NFL owners meetings concluded yesterday in Baltimore,
and in response to a proposal by Bills Owner Ralph Wilson to
hire outside consultants to examine the NFL's day-to-day
operations, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue appointed a
four-member committee "to survey fellow owners" about league
concerns, according to USA TODAY's Jarrett Bell. Committee
members include Chiefs Owner Lamar Hunt, Giants co-Owner
Wellington Mara, Browns Owner Al Lerner and Wilson, who
"will report findings" at the league's meetings in October.
Wilson, on Tagliabue's committee: "Usually when I propose
something, it gets thrown out of the window. This is a
positive step." Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones, on the
committee: "This is more about whether there is a more
efficient way to make a lot of these decisions that have to
be made by the owners" (USA TODAY, 5/25). Hunt said of the
committee, "I think the No. 1 thing is that it's designed to
help find a way to communicate better with the league."
Tagliabue, on the perception of poor communication within
the league: "I don't think that's a very widely shared point
of view, but if any owners feel that way, it's something we
should respond to. The information flow is so massive that
there's a lack of comprehension, not a lack of flow of
information" (Vito Stellino, Baltimore SUN, 5/25).
NOTES FROM NFL MEETINGS: NFL owners voted "to help
fund" new stadiums in Detroit and Seattle, committing $100M
and $50M, respectively. The league's stadium financing
policy calls for the money "to be repaid" within 15 years of
the projects' completion....Houston was awarded the 2004
Super Bowl, while Atlanta, Miami, Jacksonville and Oakland
"are competing" for 2005, and Detroit will get the 2006
game, "assuming it meets all the league requirements" (USA
TODAY, 5/25). In Jacksonville, Gene Frenette writes that
the other three cities vying for the 2005 Super Bowl "are
running behind" Jacksonville because the city "is viewed as
a rising star in the NFL's constellation and the people who
run the league like" (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 5/25).
CAPOLOGY 101: Redskins DE Bruce Smith, on the NFL's
salary cap system: "I would like to see the league and the
[NFLPA] get together and make this cap somewhat softer
because the people that are losing out are the fans. ...
I've gotten a number of phone calls from fans in Buffalo
saying that they've given their tickets back [after Smith's
release], they don't want them anymore" ("Up Close," 5/24).
