The National Football League has done a lot of things right in their 90+ years. That's easily seen in their fantastic success today. That success doesn't mean that every decision has been tip-top. One pretty stupid move was when the league introduced a pathetic form of free agency in February 1989. The owners didn't want anything to do with any sort of free agency. They didn't want the players to have that freedom of movement and they wanted to control salaries. They figured that open bidding for players would shoot player salaries through the roof. They were right. None of those concerns were of any concern for the players. They wanted that freedom and they weren't giving up the fight to get that freedom. The owners tried to pacify the players with a limited free agency and gave it the unfortunate name of Pan B. Very creative.
Plan B free agency permitted all teams in the league to preserve limited rights to no more than 37 players. A protected player was unable to sign with other teams without giving his old team the chance to sign him or forcing his new club to compensate his old club if he went elsewhere. The players that weren't among the 37 protected players were free to negotiate any team. They were the only players that were truly free agents. The Minnesota Vikings added former San Francisco 49ers running back Roger Craig through Plan B. That was pretty sweet but would have been sweeter if they could have added him about five years earlier. Needless to say the players hated this Plan B joke. They hated it so much that eight players sued the NFL saying that it violated antitrust laws. Mark Collins, Frank Minnifield, Dave Richards, and Lee Rouson were awarded monetary damages. The namesake of the suit, Freeman McNeil, wasn't awarded damages. Neither was Don Majkowski, Tim McDonald, and Niko Noga. It was determined that those four were paid enough that Plan B didn't restrict their earning ability.
Plan B was a joke. I knew then that unrestricted free agency was inevitable. The owners probably did too. Coming up with some half-assed scheme to put off the inevitable was a mistake. The league's decision makers looked like fools. This was one of the last moves that Pete Rozelle oversaw as commissioner. I'm still a little surprised that he let this one fly. It's not all on him. It may not have been on him at all. The commissioner may be the top dog on the league but he still answers to the owners. They pay his salary. Maybe, Plan B drove Pete Rozelle to his retirement. If nothing else, Plan B led to the inevitable unrestricted free agency. The, more or less, same free agency that starts in 12 days.
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