Team owners to reopen labor deal, says players union head

By Ben Klayman

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - National Football League team owners plan to reopen the current labor deal with players possibly next week and could lead to a lockout in a move to cut costs, the head of the players' union said on Saturday.

"The owners have made it very clear that they intend to opt out of this agreement early," Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFL Players Association, said during a panel discussion at the Sports Lawyers Association annual conference here.

The NFL owners and players reached their current agreement in 2006, but both sides have the option of reopening it by November 8.

Upshaw said he assumes the owners could notify the players they are reopening the deal after they meet on Tuesday in Atlanta.

"Our players are prepared for that," he told several hundred sports industry officials and executives, comparing the NFL owners' approach to that taken by their counterparts in the National Hockey League that led to a lockout of that sport's players and the loss of the 2004-2005 season. "We've had a lot of discussion and preparation for that."

Dennis Curran, senior vice president and general counsel for the NFL's bargaining arm, during a later panel expressed confidence a new agreement could be reached if the contract was reopened, but acknowledged the owners have issues with the current deal.

"It's too early to say," Curran said of whether the owners will opt out of the current deal. "I wouldn't want to predict what's going to happen, except I will say ... that a lot of our clubs are unhappy with the mechanics of the deal since 2006."

However, Upshaw called the owners "greedy."

"In their mind, a loss means they didn't make as much (money) as they thought they were going to make," he said.

Upshaw said the players will not reduce their 60 percent share of the league's revenue pie. He also said if the owners reopen the current agreement, it would result in the elimination of the league salary cap starting with the 2010 season. He warned if the cap is eliminated, the players will not agree to reinstitute it.

"I've made it clear to the owners that we're not accepting a deal that pays us less than we're already making," Upshaw said, pointing to growing annual league revenue that tops $7 billion.

He said the NFL owners have brought in negotiators used by the NHL before their lockout.

"The way that they are going all about this points directly to a lockout," Upshaw told Reuters after his speech.

However, he said he still thought an agreement was likely given the alternative. "It's one thing to be standing at the edge of a cliff," he said. "It's another thing to jump."

(Reporting by Ben Klayman, editing by Justin Palmer)