‘We want an agreement,’ Goodell says

POSTED: February 6, 2010 By Bob Brookover Inquirer Staff Writer

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – DeMaurice Smith slammed a 200-m.p.h. serve into NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s end of the court Thursday afternoon when the executive director of the players’ union strongly suggested that the owners would force a work stoppage with a lockout in 2011.

Goodell was far less aggressive with his return in yesterday’s state-of-the-league address at the Broward ty Convention Center.

“We want an agreement,” Goodell said. “I think every owner will say the same thing. We want an agreement that is fair to the game, to the players, and will allow us to continue to invest in the game.

“The idea that ownership would be anxious for a work stoppage is absolutely false. You don’t make money by shutting down your business.”

That was much more diplomatic than the message sent by Smith when he met with reporters in the same building less than 24 hours earlier, but Goodell didn’t offer any substantial reasons for optimism on labor negotiations that apparently will lead to a season without a salary cap in 2010.

Smith and the Tennessee Titans’ Kevin Mawae, president of the union, the National Football League Players Association, said the owners had asked the players to take an 18 percent cut in the revenue sharing between the sides.

That contention was among 10 labor questions asked of the commissioner, who had to know the subject would dominate his news conference.

“I will tell you that what we’ve asked for very clearly” is “that when investments are made to grow the game and generate new revenue, they’re given recognition,” Goodell said. “And that will encourage further investment that will hopefully grow [the] pie.”

Goodell said that if the union agreed to help invest in a new stadium that would lead to the league’s return to Los Angeles, it would benefit the players.

“That will generate more revenue, and the players would share it,” Goodell said. “That’s a positive.”

Smith said Thursday that he’d like a closer look at the ownership revenues.

“We were all for transparency,” Goodell said. “Our players have a tremendous amount of the economic data . . . and we will continue to share that data with them.”

He stressed that since the 2006 collective-bargaining agreement was struck, “we have generated $3.6 billion in additional revenue” and “$2.6 billion of that has gone to the players.”

“The owners are actually $200 million worse off than they were in 2006,” Goodell said. “So the system is not working for at least one side of the equation. And that’s the point. You have to have a system that works for everybody here.

“And so we will continue to make sure the players understand the economics of the league . . . that the owners and the clubs are being squeezed.”

Goodell seemed bothered by Smith’s forecast of a work stoppage.

“I couldn’t make that prediction and I sure hope he’s wrong,” the commissioner said. “I sure hope it doesn’t become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Right now, we don’t need a lot of focus on that.”

The commissioner said the league would continue to implement new guidelines for dealing with and trying to prevent concussions. Some of the guidelines were introduced this season after the Eagles’ Brian Westbrook twice left games because of brain injuries.

“We have more work to do, but we think that we’re making progress on the awareness, and we’re changing the culture,” Goodell said. “That’s what we really want to do. We want to make sure people understand that they are serious injuries, and make sure that we deal with them in a conservative and medical fashion.”

Goodell continued to push for expanding the season to 18 games, a move that would probably be tied to the next collective-bargaining agreement.

“The restructured season is something that we give a lot of consideration for a variety of reasons,” Goodell said.

“One is the quality of what we do,” he said. “I consistently hear from players and fans that the quality of our preseason is not up to standards and that we need to fix that. We need to address that. This is one way of doing that, and I believe it is an effective way.”

The commissioner was asked whether the league should stage the 2014 Super Bowl in East Rutherford, N.J., where the New York Giants and Jets will share a new open-air stadium next season. Goodell said he had to be neutral, but didn’t appear to be.

“I think there are real benefits to the league considering this as an option,” Goodell said. “I think the idea of playing in the elements is central to the way the game of football is played.

“I think being able to do that and celebrate the game of football in the No. 1 market could have tremendous benefits to the league going forward.”

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Contact staff writer Bob Brookover at 215-854-2577 or bbrookover@phillynews.com.