Sunday, February 14, 2010

a View of from Pittsburgh on NFL Labor Talks

Harris: NFL owners figure to win labor fight

Buzz up!

By John Harris, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, February 13, 2010

About the writer

John Harris is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review sports columnist and can be reached at412-481-5432 or via e-mail.

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Here's a sports fan's eye-view of the cantankerous labor negotiations between NFL owners and players:

On the way to the posh Four Seasons hotel in New York City to hammer out a deal, the players' Ferrari collides with the owners' limo. During an argument over who's at fault, a plate of Waterford China carrying Beluga caviar is shattered.

Mayhem ensues, and an arbitrator sends both sides to a neutral corner.

Perceptions being what they are, the sports public doesn't give a hoot about who's right, who's at fault, how much money players are making, or how much money team owners are losing.

Joe Pittsburgh is paid by the hour, lives paycheck to paycheck and has just enough money left over to buy a marked-down, size XXL authentic Troy Polamalu game jersey.

It's bad enough that grown men can become rich playing a kid's game and that in many NFL cities taxpayers foot the bill to finance the stadiums where the games are played.

But being forced to read and hear about billionaire owners squabbling with millionaire athletes over profit margins when the American economy is trying to stave off disaster is a slap in the face to sports fans everywhere.

The bottom line is no one wants to see a work stoppage in 2011. Owners and players would be foolish to kill their golden goose.

This is all about give and take. And it doesn't matter what side's giving and what side's taking.

Commissioner Roger Goodell, who represents the owners, wants the players to agree to a rookie wage scale. Union chief DeMaurice Smith, who represents the players, wants owners to give some of that concession money to veteran players.

Neither side is budging.

What's the problem? The NFL is experiencing unbridled prosperity.

The league is coming off a season in which Super Bowl XLIV between the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts was the most-watched program in the history of television with an average of 106.5 million viewers, taking over the spot held for 27 years by the final episode of M*A*S*H.

A commercial spoofing Doritos during Super Bowl XLIV was seen by an estimated 116.2 million viewers, making it the all-time most-viewed airing of a TV commercial.

Advertisers paid as much as $2.8 million for a 30-second commercial during the game.

Smith said the league would receive $5 billion from its television network deals even if no games are played in 2011. That would give owners less incentive to strike a deal.

Players, on the other hand, won't be paid if no games are played in 2011.

Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti said that some teams are bleeding money. But why ask players to make concessions now?

If owners want players to give back money, why are they paying them so much in the first place?

Why did Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder sign defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth to a $100 million contract with $41 million guaranteed last year?

Why did the Detroit Lions give No. 1 overall draft pick Matthew Stafford $41 million guaranteed? The Lions are owned by William Clay Ford Sr., whose family's other business, Ford Motor Company, is struggling to sell cars. Still, the Lions lavished money on an unproven rookie quarterback before he took his first NFL snap.

Why did Indianapolis owner Jim Irsay tell reporters during Super Bowl week that he wants to make quarterback Peyton Manning the highest-paid player in the league, including up to $50 million in bonus money?

If teams are hurting financially, how can Irsay reward Manning with a record-setting contract?

The owners set the pay scale. Now they're asking the players to save them from themselves.

And if the players don't go along with the program, they'll be cast as greedy money-grubbers who don't care about the fans who buy their jerseys and support their teams, even in a recession.

Given that the owners have a built-in $5 billion nest-egg in the event the league closes shop in 2011, the players figure to be the ones giving and the owners taking in order for labor peace to ensue.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

NFL Rewards NFL Executives

Updated: February 12, 2010, 7:07 PM ET

Goodell gets contract through 2015

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Associated Press

NEW YORK -- NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has been given a new five-year contract as the league heads into a key period of labor negotiations that could lead to a work stoppage in 2011.

Goodell replaced Paul Tagliabue on Sept. 1, 2006, and his contract was due to expire this September. The NFL said Friday that owners voted to award the new contract when they met in December, and his new deal runs until March 2015.

