Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, September 13, 1994                   TAG: 9409140070
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

NFL OWES MILLIONS TO PLAYERS

The National Labor Relations Board said Monday the agreement between the NFL Players Association and the NFL Management Council is the largest such award in NLRB history. The settlement includes backpay, incentive bonuses and interest.

A breakdown of how much players from each of the 28 teams would receive was not available Monday, but the agency said distribution of the award was expected within a couple of months. The NLRB said further details are to be announced at a news conference today.

There was no immediate reaction from the Players Association.

But the management council attempted to play down the settlement, saying the award was ``part of the $195 million overall settlement that the NFL reached with its players' union in January 1993.''

After receiving a complaint from the NFLPA, the NLRB had ruled the council and NFL teams had unlawfully refused to allow returning players to participate in games immediately after the end of the strike Oct. 15.

``The board found that the denial of the returning strikers the right to play or be paid, as well as other acts by league management such as withholding game checks for certain injured reserve players, constituted unfair labor practices in violation of the National Labor Relations Act,'' NLRB general counsel Fred Feinstein said.

After the NLRB upheld the initial ruling by an administrative law judge, the team owners appealed to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which had the decision under review.

The strike began Sept. 22 after the NFLPA and the management council were unable to agree on several issues, including free agency.

In its decision in September 1992, the NLRB found the owners had adopted a rule about two weeks into the strike requiring any player wanting to play in a Sunday or Monday game immediately following a settlement or end of the strike to report to work by 1 p.m. on the previous Wednesday.

However, replacement players could be signed to play in Sunday games as late as 4 p.m. on the Saturday before the games and in Monday night games as late as 4 p.m. on the same day, the NLRB said.