Showing posts with label owners. Show all posts
Showing posts with label owners. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Sunday, June 5, 2011
DirecTV won't charge 'Sunday Ticket' owners for missed games
DirecTV issued a statement to its "NFL Sunday Ticket" subscribers Thursday, saying no one will be charged for the service unless games are played.
"If the NFL negotiations result in a shortened or canceled season, rest assured that DIRECTV has you covered," the satellite television provider said. "Your subscription to NFL SUNDAY TICKET is risk-free: You will not pay for any game that the NFL does not play."
The NFL lockout is in its third month, although the league and players held three consecutive days of mediated talks this week.
DirecTV added that a subscriber who already has paid for the 2011 package will receive a credit for every missed week. A subscriber whose package is up for renewal will not be charged until a start date for the 2011 season is confirmed.
"NFL Sunday Ticket," which started in 1994, makes out-of-market games available to viewers. DirecTV has exclusive rights to the package through the 2014 season.
Players have contested the league's TV deals, saying the NFL illegally secured $4.078 billion to build a "lockout fund." The players cited $400 million in revenue from DirecTV, as well as $40 million from ESPN and $17 million from Verizon, as money that the league didn't need to repay if there isn't a 2011 season.
U.S. District Judge David Doty, who has ruled against the league, heard the players' argument for damages May 12, but he hasn't issued a decision.
Lawyer Tom Heiden said the players want $707 million stemming from the TV contracts, plus additional undetermined compensation arising from other rights and compensatory and punitive damages that would punish and deter future behavior. A special master previously awarded the players just $6.9 million in damages, a ruling that the league asked Doty to uphold.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Labor lawyer sees similarities between NFL, NHL owners
DALLAS -- An outside labor lawyer for the NFL says the league's owners are as unified right now as NHL owners were when that sport lost an entire season to a lockout.
Bob Batterman said Wednesday that the owners of the NFL's 32 teams "know what's wrong with the business today, and know how it needs to be changed."
He said the "only other time" he has seen team owners show such "complete unity" was when he worked for the NHL during its labor problems that led to the 2004-05 season being wiped out.
Batterman spoke after a pre-Super Bowl news conference held by Jeff Pash, the NFL's lead in-house negotiator. Pash emphasized the "considerable significance" of reaching a deal with the players' union by early March, when the current collective bargaining agreement expires.
For more NFL labor news, visit http://NFLLabor.com
Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Video will show owners that players have adjusted to hits edict
NEW YORK -- When NFL owners meet in Dallas next week, they will see a video of clean hits in games played since the league's crackdown on flagrant fouls.
NFL executive vice president of football operations Ray Anderson told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the video "clearly shows players making adjustments" and that some former rule-breakers when it came to hitting defenseless players "have gotten the message."
"Frankly, some players who previously have been fined or disciplined have made the adjustments we are looking for to play within the rules," Anderson said. "It is hard to declare any trends this soon; it's premature to do that. But certainly what we are seeing, not just us in this office, but officials and coaches have reported they see players making appropriate adjustments. And particularly where in prior instances there may have been a little more hitting, perhaps some gratuitous shots being meted out, players now refrain.
"We are encouraged players are making the adjustment."
The league announced seven weeks ago that it would fine players heavily and perhaps suspend them for illegal hits after a rash of such tackles Oct. 17. While the amount of fines has increased -- several players have been docked $40,000 or more -- no one has been suspended.
That doesn't mean suspensions won't come for flagrant fouls, Anderson warned.
"There should be no confusion if a suspension is necessary because money is not deterring (illegal) actions," Anderson said. "That is an option that is available for continued violations.
"Everyone doesn't get a free pass, no matter how egregious a hit might be the first time. We don't want anyone thinking that this is my one time to make such a hit, and I can stay on the field. They should not be operating under that false assumption."
The tape compiled by Anderson and his staff eventually will be distributed throughout the league, including to the players. At the end of the season and during the offseason, the NFL routinely sends out videos demonstrating plays that are within the rules.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell expected adaptation to the crackdown on illegal hits wouldn't be immediate.
"Any time you have changes, there's a period of adapting to those changes, and it's happened over the last several decades of football," he said Wednesday. "Any time we've made rule changes or had emphasis on certain areas, there's a period of adjustment from a player standpoint, a coaching standpoint, officiating standpoint. And that's something that we always go through.
"But I think we're getting to the point where people understand what we're looking for, and we'll hopefully get to a point where it's being enforced on a consistent basis and the players understand what we're looking for."
Two moments in last Sunday's Steelers-Ravens game drew attention because they weren't penalized: Baltimore defensive tackle Haloti Ngata breaking quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's nose, and the hit Jameel McClain delivered on Heath Miller that gave the Pittsburgh tight end a concussion. McClain was fined $40,000 on Monday, and Ngata was docked $15,000.
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There were loud cries of favoritism during and after Pittsburgh's victory -- the Steelers have been vocal about feeling picked on by the league, a notion that Anderson vehemently dismissed.
"We don't put any credence into that and would dispute that unequivocally," he said. "I have been hearing that since the first time I understood what competitive football was, and any of us who follows football has been hearing that for decades.
"The integrity of the game is first and foremost. Under this commissioner and leadership of this office, that is not something we would tolerate or condone. If we ever believed any of that was going on, we would come down with a vengeance."
Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press
Friday, October 15, 2010
Owners, Goodell want new labor deal with players soon
CHICAGO -- For now, optimism is the NFL owners' approach in negotiations with the players on a new collective-bargaining agreement.
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft said Tuesday that it's a realistic goal to reach a new labor deal before the end of the season. At the conclusion of the NFL Fall League Meeting, Kraft said: "We're moving ahead. I'd like to see this get done before the season ends." Asked if that was a realistic objective, he added "to me it is."
