Adrian Peterson: NFL Business is ‘Modern-Day Slavery’

MINNEAPOLIS - Adrian Peterson had some choice words for the NFL and its owners in an interview with Yahoo Sports, likening the state of business in the league to “modern day slavery.” The Minnesota Vikings running back made the comment in an interview with Yahoo’s Doug Farrar .

Peterson said football players see their job as a business too, and said while NFL owners are making money off their image and performance, “the players are getting robbed.”

”It's modern-day slavery, you know?” Peterson said. “People kind of laugh at that, but there are people working at regular jobs who get treated the same way, too. With all the money … the owners are trying to get a different percentage, and bring in more money. I understand that; these are business-minded people. Of course this is what they are going to want to do. I understand that; it's how they got to where they are now. But as players, we have to stand our ground and say, 'Hey — without us, there's no football.’”

Farrar removed the quote from his article Tuesday, saying he wants to give Adrian Peterson the opportunity to explain what he really meant.

”Because I don't think he meant to connect the two,” Farrar wrote on Twitter.

Peterson went on to say that he thinks a new collective bargaining agreement will be reached – that the owners have too much money to lose. But for Peterson, and many NFL players, it’s the proposed 18-game season that’s a major sticking point.

“But this crazy idea about an 18-game season …I'm sure they want more entertainment and more revenue, but we're not going to see a pinch of that (the increased revenue), and it's just the business we're in,” he said.

The NFL and the players came to an impasse last week, but NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said he expects the two sides will reach an agreement before the start of the 2011 season.

An April 6 hearing will take place in Minneapolis as the federal anti-trust lawsuit filed against the NFL begins.

Last week, nine players -- including Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Viking Brian Robison -- filed the lawsuit and asked for a preliminary injunction to block a lockout before it went into effect; however, the owners imposed the lockout on Saturday anyway.

During a lockout, there can not be any communication between the teams and players unless an injunction is granted. With an injunction, the NFL would have to operate while a new CBA.