League general counsel Jeff Pash said he would again play a leading part in the nascent labor negotiations between the NFL and the NFL Players Association, reprising the role he played in the last go-around.
The NFL has already reached out to the union about signing a renewal early, though with four years remaining on the 10-year deal the union, perhaps understandably, has not come to the table. League sources at first said the union did not respond to the NFL’s outreach, but NFLPA spokesman
George Atallah denied that. Pash agreed that the union did respond, but then added there was nothing in the response that would lead to talks.
While there is tension between the two sides, a repeat of the lockout of 2011 seems unlikely given the surge in revenue that the league has enjoyed the last few years.
There are issues from commissioner discipline to practice rules, though on the face of it hardly enough to lead to a work stoppage. Mark Murphy, Green Bay Packers president and a key member of the labor committee, said he could envision the league pushing for more offseason practice time for rookies and younger players. To this, Atallah declined to comment.
■ CONCUSSION DISCUSSION: The league may eventually push to have Tom Brady interviewed over the comments his wife made that he had a concussion last year, said Joe Lockhart, the NFL’s chief spokesman. The league and union both have reviewed the allegation and so far have not found evidence he was concussed, though it is no secret that players can hide concussions. The last option, Lockhart said, is to request an interview of Brady. Commissioner Roger Goodell pointed to the comment made by the quarterback’s agent, Don Yee, that his client had not been diagnosed with a concussion. That of course does not answer the question of whether he hid a concussion.
■ CHINA GAME: Last year, NFL executive vice president Mark Waller said May was the deadline for deciding whether the league could play a regular-season game in China in 2018. That deadline is now pushed back to the end of next month, Waller said. Scheduling and timing remain the main issues. One silver lining of the Rams postponing their stadium opening from 2019 to 2020 is they are now eligible to play in China in 2019, as they had volunteered to do so for 2018.
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The Jaguars are watching the economy, here and in London.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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■ JAGUARS’ FUTURE: Speaking of international, one might think the Jaguars winning the rights to develop 45 acres adjacent to their stadium, a $500 million to $1 billion mixed-use development, might quell talk of the club as a relocation candidate. But team President Mark Lamping said such talk is unlikely to die down given the economic issues the team confronts playing in such a modest market with a transient population. He is hopeful that playing one game a season in London should be enough to keep the team in Jacksonville. The club was modestly hit by Brexit, the United Kingdom’s vote last June to leave the European Union, with currency drops resulting in about $1 million less last year for the team. But unless Brexit results in staffing shortages in London, Lamping said, he doesn’t believe the team will be greatly affected.
■ GAMBLING QUESTION: It would seem straightforward that an NFL team cannot have gambling apps in use in-stadium during games, given the league’s blanket opposition to legalized sports gambling. But the soon-to-be Las Vegas Raiders, and Goodell, declined to object to this scenario. Nevada officials said they have received no application to bar the apps in the new Las Vegas stadium, and Goodell said policies will be reviewed in coming years. “That’s not something we’ve addressed at this point, but I’ve said before that with the Raiders playing in Las Vegas there will be policies that we are going to evaluate. We are going to look at what we can do differently but also intelligently and be responsible.” That sounds like a softening of the NFL’s anti-gambling stance, which given the approval of Vegas as an NFL market may seem obvious in retrospect.
■ COMINGS AND GOINGS: Raiders owner Mark Davis said he would like his team to play in Oakland in 2019. Good luck persuading the city to extend a lease for a third lame-duck year. … This meeting marked the first for new Chief Medical Officer Allen Sills, and his first initiative is medical tents on the sidelines. … Asked about new football operations head Tom Coughlin, notorious for his conservative habits, the Jaguars’ Lamping laughed and said all the coaches quickly switched from sweatpants to khakis. But Coughlin didn’t care and the coaches are back to wearing sweats, Lamping said.
