Roger & You: Chatting with the Commish

Earlier today Roger Goodell waded through some of the 6,000 questions that were submitted for his pre-season chat on NFL.com.  Among the surprises, it turns out that the commissioner “can’t wait” for the beginning of the season and thinks that “its important to recognize the tradition and history of our game.”  But he take on a number of good questions concerning the CBA.  Here are the relevant answers:

Extended Schedule. When will there be less pre season games & more regular season games?

Goodell:  [A]s you may know, we have discussed restructuring our 20-game season from its current format of 4 preseason games and 16 regular-season games to possibly 18 regular-season and 2 preseason games. I’ve heard consistently from NFL fans that they don’t believe the preseason games are up to NFL standards. I agree. We are discussing changing this with our partners, including the players.

State of the CBA Negotiations. Hello,Commissioner Goodell! What can you tell me about the current labor situation and when will the players and owners meet again for negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement? Like many other big NFL fans,I hope there’s football in 2011 and beyond.Thank you very much!

Goodell: [W]e just started a formal negotiation with the NFLPA this past summer. We have a lot of work to do, but we recognize we need to get the CBA negotiated in a way that will allow our game to continue to grow.  We don’t want to stop football from being played and are hopeful that negotiations will result in bringing you more football.

Rookie Salary Cap. Commissioner, how important do you think it is to implement a rookie wage scale?

Goodell: I have been on record as saying the rookie wage scale is good for veteran players and the game. Money should go to the players who have proven their success on the NFL field. I expect this will be one of the issues that will be addressed in the CBA.

Commish’s Goals. As Commissioner, what are your top 3 business objectives for the NFL master franchise over the course of the next 5-10 years?

Goodell: Our focus will be continuing to have 32 strong teams with a new CBA that works for both players and owners and continues to grow the game. Additionally, we hope to find new and innovative ways to bring more football to our fans, including on new technology like we’re doing with the RedZone this season.

Suspensions. How do you go about deciding the length of a players suspension? What is the process that u go through[?]

Goodell: [T]his is an important part of my job, but fortunately a small part of it. The first step is to make sure you understand all the facts and provide each individual player with due process, including a full hearing. You want everyone in the NFL to understand the standards and privilege of being part of the NFL. If we engage in mistakes that reflect poorly on the NFL shield, there must be consequences consistently applied. We see positive signs that this is having an impact in reduced incidents.

End of the Salary Cap: Commissioner, could you explain what would happen in an uncapped year? Thanks.

Goodell: [T]here are a number of rules in place if we move into an uncapped year for the 2010 season. For example, eligibility for free agency would go from four years to six years, there are restrictions on the final eight playoff teams signing free agents, and each team gets an additional transitional tag along with a franchise tag. The rules during an uncapped year are designed to keep our competitive balance. The clubs are prepared for this outcome and I don’t think it will affect the quality of the game on the field.

Advice for the Commish?: There is no handbook to follow on how to be a comissioner, so what person/persons and/or things help guide you in your daily decisions?

Goodell: [Y]ou’re right — there is no handbook. You are faced with a variety of issues and challenges. My best advice is that you get all the facts by talking to a wide range of people. You can never think you have all the answers and normally your decisions will result in a number of people who disgree with you. You just try to do what you think is right for the game regardless of the consequences.

Development of Future NFL Players: With the closure of NFL Europe and the collapse of the Arena League, it seems like there is a large void in the development of players that don’t fill the immediate need of the current 53 man roster. Is the NFL looking into expanding the practice squads or developing a development league like the NBA?

Goodell: As part of our discussions on a restructured season, we have discussed offseason training, the possibility of a developmental league and additional roster positions, including practice squad. The development of players, coaches and officials will be important as we continue to grow the league.

———

It was a good chat.  Kudos to the commish for taking the time to answer the questions.  Hopefully the NFLPA will go on the record in a similar sort of chat.

Filed under: extended schedule, personal conduct policy, restricted free agency, Roger Goodell, rookie salary cap, salary cap, chats

Post-Vacation Blogging: Dragon Slayer

Here’s some stories I missed while at the beach:

• CincyJungle breaks down their reasons for wanting a rookie salary cap. So does the Indianapolis Colts front office.
• This random guy with a massive face wants a rookie salary cap, too.
• The Charlotte Observer quotes Muhsin Muhammad expressing concerns that a longer regular season might have negative health effects on the players.
• Good quote from the same story: Carolina linebacker Na’il Diggs called an 18-game season “a dragon we’ll have to slay when it comes.” “I’m sure it’ll be more money for television and all that, but for us, maybe not so good,” said Diggs. “It’s going to be taxing. Sixteen games is (already) a pretty good tearing up of the body.”
• Sports Illustrated’s John Lopez wants to extend the season.
• ProFootballTalk digs into the CBA, noting that the Broncos CANNOT send Brandon Marshall home with pay to just get him out of the locker room (following his suspension, of course) due to a rule introduced in the last CBA.
• IDislikeYourFavoriteTeam.com is working his way through the CBA issues, too.

