Menu
Download the app

SBJ subscribers – Enhance your experience with the revamped iOS app

Leagues and Governing Bodies

Panthers' Richardson Says Opt Out In NFL CBA Would Have Been Major Blow

Panthers Owner and NFL Management Council Exec Committee Chair Jerry Richardson is "sure" the inclusion of an opt-out clause for the players in the CBA "would have been destructive," according to Peter King of SI.com. Richardson said that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell "'delivered the message' that such a demand would be damaging to the deal." A source said that if players "wanted an opt-out, the owners would have to have one too." Sources said that it "wasn't until very late morning or early afternoon" on July 25, the day that the players agreed to the CBA, that the players "gave up on the opt-out provision." Richardson "loves ... four things about the deal." It is "for 10 years, no regular-season games were missed, teams can make stadium-construction and other long-range decisions knowing they've got labor [peace] until 2021, and the TV networks will be able to make a better deal knowing there's game certainty for 10 more years." Richardson, who was hospitalized in February '09, said, "One of the things that drove me to get better is I wanted to get back and help get a new labor deal done. Since April 2008, except when I was in the hospital almost dying, that's been on my mind every day." King noted Richardson, "for the first time, refused at length that he was condescending with players in a February labor meeting, or belittled their knowledge of business," as had been reported. Colts QB Peyton Manning was reported to be "one of Richardson's targets." Richardson said, "I was shocked when I heard that. I was not disrespectful toward him in any way. When I heard about it, I immediately called Archie (Manning, Peyton's father), who I know, and told him, 'If I offended your son, I apologize.'" Richardson had "built a bond" with Ravens CB and NFLPA Exec Committee member Domonique Foxworth "early in the summer during a private, one-hour visit to a park near the hotel where the talks were talking place in Illinois." Richardson: "After that, I understood his views a lot better, and I hope he understood mine." Meanwhile, King noted he "rarely heard of" Bengals Owner Mike Brown and Broncos Owner Pat Bowlen during negotiations. But Goodell said that Bowlen "kept driving home how the players had to understand owners would stay united and fix the economic structure of the game, and Brown was insistent when the talks broke down in March that this was a historic occasion, and the league would be better for it." Goodell: "I needed to hear that" (SI.com, 8/1).

DAMAGE REPAIR: YAHOO SPORTS' Jason Cole wrote there is one "lingering wound" that only time will heal: the "many bruises ... Goodell suffered from the berating directed his way by many players, particularly veterans." Some owners "believe those remarks were merely a byproduct of the difficult and emotional labor negotiations." Giants President & CEO John Mara said, "The comments certainly bother you. It's unfortunate that things get to that point." Colts Owner Jim Irsay added, "It goes with the territory of being the commissioner in a labor battle. You're going to have things like that happen." But Cole wrote, "This was a damaging past five months for Goodell and the commissioner's office. ... There is little question that the league needs to find a way to deal with it or risk seeing the leader of America's biggest sport continue to lose respect." There is a "strong perception among players that Goodell did not have a strong hand in the labor talks," and that owners such as the Patriots' Robert Kraft and the Cowboys' Jerry Jones "called the shots." The fact that the owners "didn't give Goodell full authority to cut a deal until March fed that belief." Goodell "must re-establish a fractured relationship," but his plan at the moment "appears to be to let time heal the situation." NFL Senior VP/PR Greg Aiello said, "He knows criticism comes with the job, that the CBA negotiations were emotional and frustrating, and he doesn't take any of it personally" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 8/1).

STILL THINGS TO SORT OUT: In DC, Mark Maske notes NFL and NFLPA officials yesterday "continued to negotiate the final remaining issues of their collective bargaining agreement, including proposed blood-testing of players for human growth hormone and the appeals process for player suspensions under the drug and personal conduct policies." The sides "must work out the final issues of the labor deal by Thursday." Retiree benefits are "one complicating issue." U.S. District Judge Susan Nelson yesterday issued an order for representatives of the league, current players and retired players to "appear for a conference Aug. 10 in St. Paul, Minn., in anticipation of mediation of retiree issues beginning Aug. 15" (WASHINGTON POST, 8/2). In N.Y., Judy Battista reports the retired players yesterday "sent a letter to the National Labor Relations Board saying the current players had prevented retired players from negotiating directly for retiree benefits, even though they were supposed to be part of mediated talks earlier this summer." The letter also said that the NFLPA had "improperly negotiated retiree benefits while it was decertified as part of a negotiating strategy." Michael Hausfeld, an attorney for the retired players, "has been adamant that his clients do not want to hold up the completion" of the CBA this week or the start of the football season (N.Y. TIMES, 8/2).

JUST CAN'T LOSE: In Columbus, Rob Oller writes by "spending months haggling in public over a collective-bargaining agreement, the NFL and NFL Players Association created a condition in which fans are now frothing for real football." Fans are "paying more attention to the preseason than ever." SportsCorp President Marc Ganis said, "This was the perfect lockout." Oller: "Stress and controversy are bad for the heart, but good for the NFL -- a league that lands on its feet even when dropped on its head" (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 8/2).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2011/08/02/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/NFL.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2011/08/02/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/NFL.aspx

CLOSE