The players feel that the lawsuit was a necessary evil in order to get the owners to negotiate seriously. Like their brethren in the NFL and in Major League Soccer, they have resorted to the Federal anti-trust laws to bail them out of a weakened labor position. In adopting this strategy, they may dig themselves into a litigation morass which will cost loads of money and could cost them their livelihood.

The suit in U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey challenges the legality of the restrictions placed on player movement between franchises. These restrictions are similar to those imposed on the NFL. Until the present labor agreement,  the rights of NFL players to move to other teams as free agents was virtually impossible. As for the soccer players, their case is languishing in federal court in Boston. They claim that the league engages in collusive activity to depress their salaries.

The Arena League rules bind players to the teams for the contract duration -- usually one year plus an option year. For a player to become a free agent, that player must sit out of the competition for the year unless he is traded or waived. Players argue that the one-year option rule forces them to accept whatever terms are offered by the team they have initially signed with or having to sit out of the game.

The lawsuit also alleges that the league owners have illegally joined together to eliminate competition for players' services, illegally prohibited teams from providing injury and other contractual guarantees, illegally fixed terms of employment for each player at unfair and noncompetitive levels and illegally deprived players from exercising the same freedom to offer their playing services to competing employers that other professional athletes have.

League commissioner C. David Baker wrote a letter to players last month that the season would be cancelled if they failed to form a union to negotiate an initial collective bargaining agreement or refused to drop the threat of a lawsuit. Ron Krupers, the league president, said on February 5 that the 18 team owners are scheduled to meet on February 23 to discuss the fate of the upcoming season in response to the filing of the class-action.

Cancellation of the season could be a devastating blow to the future of the AFL. The league has grown financially stable and has received more national attention with the rise of former Iowa Barnstormers quarterback Kurt Warner to the most valuable player in the National Football League. In addition, Arena football franchise values have grown from $125,000 to as much as $7 million. The league recently signed a television contract with three national networks for telecast of games, and NFL owners hold an option to purchase up to 49% of the league.