Filed under: extended schedule, other CBA provisions, personal conduct policy, player contracts, rookie salary cap, Brandon Marshall, Carolina Panthers, CincyJungle, Indianapolis Colts, Muhsin Muhammad, Na'il Diggs, ProFootballTalk

Goodell: Step Forward, Step Back

Roger Goodell spoke with Jason Reid of the Washington Post during his visit to Redskins Park.  He addressed a few issues related to the CBA.

On the negotiations:

“I think everybody in the NFL wants to play,” Goodell told reporters this morning. “The owners want to play, the players want to play. It’s our job to get a deal. It’s why I keep saying a lockout is not a strategy or an objective. What we want to do is get an agreement that works for the players, the coaches and the game, allows us to continue to grow it. There’s not a lot of rhetoric that’s needed. We need to sit down at the table and try to get those issues resolved.”

…

“Any time you’re in negotiations, you take a step forward and maybe a step back,” Goodell said. “We’re communicating, we’re trying to get information to the union leadership, make sure they understand the challenges we’re facing as a system and as a business. And make they sure they understand that so we can design a system that addresses the issues for the players, the coaches and the game.”

“When we get an outcome, I don’t know. What we’re looking for is the right outcome.”

Reid reports that Goodell is planning on meeting with NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith while he’s in Washington.

On the personal conduct policy:

“When we developed a personal conduct policy, we did it with player input. I met with well over 150 players, worked with Gene Upshaw [the NFLPA executive director who died in August 2008] to create the policy, and it was something players really wanted, for exactly the point you’re making: we’re good people; a few people are giving us a bad reputation. And I don’t think that’s right.

“I’m proud of what our players do, both on and off the field. I think we have a bunch of great guys. It’s one of the things I hear consistently from coaches and when I spend time in the locker room: these are great young men.”

I’ll note, once again, that the sports journalists are very much on Goodell’s side when it comes to the personal conduct policy.  Reid’s characterization of the policy to Goodell? “a few bad apples spoiling the bunch.”  Is that really the issue?  Isn’t it the problem of judge/jury/executioner? Goodell as the first, last, and only reviewer of this policy? There’s a process issue here.

He’s got some more quotes from the commissioner in there, too.

Filed under: extended schedule, personal conduct policy, Roger Goodell, Washington Redskins

Belichick Against NFL Expanding the Rosters

Section XXXIII of the 2006 CBA dictates the number of players that can be on the roster for each NFL team: 45 (there’s a separate section for the number of practice squad [XXXIV]).   With the possibility that the season will be extended to 18+ games, there’s been some talk about expanding the rosters.  Bill Belichick isn’t buying.  He’s afraid that an expanded team will lead to too much specialization and turn off the fans:

“There is a certain movement out there among different teams and coaches and media, and so forth, about expanding the rosters. They are saying if we have more players [on game day], we’re already paying a certain number of guys, so why not let them all play? But I think the downside of that, the more players you have, the more specialization you have.

“So now you have a kickoff guy, a field-goal guy, a snapper, a punt return guy, a kickoff return guy, a blocking tight end on goal line, a receiving tight end on third down. Then defensively you need all the people to match those, so before you know it, you have a plus-50 punt return guy, then you have a guy on a long field to return punts, you have a lot of ball-handling situations.

“So yeah, you can take the roster to 70 and find a spot for everybody, for that one situation, kind of like in college – you have a field-goal snapper, you have a punt snapper, you get 20 guys to do 20 different things. I’m not sure that is good for the game. … I don’t know if the fans want to see that or don’t want to see that. I think that’s an interesting question. Do they want to see 50 guys out there playing, or do they want to see 30 they know and can keep track of?”

Mike Reiss of the Boston Globe was reporting Belichick’s thoughts here.  As a side note, it looks like ESPN is trying to go local and has poached Reiss, an outstanding football reporter, for it’s new ESPNBoston.  Good luck, Mike!

Filed under: extended schedule, Bill Belichick, Boston Globe, CBA Section XXXIII, CBA Section XXXIV, ESPN, Mike Reiss

Muhsin Muhammed, Player Rep, on Extended Schedule

Muhsin Muhammed isn’t sure that that an extended schedule is a great idea, but he’s open to it.

“Eighteen games is a lot of games,” Muhammad said. “You’d obviously have to be talking about another bye week. Then you’re talking about moving the Super Bowl back.

“There are a lot of different things that factor into that. You’re talking about two more games that mean something for the same amount pay and the whole bit. You just don’t know where that’s going to go. Obviously that’s why we hired DeMaurice Smith to go out there and figure out what’s the best-case scenario for the players.”

