Sports

NFL

Tagliabue: Labor talks stalled

A deal is in place for two seasons, but the NFL commissioner says some urgency is needed.

Associated Press
Published February 4, 2006

---

DETROIT - There's nothing like a little gloom and doom at the end of Super Bowl week.

NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue's pessimism about labor negotiations with the players' union permeated his annual state of the league address Friday.

"We're not making the kind of progress we need to be making," he said. "I don't think negotiations are going very well."

Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFL Players Association, said the same thing Thursday. Upshaw warned that without significant movement by March 9, the union will consider its legal options.

The collective bargaining agreement expires after the 2007 season. But under the current contract, there would be no salary cap in 2007. Upshaw insists if the cap disappears then, it won't come back.

Tagliabue doesn't recognize March 9 as any particular deadline - there are two full seasons remaining under the deal - but he believes the owners and players are drifting farther apart.

"I do think there needs to be an outreach and more reality on both sides," Tagliabue said.

He wasn't optimistic about making much progress in negotiations before the league's meetings begin March 25 in Orlando.

"A lot of things get done at the 11th hour and 59th minute," Tagliabue said. "I don't know if we'll get something done by the league meetings."

These talks have become more contentious in great part because owners can't agree among themselves how to divide revenues that will go to the players. High-revenue teams that make more money from sources other than television and ticket sales are balking at contributing the same percentage of income as low-revenue franchises.

Tagliabue also:

Noted that while the "Rooney rule" that requires interviewing minority candidates for coaching and front office jobs is working, no minorities got any of the eight openings filled thus far.

"I thought we were getting beyond the stereotypes and these men were accepted as coaches, not as minority coaches," Tagliabue said. "I thought it would carry over to the hiring process and it didn't.

"We all understand the need to be aggressive to blitz this issue. We need to be measured by what we do and achieve, and not by what we say."

Reiterated league support for keeping the Saints in New Orleans, saying the commitment is multiyear. He hopes all eight of their regular-season games next season will be played at the Superdome.

"The team coming back and the Superdome coming back can be a magnet to attract other businesses," he said.

Virtually ruled out another international regular-season game in 2006.

Expressed his support for instant replay as an officiating tool, even as he acknowledged the botched reversal in the Pittsburgh-Indianapolis game.

Saw only expansion to Los Angeles any time soon, though it would mean an odd number of franchises.

[Last modified February 4, 2006, 00:32:20]

[an error occurred while processing this directive]