How the 1987 Strike Made the NFL What It Is Today

The Domonique Foxworth Show

ESPN

Football, Sports

5 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 11 August 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Howard Bryant joins Domonique to go back in time and talk about the 1987 NFL strike that led to replacement players playing in the NFL. They go through the details of what happened and make the case for why the current state of the NFL and the NFLPA was directly shaped by the 1987 strike. 0:00 Welcome back to The Domonique Foxworth Show 0:34 Revisiting the 1987 NFL strike 11:56 How the 1987 strike was a turning point for the NFL 42:10 The future of the NFLPA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	If you haven't tried Abercrombie denim yet, you're missing out.
0:03.8	Denim should fit like this.
0:06.0	It's all about proportions.
0:07.7	Abercrombie has their classic fits and athletic fits for guys who want a little more room in the thigh.
0:13.1	When you find your staple fit, it'll be the pair you reach for day after day for every plan.
0:19.2	Shop Abercrombie denim in, in the app, online, and in store.
0:26.8	Off top in the 1987 NFL player strike two of the most famous scabs.
0:33.4	Sean Payton and Shug Knight.
0:35.3	Play the music.
0:36.0	This is the Dominique Foxworth Show.
0:44.9	All right, welcome to the Dominique Foxworth Show.
0:46.9	I'm so happy to be joined by Howard Bryant, author, historian, producer, and author of
0:53.1	upcoming book, Kings and Ponds, which I'm looking
0:55.4	forward to checking out and add to my collection of Howard Bryan Books. Welcome to the show, sir.
1:00.0	Appreciate you having me, Donnie.
1:01.4	I really wanted to have you on, especially because we're doing this 1987 strike as far as
1:06.0	football's concerned. So this offseason has been, for me at least, an offseason of conversations
1:10.8	around sports labor.
1:12.0	We have an impending, which seems to be an impending WNBA strike.
1:16.1	We have all the turmoil that's going on in the NFLPA, which I guess turmoil is a nice phrase for what's actually happening over there.
1:24.2	The Bryce Harper fighting with Rob Manfred.
1:26.8	It just feels like Michael Parsons and
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 22 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from ESPN, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of ESPN and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.