Sports

NFL

Tagliabue: Talks at 'dead end'

Associated Press
Published March 22, 2005

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KAPALUA, Hawaii - Commissioner Paul Tagliabue opened the owner's meetings Monday with a sobering address.

Negotiations to extend the collective-bargaining agreement between the league and union "are at a dead end," he said.

Tagliabue called a special meeting for April 19 to attempt to resolve the dispute, which centers around how much of the NFL's total football revenue will be devoted to player salaries.

Even though the CBA doesn't expire until 2008, negotiations are being described as the most contentious since 1992. Under the terms of the deal, unless an agreement is reached, 2007 will become a year without a salary cap, causing chaos for some smaller market teams that would have trouble competing for free agents.

"I said I think negotiations at this point have exhausted themselves and are at a dead end, and we need to resume them on a realistic basis, and that's what we intend to do," Tagliabue said.

Tagliabue disputed reports that internal rifts between high-revenue and low-revenue teams have stalled talks with the union.

"The union is asking for a lot of money," Steelers owner Dan Rooney said. "We can't get to that because of where we are among ourselves."

Players receive 64 percent of "designated gross revenue," the amount the league generates from television, ticket prices and other shared money. The union wants that same percentage to include "total football revenue," including advertising and marketing deals brokered by individual teams such as Cowboys and Redskins.

But Tagliabue said the rising costs of the debt service for stadium construction represents 3 to 4 percent of total revenue.

"That's a major new factor, and we have to figure out with the players' association how to address that in the collective-bargaining agreement and then resolve some of the other issues."

Tagliabue bristled at any comparison to the NHL's problems.

"I'm not going to answer any questions that compare the NFL to hockey in terms of labor relations," he said. "I used ("dead end') on purpose. I wrote it myself at 7 o'clock last night. I said the negotiations had exhausted themselves - not the negotiators, the negotiations - and we're at a dead end. Namely, the best way to get a good labor deal for both sides is to continue to have a rising tide that raises all boats. And I think that's where we are."

STEROIDS TALK: In the wake of reports linking unnamed current and former Carolina Panthers players to steroid use, Tagliabue said the league's policy could be better.

"I'm comfortable our steroid policy is very effective," he said. "And no, I can't say I'm comfortable with things not slipping through the cracks, because THG (human growth hormone) slipped through everyone's cracks because it was not a known substance and there was no test for it. And now that there's a test for it, we're testing.

"I think we have a very strong program and very pervasive testing and very severe penalties and minimum number of violations. But is it perfect? No."

KICKOFF WEEKEND: The league announced its schedule for nationally televised games the first week of the regular season: Thursday, Sept. 8 - Oakland at New England (ABC); Sunday, Sept. 11 - Dallas at San Diego (Fox); Sunday, Sept. 11 - Indianapolis at Baltimore (ESPN); Monday, Sept. 12 - Philadelphia at Atlanta (ABC). The rest of the schedule will be announced in early April.

IN MEXICO: The first regular-season game outside the United States will be Oct.2 when Arizona plays San Francisco in Mexico City. "Mexico is the country with the most NFL fans outside of the United States," Tagliabue said. "Our fans in Mexico are knowledgeable and passionate and they are ready for this next step."

[Last modified March 22, 2005, 01:22:12]

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