Even as the 32 team owners discussed strategies for negotiations with the NFL Players Association and the possibility of a work stoppage, many of them expressed confidence that the league isn't headed for a lockout. The CBA expires in March, and union officials steadfastly claim they expect to be locked out if a new deal isn't reached.
"It's taken a lot of time and energy to build the league into what it is, and we want to keep it going," Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay said Tuesday. "I don't think it's doomsday, and we're taking it a day at a time. Everybody is engaged, and from my perspective, the key thing is to find a solution. That's where both sides are.
"I know that energy (to reach a deal) will be there."
Added Commissioner Roger Goodell: "Our issue is to get there sooner rather than later, bargaining in good faith and get an agreement with the players that is fair."
NFLPA president Kevin Mawae, who recently retired after a 16-year playing career, also called for an early agreement.
"We should recognize the business we are both in, and for our fans and workers, let's wrap this up by the holidays," Mawae told The Associated Press in an e-mail. "I agree on both time and energy. Since 2006, the players contributed almost $3 billion to stadium construction and improvements, so our investment is at risk, too. The players are the ones losing their health care, and yet it was the owners who opted out of this deal and are threatening a lockout."
Expanding the regular season to 18 games wasn't discussed, except when Irsay joked about it. Colts president Bill Polian recently said that it was a "fait accompli," then was admonished by Goodell.
"There's nothing else to report," Irsay said with a laugh. "My president said some things, and then the commissioner said some things to him, and I said some things."
Goodell reiterated Tuesday that the league wants all of its partners involved in such a decision.
"We're trying to do it the right way, in a comprehensive fashion and understanding all perspectives of this," Goodell said. "We recognize the player-health-safety issues and what we do to prepare our players in the offseason. I think we've been both thoughtful and intelligent. We made a proposal to the players on this.
"Every day you go by without implementing it, that's probably another day it is into the future. We're not as focused on when as much as doing it properly."
Goodell and the NFL Alumni also announced a partnership to benefit retired players that will include the Gay Culverhouse Players' Outreach Program. Efforts will include hiring case workers, establishment of a toll-free hotline and personal contact with retired players and their families through events sponsored by NFL Alumni and the Culverhouse program.
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"There are very comprehensive benefits and services available," Goodell said. "But too often former players and their families don't know what they are or how to gain access to the programs."
Hall of Famer Mike Ditka spoke to the owners about treatment of retired players. Ditka is an active critic of how the league has handled taking care of retired players.
"Ain't no one going broke in football," Ditka said. "Greed is a great sin."
For more NFL labor news, visit http://NFLLabor.com
Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Union head Smith: NFL owners gearing up for lockout in 2011
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith sees new signs that league owners are preparing for a football-free 2011.
With support from Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, Smith asked fans to take the players' side.
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Speaking at a tailgate-style fan luncheon a few blocks from Lambeau Field on Tuesday, Smith referred to a recent Sports Business Journal report that said the NFL is requiring banks that lend money to its teams to extend grace periods for loan defaults through the end of the 2011 season in the event of a lockout.
"That to me is a step where the owners are protecting themselves in the event that there is no season," Smith said.
Smith said the move, along with provisions in television deals to provide for some payments even if there is a lockout, are evidence that owners are planning for the possibility that there won't be a season in 2011.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello noted that the players are going through the process of approving the potential decertification of their union, a move that could be seen as preparing for protracted negotiations.
"There are many preparations taking place, including the union preparing to decertify and go out of business," Aiello said. "Our focus is on negotiating a new agreement with the union. The longer it goes, the tougher it will be, and we are not sure if this union plans on continuing to be a union."
Rodgers, the Packers' newly elected player representative to the union, asked the crowd of about 300 fans for their support.
"We're going to keep you guys daily on our minds and we realize how much this means, and affects not only us but this community," Rodgers said. "We thank you for your support, and stand with us. It's going to be a tough fight, but we're trusting that in the end everything's going to turn out to way it's supposed to."
In a meeting Monday, Packers players voted to become the latest NFL team to give the union approval to decertify in the event of a lockout. Decertification would give players the right to sue the NFL under antitrust laws if there is a lockout, a threat that could strengthen the players' position in collective bargaining negotiations.
Smith said lawsuits have played an important role in past gains by the players, referencing late Packers icon Reggie White's role in the implementation of today's free-agency system.
"Look, the fact is most of our fans who love this game right now believe mistakenly that free agency was a gift to the players," Smith said. "That's not true. Reggie White and Freeman McNeil put their careers on the line and had to sue for free agency."
But Smith wouldn't say whether the union or individual players currently are considering a new lawsuit or are simply relying on the threat of legal action to force owners to make concessions in negotiations.
"The only thing that we will do is continue to protect our interest," Smith said.
Smith said players have always been willing to keep playing under an extension of the existing CBA, and he reiterated complaints that owners refuse to open their financial records. As the NFL's only publicly owned franchise, the Packers are the only team that makes it financial information public.
The Packers posted an operating profit of approximately $9.8 million in the fiscal year that ended March 31, down from $20.1 million the previous year. Taking into account investment losses that were less severe, the team reported net income of approximately $5.2 million, up from $4 million.
"Show us the financial data that says that the National Football League is in some sort of economic (hardship)," Smith said. "And so far all we've heard back is from their lead negotiator, who said that's none of our business."
Smith took a positive tone when he spoke about his good working relationship with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, but he wasn't willing to estimate how likely it was that a new deal could come together in the near future.
"It seems to me that the greatest gift we could possibly give is a Christmas gift where we sign a new deal and tell people that football for our fans is not only going to continue, but the businesses that rely on football and the jobs that this game generates are going to be secure," Smith said.
For more NFL labor news, visit http://NFLLabor.com
Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press
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