Smith, union leadership at contract odds

[Jetfan13]

Len Pasquarelli of ESPN.com reports nearly six weeks after he was elected as Gene Upshaw's successor, new NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith is without a contract. And based on an NFLPA executive committee memo from last week, the two sides remain far apart on several components of a potential deal.

Primary among the several areas of disagreement is salary. Smith's proposal calls for an annual income of between $3.2 million and $3.7 million for the first three years of the contract, including a $500,000 signing bonus. The executive committee has proposed that Smith not be paid a signing bonus, and that his salary range for the first three years of the contract be between $1 million and $2 million annually.

Assuming the highest-level salaries for each side's proposal, the difference is $5.6 million.

Upshaw, who died from pancreatic cancer last August, earned $6.7 million during the fiscal year that ended Feb. 28, 2007, but that included a one-time bonus of $2.4 million for licensing fees. His actual salary from the NFLPA was $4.3 million.