NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith told players at their summit in Marco Island, Fla. Friday that he will cut his salary to $0 until the labor dispute over a new collective bargaining agreement is settled, according to NFLPA sources.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and general counsel Jeff Pash cut their salaries to $1 while the league imposes a lockout.
Goodell and Pash promised in January that they would absorb salary cuts if there was a work stoppage. Goodell earns about $10 million a year, including bonuses, and Pash nearly $5.5 million. Smith later said he would take a pay cut to 68 cents, though it appears he has taken that promise one step further. Smith is listed as earning a salary of about $1.8 million from the NFLPA.
Smith addressed the players in small groups on Friday, with the salary news part of a larger promise that his goal was to get a fair deal done as quickly as possible, the sources said.
Following a breakdown in negotiations March 11, the NFLPA decertified as a union. That was followed by the league's lockout, creating the NFL's first work stoppage since 1987. A group of 10 players subsequently sued, asking a Minneapolis court to halt the lockout.
