The NFL is still bedeviled by wide differences over how to solve revenue disparity among its teams, as well as being far apart from its players in reaching a new labor pact, Commissioner Paul Tagliabue told owners in Detroit last week, owners and team executives said.
With months of fruitless talks over reaching a new collective-bargaining agreement, as well as crafting a new revenue-sharing model, the commissioner informed owners that there has been little progress on these issues, said Arthur Blank, the Atlanta Falcons’ owner.
“The commissioner thinks things are not moving along at the pace we would like,” Blank said. “The message we are getting from the commissioner is there is a significant gap.”
Blank described the twin problems of revenue sharing and labor talks as akin to an algebra conundrum: two complicated equations that must be solved simultaneously.
The league may meet as early as this week with the NFLPA, but whether there will be progress by the end of the month at the league’s fall meeting is uncertain. The union is gunning for up to 65 percent of revenue, while the league has offered 57 percent.
Lead labor negotiator Pat Bowlen, the Denver Broncos’ owner, expressed hope that there could be something to vote on at the end of the month, but added that he was being speculative.
So a league known for its airtight labor contracts and precision deal-making finds itself with a potential crisis on the horizon.
The current labor deal extends through the 2007-08 season, but that final year would have no salary cap. And the closer the league gets to that year, the harder it becomes for teams to sign new player contracts because signing bonuses cannot be amortized over a lengthy period.
Meanwhile, the topic of revenue sharing has not been discussed for several meetings, Bowlen said, evidence that the issue has been put on the back burner in favor of labor talks. That has some owners angry, because they want to see more revenue sharing before agreeing to a new labor deal.
That may have played a part in Houston’s failure again to secure another Super Bowl. Texans boss Bob McNair is one of a group of high-revenue owners arguing that there is already enough revenue sharing. In May, Houston, an early favorite, went out on the first ballot for the 2009 Super Bowl, won by Tampa Bay.
And last week it again went out on the first ballot, losing to Miami for the 2010 contest.
While the desire to have the Super Bowl in warm-weather climates is a major factor in the votes, McNair conceded his team’s revenue status could have played a part.
“There is a misunderstanding on the part of owners who have never hosted a Super Bowl,” he said. “There is the perception that the team that hosts the Super Bowl gets a financial windfall. And that is not the case at all. … Possibly some [low-revenue teams] think it would be a possible financial [plus] and why do that for a high-revenue team.”
The owners did push through the extension of NFL Europe. Seen in some quarters as a money-losing offshoot that was not meeting its international objectives, Tagliabue fended off those criticisms to pull nearly every owner in line.
Two years ago the league passed 24-8; last week it sailed through 31-1. One caveat: If there is no new CBA by 2007, the league would expire.
“This is a recognition that you have to build at the grass roots globally,” said Philadelphia Eagles’ owner Jeff Lurie