Filed under: extended schedule, NFLPA, DeMaurice Smith, Muhsin Muhammed

Kurt Warner Against Extended Schedule

Kurt Warner has come out against shortening the preseason and extending the regular season:

“The season is so long, and it’s so physically demanding with the size and speed of the game now,” he said this summer. “I think you’re asking for trouble.”

Warner wonders, too, if a shortened preseason would mean fewer magical stories such as his.

An undrafted free agent, he was cut by the Packers then played in the Arena League and in NFL Europe before making the Rams roster as the No. 3 quarterback.

The Arena League and NFL Europe have folded. Two fewer preseason games would give an untested quarterback from Northern Iowa fewer opportunities to prove himself.

“Had I not been a guy who had preseason, I may never have made it,” Warner said in June. “That’s a huge key, because you can never tell what a guy can do until he gets in between the lines.”

I suppose one solution would be to NOT charge the same for preseason games as you do for regular season ones, right?

Filed under: extended schedule, Arizona Cardinals, Kurt Warner

RadRev News Roundup – Part I

I got a little busy at work the last few days, so here’s a round up of a few of the happenings in the NFL and NFLPA.  I’ll expand on some of the issues in later posts.

• Former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue spoke to high school coaches about curbing steroid use in the NFL and grassroots/high school leagues.

Money Quote: “The Players Association and players viewed steroids like coal miners viewed coal dust,” Tagliabue said. “They didn’t want it.”

• The Washington Examiner (DC) rails against pre-season football and encourages the sides to agree to an extended schedule in the next CBA.

Money Quote: “NFL teams mandate fans buy two preseason games as part of the overall package without any price break. That’s pure greed. Owners pay players $1,100 per preseason game, but still charge fans the max.”

• The Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA) reports that Robert Kraft and the Patriots are trying to stay flexible in their player contract situations due to the uncertainty of the labor negotiations and the possibility of an uncapped year in 2010.  Logan Mankins, Sebastian Gostkowski, and Vince Wilfork all have contracts expiring after this season.

Money Quote: ““We’re coming into a labor era where we don’t know what the rules are going to be. … So we want to be flexible.” ~ Pats Owner Robert Kraft

• Speaking of player contracts, Michael Crabtree has yet to sign in San Fran; the sportswriters and 49ers fans continue to vent.  John Lopez of Sports Illustrated breaks down the chances of a rookie salary cap/slotting system in the new CBA and finds little support, blames agents.

Money Quote:  ”Roger Goodell is right and so are you. It is an absurd system. But that doesn’t mean it’s going to change anytime soon. In fact, it probably won’t.”

• NFLPA Exec. Dir. DeMaurice Smith is visiting training camps to keep the players on the same page for the upcoming CBA talks.  Arrowhead Pride (KC) gives a quick update and links to a more in-depth piece at BobGretz.com (that I’ll more fully discuss soon).

Money Quote:  It’s us against them, as [Mike] Vrabel recently told reporters. ”Right now, that’s the unfortunate side of our business. There are owners and there is everybody else. We are everybody else and we need to stick together.”

Filed under: anti-doping policy, extended schedule, NFLPA, NFLPA Player Representatives, player contracts, rookie salary cap, 49ers, Bob Gretz, Chiefs, DeMaurice Smith, Kansas City Chiefs, Logan Mankins, Michael Crabtree, Mike Vrabel, New England Patriots, Patriots, Paul Tagliabue, Robert Kraft, San Francisco 49ers, Sebastian Gostowski, steroids, Vince Wilfork

Extended Schedule? GB Snow Shovelers Like It

In what will likely be a bargaining chip for the player’s association, the Green Bay Press Gazette (WI) discusses the NFL’s likely push for an extended 17-18 game schedule. The idea behind the extended schedule is to less the pre-season games that many coaches and players feel is less about preparation than last minute team tryouts. (The plan is to extend the final game into January, too.) Fans typically are furious that they have to pay top dollar to see third-string (and soon-to-be-cut) players face off against their JuCo rivals.   For the NFLPA, however, this would represent a longer season and more work for their players — but if this is palatable, this could be a great carrot to achieve other gains.

That said, the folks in Green Bay don’t have any particular horse in this fight:

“We’re really in a unique situation because we’re sold out at every game,” Sankey said. “We don’t treat the preseason games any differently. So we have not spent any time talking about it because there’s nothing we feel we have to prepare for.”

Sankey said fewer preseason games wouldn’t affect fan attendance at training camp, and sales spike in January when the Packers have a successful season anyway.

“It might benefit the snow shovelers though,” she said. The Packers have frequently called for shovelers at Lambeau Field when there’s a significant snowfall right before a home game.

Filed under: extended schedule, Green Bay Packers