[+] Enlarge Roger Goodell

Scott Boehm/Getty ImagesRoger Goodell made just south of $10 million last season, of which $2.9 million was salary and $6.55 million was bonus and incentive compensation.

"We're going into a major negotiation. It will be very difficult probably in many ways and we want to have someone who has his own views, who's going to have to make some hard decisions that maybe some of us won't like," New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft said during a telephone interview.

"But in the end, I think we're confident that he and his team will do what's for the best long-term interest of the league," said Kraft, a member of the league's compensation committee. "Having stability in our management team is critical."

Goodell's new deal and the NFL's latest federal tax filing were first reported Friday by Sports Business Journal, and the league then released the information to The Associated Press.

Next season, the last in the current agreement, is on track to be played without a salary cap. NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith said last week the union views the chance of a lockout as a "14" on a scale of 1-to-10. That would end a streak of labor peace since the 1987 strike led to the cancellation of 14 games and three weeks of play with replacement players.

"Commissioner Goodell and his staff have done an outstanding job and this is a statement of confidence in Roger's leadership," said Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, who chairs the compensation committee. "NFL ownership recognizes his already significant list of accomplishments and is fully behind his strategic vision for the future of our league."

“
It's a tremendous amount of money. But if you look at it on a competitive basis, you understand that we can't bring in people from the outside and overnight they know what they're doing. We have to promote people from within because it's a complicated organization.
”-- Patriots owner Bob Kraft on Roger Goodell's extension

While all terms of the new deal have not been completed, Blank said Goodell's annual compensation will be unchanged.

The NFL said a year ago that Goodell voluntarily took a cut of 20 to 25 percent, and that he and other league executives were freezing their salaries for 2009. That announcement was made at the same time the league announced it cut 169 jobs through buyouts, layoffs and other staff reductions, a drop of just over 15 percent of a work force that had been 1,100.

The tax return for the year ending last March 31 showed Goodell made $9,759,000, of which $2.9 million was salary and $6.55 million bonus and incentive compensation.

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig had compensation of $17,470,491 for the year ending Oct. 31, 2007, according to the sport's last available tax return.

"I think Roger and his team run the entire business in a way that in today's economic environment is just outstanding," Kraft said. "And I'm comfortable with the way we're rewarding him. He on his own declined to take a bonus that we wanted to give him last year because he didn't think it was appropriate."

Compensations listed for other top officials included executive vice president of media Steve Bornstein ($7,478,000). executive vice president and general counsel Jeff Pash ($4,845,000), executive vice president business ventures Eric Grubman ($4,453,000), executive vice president public relations and government relations Joe Browne ($1,741,000), executive vice president football operations Ray Anderson ($1,158,000) and chief financial officer Anthony Noto ($853,000). Tagliabue received $3,195,000.

In a separate filing, executive vice president Harold Henderson was listed at $2,087,000.

"It's a tremendous amount of money. But if you look at it on a competitive basis, you understand that we can't bring in people from the outside and overnight they know what they're doing," Kraft said. "We have to promote people from within because it's a complicated organization. They're a lot of nuances. So we have to find good people, develop them and then make sure we're compensating them very fairly. Otherwise they would have alternatives of going to other places."

NBA Players React to NBA Porposal

Updated: February 13, 2010, 2:40 AM ET

Hunter: No lockout imminent

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Associated Press

Hunter

DALLAS -- The executive director of the NBA players' association said Friday the league tore up its proposal for a new collective bargaining agreement after a "contentious" 90-minute session.

But Billy Hunter said that doesn't mean the league is closer to a lockout when the current deal expires on July 1, 2011.

"No, I think that everybody has a different sense of things and nobody wants to see this thing that David Stern has worked and built, the NBA, the successful entity that it is, the brand, we're not out to damage it or destroy it," Hunter said after a press conference.

