NFLPA's DeMaurice Smith "Confident" A New CBA Can Be Reached
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Smith Says He Could Not Be
Off To Better Start With Goodell |
NFLPA Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith, who Thursday visited the Bears and met with players after a brief session with team Chair Michael McCaskey, said that he "could not be off to a better start" with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, according to Brad Biggs of the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES. Smith said of negotiating a new CBA, "I'm confident (a deal can be reached) because our players want to play the game. Our coaches want to coach the game, and it's my hope and belief that the owners want to play the game. We certainly have fans who love our games, so I'm always confident where A, there's a dialogue, and B, there's a love of our game. Do we have some things to address that the players know are fundamental to the negotiations? Absolutely" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 5/15). When asked if NFL owners have told him "what they want," Smith said, "I have the luxury of being the new guy. No one's told me why they opted out. ... I don't know if there have been any specifics about why they opted out, what factors led them to opt out, what financial conditions necessitated the decision, what analysis they employed in order to reach a conclusion that the deal wasn't good for them. No information about whether there were specific profit-loss issues per team and nothing, at least that I've seen, that provided specific information about any forecast, business forecast, about what items were important for them to make the decision that they made." The '10 season will be uncapped if a new CBA is not reached in time, and Smith said of the ramifications of an uncapped season, "I talked to the players about the fact that there's 100,000 people that work in our stadiums. What happens to them if there's a lockout? ... So, yeah, as players, as businessmen, as well as the coaching community, we spend time talking about what could happen in the future. But most of the conversation right now is focused on what specifically happens to us in an uncapped year and why are we in a situation where the owners opted out of the current deal." Smith said he has a "great relationship" with Goodell. Smith: "We have an open line of communication. I can't imagine our relationship being any better or getting started in a better way than we have now. We talk probably two to three times a week" (Illinois DAILY HERALD, 5/15).
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