for the Draft and allow college athletes to jump immediately into a professional bidding war.
In 1976, a Federal Judge ruled in Smith’s favor. He held that without the draft, Smith could have signed a contract for more money that – crucially – could have even guaranteed payment despite his injury.
The NFL’s antitrust liability was upheld on appeal. See this for background: washingtonpost.com/archive/sports… Smith won the battle, but not the war. Around this time, the Supreme Court established a “non-statutory labor exemption” to antitrust violations. That meant leagues could still hold their drafts if they were able to to get the players associations to agree to them within the CBA.
The next year, in 1977, the NFL and the players arrived at a new collective bargaining agreement. For the first time, the players association explicitly agreed to allow the NFL Draft. Other pro sports leagues soon followed. This is why Drafts exists today.
Among several reasons, this type of exemption is allowed because it’s designed to promote competitive balance. For the NFL, this is achieved by giving the worst teams the first shot at the best players. Joe Burrow becoming the face of the rebuilding Bengals is a perfect example.
The world envisioned by James Smith allows Burrow to call his shot. More fair for players but contrary to competitive balance. Yet, the CBA prevents this reality. Now, instead of being mentioned next to Curt Flood, he’s just a footnote in sports history.
What could have been…