"So we're going to make every effort to get an agreement done, we just want an agreement that's a lot more equitable and one that doesn't have a structure that's oppressive."

Hunter said the union will submit its own proposal, but offered no timetable for when that would happen. He's in no rush, since the players believe the current system is working for both sides, and it doesn't expire for another 16 months.

The sides met Friday, with negotiators for the players fortified by the presence of All-Stars such as LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Garnett, who came to the meeting instead of attending the community service events they were scheduled for. A number of top players vowed earlier in the day to get more involved in the process.

"We should be involved," Anthony said before the meeting. "It's not only going to affect the players with the lesser contracts, it's going to affect us, too.

“
I think what we made clear today is that where they are is not relevant to where we are. We're not going to begin where they say begin. I think that was the purpose of going in today, to make sure they understood that their proposal was not the beginning of the conversation.
”-- Players' union president Derek Fisher

"When you walk into one of those meetings, one of those CBA meetings, and you see myself, you see the LeBrons and the Kobes and the Kevin Garnetts, it's a stronger presence. So I think we should go in and make our presence felt."

Hunter said the union received the proposal on Jan. 29. It calls for dramatic financial changes, with Hunter saying the league seeks a "hard" salary cap which would eliminate the Bird and midlevel exceptions that teams over the cap can use to sign players if they are willing to pay a luxury tax.

Los Angeles Lakers guard Derek Fisher, the union president, said the players made clear there was "not any way that we were going to be able to use [the proposal] as a starting point for future collective bargaining negotiations."

"I think what we made clear today is that where they are is not relevant to where we are. We're not going to begin where they say begin," Fisher said. "I think that was the purpose of going in today, to make sure they understood that their proposal was not the beginning of the conversation."

Deputy commissioner Adam Silver, who heads the league's negotiating team, said in a statement that, "While we do not agree with the players association's characterization of today's meeting or the status of the NBA's bargaining proposal, David will address the subject of collective bargaining during his media availability prior to All-Star Saturday night."

A person who had seen the proposal told The Associated Press on Thursday that it called for first-round picks to have their salaries cut by about one-third, would reduce the minimum salary by as much as 20 percent, and would guarantee contracts for only half their value. Also, the total value of a maximum salary would drop sharply, as would the total years players could sign for.

The proposal rallied the players, especially after Hunter forwarded them comments from an executive who recently told CBSSports.com that, "if they don't like the new max contracts, LeBron can play football, where he will make less than the new max. Wade can be a fashion model or whatever. They won't make squat and no one will remember who they are in a few years."

"I think that maybe they underestimated the response, the blowback that they were going to get to the proposal," said Hunter, who added it would affect "every player at every level in the NBA" and included "everything that [management] could ever think of."

The players' share of basketball-related income would also be slashed from the current 57 percent to well below half. Hunter countered that instead of players giving up so much, the NBA needed to expand its revenue sharing so larger market teams could help the smaller market ones.

"Our position was it was a nonstarter," Hunter said of the proposal.

Hunter said the league wants a new CBA before this July, so it can be in place before the expected stellar free agent class headlined by James. He added the league seeks "retroactive modification," meaning contracts signed under the current deal would then have to conform to the rules of the new one.

The differences in their positions have created fears of the first work stoppage since a lockout that reduced the 1999 season to 50 games. They opened talks and exchanged financial information last summer to get an early start on bargaining, and Hunter said he was surprised by the strength of the league's proposal after those sessions went well.

New Orleans guard Chris Paul is currently the only All-Star on the bargaining committee, but whenever talks resume, it sounds as if the top players plan to stay involved.

"I think we've learned a lot from the past bargaining agreement," San Antonio's Tim Duncansaid. "That was a big turning point in the last one, when a lot of the big guys stepped up and made their voices heard. That helped the situation. I think everyone will be involved a lot more this time. People will understand what it takes. Everyone understands changes are going to be made. We need to step up and make our voices heard so it's not an extreme change."

From The Desk Of Jean Fugett