http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/09/sport...6a51e74eb6d22&ei=5094&partner=homepage
GRAPEVINE, Tex., March 8 ? N.F.L. owners voted Wednesday night to accept a players union proposal to extend the collective bargaining agreement by six years, ensuring labor peace in the league through the 2011 season. The vote was 30 to 2, with the Cincinnati Bengals and the Buffalo Bills voting against it.
The deal put an end to a labor dispute that had threatened the stability of the N.F.L., which is enjoying its greatest period of prosperity and has not had a strike since 1987. For a labor agreement to be reached, 24 of 32 owners needed to vote in favor of it. Without an agreement, the league faced playing the 2007 season without a salary cap and the possibility of a strike in 2008.
"I think it's great for the fans," said Commissioner Paul Tagliabue in a news conference after the agreement was announced. "It's a stretch from a financial standpoint for many of the teams, in terms of the cost."
The agreement raises the salary cap to $102 million, from $94.5 million, in 2006, and to $109 million in 2007. The higher cap will let many teams avoid cutting high-priced veterans, and some will also have more money to offer free agents when the free-agent signing period begins.
Tagliabue said that a decision still needed to be made whether to begin free agency Friday or Saturday.
The union's proposal called for the players to receive 59.5 percent of total revenue over six years, which owners struggled to accept. Another provision of the new deal stipulates that contracts for players selected in the second through seventh rounds of the draft will not exceed four years.
Several times during the past few weeks, negotiations between league executives and Gene Upshaw, the executive director of the players union, appeared at a standstill.
But the union's proposal was finally brought to the owners, who spent two days in a hotel ballroom debating, lobbying and negotiating intensely behind closed doors. Revenue sharing was the contentious point among the owners. High-revenue teams, like the Redskins, the Patriots, and the Eagles, have been reluctant to share their lucrative local money-making streams with low-revenue teams.
Under the new deal, the 15 highest-revenue teams will contribute $850 million to $900 million to a fund that the lower-revenue teams will draw from.
Although Jerry Jones, owner of the high-revenue Dallas Cowboys, voted in favor of the deal, he said he found it difficult to accept.
"I don't want to look disingenuous, but more than the money, I believe the structure we had in place has really contributed a lot to the success that we've had in the N.F.L.," he said. "It has brought capital into the N.F.L., it has built stadiums in the N.F.L. To move away from that was my biggest concern, fixing something that in my mind wasn't as broke as maybe others might try and want it to be. I had to get past my skepticism.
"There has never been a competitive-balance problem in this league, and there is not one right now."
There were times during Wednesday's meeting when many owners doubted a deal would get done. In the past, N.F.L. owners like Wellington Mara of the Giants, who died last year, and Art Rooney of the Pittsburgh Steelers were willing to put the league's interests ahead of their own and cooperated with one another to share revenue. But during these intense negotiations, that spirit of cooperation was more difficult to find.
"We need the ghost of St. Wellington to appear with some of the forefathers," said Jim Irsay, owner of the Indianapolis Colts.
But eventually, the owners found a revenue-sharing plan that met approval. Tagliabue said that the concept for the agreement was devised by the Jets' owner, Woody Johnson, and Jonathan Kraft, president of the New England Patriots; it was modified by Rooney, and Dick Cass, president of the Baltimore Ravens; and it was further modified by the Giants' John Mara, Jerry Richardson of the Carolina Panthers and Pat Bowlen of the Denver Broncos, with help from Jones and Arthur Blank of the Atlanta Falcons.
"It was a good compromise, and we're happy with it," Irsay said. "Thirty-two is not a bad vote."
One of the owners who voted no, the Bills' Ralph Wilson, did not like the outcome or the process.
"To have to vote in 45 minutes on a very complicated proposal ? I didn't think it was the right way to handle things," he said.
Al Davis, the Oakland Raiders' owner who often goes against the majority, found himself voting with the majority. Although his health has not been the best recently, Davis said he believed the meeting was too important to miss. Davis said he could have imagined some teams leaving the N.F.L. after the 2007 season and starting their own league if a new collective-bargaining agreement had not been reached.
"With the need for product in this country, and the numbers that are being paid, it would have been very simple to have a 10-team league," Davis said, adding that such a league would not have a problem attracting players.
"There would have been anarchy," he said. "I came because I wanted labor peace. They don't particularly love me, because I'm going to go my own way and do what I think is right," Davis said, referring to some other owners. "I've fought them. But I also love the league and what's best for football, for the players and the owners.
"This needed to get done."
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NFL Owners Accept Deal
- Thread starter mzkhadir
- Start date
Gee, remember all the people posting how the NFL was doomed in other threads? :roll:
Only thing I have to say is that this is similar to comments made by team owners of the NHL before it took a sh!t. The NFL isn't in such a position to take a nose dive, but when the owners squabble over money (profits) and disregard the players, league and fans then you end up have no leagues/sports at all. It seems that the top 10-20 earners in these sports leagues can't seem to grasp the concept that you need to reinvest into the system in order to continue it's profitability.
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