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April 1, 2008

By David Elfin - PALM BEACH, Fla. -- NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is concerned the economics of the league's collective bargaining agreement with its players association, extended just two years ago, aren't working.

"The thing we are starting to realize is that [the CBA] has swung considerably toward the players," Goodell said yesterday at the opening of the NFL's annual spring meeting. "In the economy we have now, that can really [have] a significant impact on clubs. We have rising costs. The economics of operating a team are extremely thin
margins. When you shrink the margins, at some point in time the agreement becomes untenable. We have to be very cautious here, and the players need to recognize those risks and the tremendous costs."

NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw wasn't surprised by Goodell's comments.

"The players have already recognized the risk," Upshaw told The Washington Times. "We are the only union in sports that helps the owners finance and build stadiums [through the NFL's G3 program] ... because we were concerned about teams leaving larger markets for smaller markets. We will have to wait and see what 'thin' means. It sure does not sound like 'loses.' The owners cannot live with this CBA. The players will not accept less than we are already getting."

When the CBA was extended in 2006 after several delays and plenty of arm-twisting by Goodell's predecessor, Paul Tagliabue, the salary cap soared from $85 million to $102 million. At $116 million this year for each of the 32 teams, that's a league-wide jump of almost $1 billion in just three years.

Large market teams like the Washington Redskins, who set an all-time NFL attendance record in 2007, the Dallas Cowboys and the New England Patriots, can handle that increase. It's not so easy for the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Cincinnati Bengals or the Buffalo Bills.

"[We want to] keep a strong economic foundation so all teams have the ability to compete," Goodell said.

If enough owners join Buffalo's Ralph Wilson and Pat Bowlen of the Denver Broncos in expressing so much concern about the renegotiated CBA that they vote to opt out of the deal in November, Upshaw has threatened to decertify the union. Those moves would trigger the termination of the cap in 2010 and the expiration of the CBA for 2011,
likely giving the sport its first labor stoppage since 1987.

"It's difficult for clubs to stay up with what our owners have to pay our players," Goodell said. "The salary cap is so high that some owners aren't concerned [whether there is a cap or not]."

However, Goodell said that he's not worried that some owners, in the absence of a cap, could emulate baseball's George Steinbrenner in signing every free agent because "you can't buy championships."

Notes -- The New England Patriots' three Super Bowl championships during the past seven seasons are being questioned because of accusations of stealing opponents' signals. Goodell and Patriots owner Robert Kraft both expressed frustration yesterday over the slowness of the investigation into former videographer Matt Walsh's claims.

"We won 18 games, and a day or two before the Super Bowl the damaging allegations came out," Kraft said in his first public comments since then. "Seven weeks later, there has been no confirmation. We live in a society where people can make any kind of an [accusation]. It has to be substantiated. I know how hard our people worked to accomplish what they did this year."

Goodell, who punished Patriots coach Bill Belichick for stealing the New York Jets' signals in the 2007 opener by taking away New England's first-round pick in this month's draft, remains confident that's as far as "Spygate" goes.

"We're making progress I think," Goodell said. "We have met with over 50 people, and [Walsh] is the only one [with] conditions [to talk]. He has implied through the media that he may have information I have not been aware of. If he does, I would be anxious to see it." ...

The owners approved the sale of 50 percent of the Miami Dolphins from Wayne Huizenga to Steve Ross.