Production Summary

The movie tells the story of how a cadre of NFL players and a committed attorney worked behind the scenes to fight both the NFL and the players’ union, to settle the 1982 players’ strike. It chronicles the conditions the typical NFL player faced in the pre-free agency world of the early 80’s. This true story reveals in dramatic fashion, the behind the scenes account of the dramatic events that lead to one of the most important yet unknown turning points in NFL player history. The movie reveals the unthinkable treatment all but a few marquee players were subject to throughout the league at the time.

Death threats, destroyed cars, home vandalism, and other tactics could not deter their resolve. Their devotion to each other and to the future players instilled in them the ability to achieve their goals. Redskins, Cowboys, Packers, Giants and many others stood shoulder to shoulder, risked their livelihood and reputations – gambling against all odds that the owners and the union would blink – and they did.

Elvin Bethea, Joe DeLamielleure, Butch Johnson, D. D. Lewis, Rayfield Wright, and Dan Pastorini appear along with Billy Joe DuPree and Spencer Kopf in the promotional documentary in support of the motion picture production, narrated by Texas media legend Scott Murray.