Categories
Contract Negotiation NFL Teams

Red Pill or Blue Pill?

Which one is the Poison Pill?

So aside from seeing Laurence Fishburn in Las Vegas this past week (see: Subject of this post), there has been a little bit of discussion in the NFL about “Poison Pills.” Like myself, I imagine that the general public had no idea what a “Poison Pill” was in this context, and still may have absolutely no idea what it means.

As Greg Skidmore states in his article at the Sports Law Blog, “In corporate law, Poison Pills are defensive measures intended to prevent hostile takeovers through stock acquisition.”

Recently, this same tactic was used in the NFL by the Minnesota Vikings in their attempt to acquire offensive guard Steve Hutchinson of the Seattle Seahawks. For more about that issue, go read Greg’s post at the Sports Law Blog.

Instead of focusing on that specific case, I want to examine some intricacies of contract negotiation in the NFL. It is important to know the different kinds of ways that you can manipulate contracts to benefit your clients and also understand the methods by which organizations will try to manipulate contracts against your client.

Poison Pill
Since we have already discussed the “Poison Pill” technique, lets finish off the discussion with a full understanding of how it is used. It is used when player’s former team (Seattle Seahawks in the example) has the ability to match the offer from a new team (Minnesota Vikings) in free-agency. By using the “Poison Pill”, the new team (Minnesota) may insert a clause into a signed contract. The clause says that for the offer to be matched by the former team (Seattle), the player must be the highest payed person at that position after the first year of the contract or else the rest of the contract is gauranteed. This makes it tough for the former team because it means that the player may have to take an enormous pay increase or will have a gauranteed contract (which is basically unheard of in the NFL).

Whether this is in violation of the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement has not yet been decided by means of arbitration. If anyone knows more about this impending issue, please leave a comment.

I will dedicate many more posts to the NFL’s many forms of contract negotiation. Next up: Franchise Tags. Get excited!

[tags]nfl, contracts, poison pill, arbitration, steve hutchinson, vikings, seahawks, sports, law[/tags]

By Darren Heitner

Darren Adam Heitner, Esq., is a preeminent sports attorney and the founder of Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., a Fort Lauderdale-based law firm specializing in sports law, contract negotiations, intellectual property, and arbitration. He earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 2010 and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, magna cum laude, from the University of Florida in 2007, where he was named Valedictorian of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Admitted to practice in the state bars of Florida, New York, and the District of Columbia, as well as multiple federal courts, Darren also serves as a certified arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association.

As an adjunct professor, Darren imparts his expertise through teaching Sports Law at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) at the University of Miami School of Law in the Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law LL.M. program. His scholarly contributions include authoring several books published by the American Bar Association, such as How to Play the Game: What Every Sports Attorney Needs to Know, and numerous articles in prominent publications like Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and Above the Law. His thought leadership in NIL has earned him recognition as one of the foremost experts by The Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, and On3, and he has been lauded as a “power player in NIL deals” by Action Network and a “top sports trademark attorney” by Sportico.

Darren’s passion for sports law led him to establish Sports Agent Blog on December 31, 2005, initially titled “I Want To Be A Sports Agent.” The platform, created as a New Year’s resolution, has grown into a cornerstone of the sports agency community, offering in-depth analysis of industry trends, legal disputes, and agent-player dynamics. His commitment to the field is further evidenced by his representation of numerous athletes and sports agents, as well as his prior role as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington, where he developed and taught a course on Sport Agency Management from 2011 to 2014.

Darren’s contributions have been recognized with prestigious honors, including the University of Florida’s 40 Under 40 Award, the University of Florida Levin College of Law’s Outstanding Young Alumnus Award, and designation as the best lawyer in Fort Lauderdale by Fort Lauderdale Magazine. He remains an active voice in the sports law community, sharing insights through his weekly NIL newsletter and his X posts, engaging a broad audience on legal developments in sports.