Congress Unlikely to Step Into NFL-Union Dispute

The National Football League Players Association is trying to take its labor conflict with team owners to Congress. But it appears that Congress won’t get involved in the dispute between millionaires (the players) and even bigger millionaires/billionaires (the owners), Politico reports.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, is taking a hands-off approach to the conflict. “The NFL and NFLPA are literally and figuratively big boys. They do not need Congress’s help to referee every business dispute. That is what the courts and the labor negotiation process are for,” Smith said during a subcommittee hearing last year.

A committee aide told Politico Tuesday that the panel hasn’t planned any hearings on the issue at this point. Congress generally keeps out of labor issues in sports, sticking more to health and safety issues.