NFL Lockout Watch, Day 56: Goodell, Chiefs' Hunt Warn Of Danger Of Changes To League

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Chiefs Chair Clark Hunt Thursday during a "half-hour, question-and-answer conference call" with Chiefs season-ticket holders "sounded warnings about the possibility of a post-lockout NFL world that they say would abolish the draft and create an economic free-for-all, making it difficult for small-market teams such as the Chiefs to complete," according to Adam Teicher of the K.C. STAR. Goodell and Hunt said that such a situation is "possible if owners and players can't agree" on a new CBA ... and the players "prevail in their lawsuits." Hunt: "It's incredibly important for a team like the Kansas City Chiefs that we have a collective-bargaining agreement that's good for all 32 clubs. We don't want a system that heads in the direction of (major-league) baseball." Teicher notes Goodell and Hunt during the call "tried to be upbeat ... about the league's labor situation and the prospects for a full 2011 season." Goodell said, "I know this is a difficult period. We all share your frustration with the inability to get a new labor agreement done and the uncertainty that's there. ... If we're unsuccessful in getting this done, it can produce damage. Fans don't want to be bothered with the details of this. They look to football and NFL football in particular as being an escape from all these issues." The Chiefs said that "more than 3,000 season-ticket holders listened to the conference call," and Goodell and Hunt together "answered 11 questions from an audience that was mostly friendly" (K.C. STAR, 5/6). Hunt during the call said that the owners are "eager to return to the bargaining table" (NJ.com, 5/5).

WASTE OF TIME? Colts season-ticket holder Nate Dunlevy listened in on Goodell's Wednesday conference call with Colts season-ticket holders, and he said, "As a fan and a season-ticket holder for 11 years, I found the whole thing a waste of time. I was shocked at the kind of questions people asked." Dunlevy added, "The vast majority of the questions had little to do with the lockout. The ones that did, Goodell gave a potboiler answer to that we've heard a thousand times. Many of us were on the line with real, hard questions and they didn't field a single one I would classify as difficult" (ESPN.com, 5/5).