The NFL Players Association is the union representing the players of the National Football League and is responsible for negotiating terms of the collective bargaining agreement with the league and its owners. Many of the teams, and the league itself, had taken on large amounts of debt and needed to insulate their cash flows in the event of a work stoppage. After opting to shorten the term of the then-current collective bargaining agreement, the NFL amended its broadcast contracts to include “lockout insurance” terms that would guarantee payments even in the event games were not played.

Chilmark was retained by the NFLPA to provide an analysis of the economic impact of these changes as they affected the players. We identified the contract amendments as a disguised financing that avoided profit sharing with the players, and we offered expert testimony that ultimately helped achieve a favorable settlement. We helped to literally level the playing field without a work stoppage.

Over the course of our engagement, our litigation support services included:

• Assisting counsel in crafting economic arguments for pleadings filed with the Court
• Drafting discovery requests and reviewing discovery production
• Providing financial and economic analysis as requested by counsel
• Submitting a written report to the Special Master and later to the trial Judge
• Proffering live expert testimony at a hearing before the Special Master

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