Packers President & CEO Mark Murphy was the subject of the WALL STREET JOURNAL’s “Weekend Interview,” where he discussed his role in various CBA talks throughout his career. Murphy compared his role as a union leader to now a member of management. He said, “When you're younger and you're a player, I think things are more black and white. Now I have a greater appreciation for, number one, how difficult it is to run and manage and lead a franchise.” Comparing this year’s labor dispute with the ones in the '80s, he said, "It was nowhere near as acrimonious as in '82 and '87. I guess the one thing that I learned (back then) is that nobody benefits when it gets personal." In looking at the Packers’ financials, the team is now listed 13th in terms of revenue, but they "may fall back down that list if the NFL finally puts a team" in L.A. or "others build new stadiums with lots of new money-churning premium seats" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/13).
HAIL MARA! In Newark, Steve Politi named NFL Giants President & CEO John Mara as the most influential sports figure in New Jersey and wrote Mara “did more than help solve the impasse that threatened the 2011 season.” He and Giants Chair & Exec VP Steve Tisch “treated their employees with respect, avoiding the furloughs that other teams (including the Jets, who paid them back with interest when the lockout ended) used.” Mara, who is regarded as a moderate, said, “I did believe there was certain aspects of it that needed to change, but I did not want to miss any games. I knew most of the owners were prepared to miss games, and I was too if we absolutely had to, but I just felt like, when the calendar started creeping up on us, both sides would be ready to make a deal” (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 8/14).
LONG ISLAND MEETINGS: On Long Island, Tom Rock wrote that “two of the most critical days of meetings between” the NFL and NFLPA “took place in a century-old Gold Coast relic on the North Shore of Nassau County.” On June 7-8, 12 men -- "six from each side, with no lawyers -- met face-to-face at Glen Cove Mansion." When finished, they "still were more than a month from ending the lockout and bringing football back, but they had agreed upon the basic financial structure of the new deal.” Rock details how participants agreed to split the financial pie of the league into three pieces and split those percentages, and NFL Exec VP/Labor & General Council Jeff Pash said, “It was at those meetings that we focused in on the concept of different percentages. That structure was put in place at these meetings. Obviously, there was a lot of work after that, but I would say when the Glen Cove meetings finished, the basic outlines of an economic deal were put in place" (NEWSDAY, 8/13).
