They can’t say yes. They can’t say no.
At least the NFL owners and players agree that indecision takes time.
For the second time in a week, the NFL has postponed the start of its 2006 season by 72 hours in hopes the owners and players union will reach an extension on their collective bargaining agreement.
Minutes before teams were supposed to comply with a $94.5 million salary cap Sunday night, the NFL announced it was pushing back that deadline to 7 p.m. MST on Wednesday. The free-agent signing period begins at 10:01 p.m. on Wednesday.
All times, as NFL followers well know, are subject to change.
This time, however, it appears an agreement is inevitable.
There have been reports the respective negotiating teams have agreed in principal to a CBA extension. The owners are gathering Tuesday in Dallas to conduct a formal vote on the union’s latest proposal. A 75 percent majority, 24 of the 32 owners, are needed for approval.
“The NFL negotiators called us tonight after our negotiations broke off to indicate that they will take our complete package to the owners,” said Gene Upshaw, who heads the NFL Players Association.
It was after labor talks hit another snag Sunday afternoon that it appeared likely the NFL would begin its new season without an extension. Several teams acted in kind as the Oakland Raiders released quarterback Kerry Collins (saving $9.2 million), the New York Jets cut center Kevin Mawae (saving $1.1 million) and the St. Louis Rams dumped receiver Isaac Bruce (saving $10 million).
The announcement to delay negotiations included the provision that any cuts made because of the breakdown in labor talks could be rescinded. Why? Because a new deal is certain to include an infusion of local revenue into the league’s revenue-sharing program. And if the revenue pie expands, the players would get a larger slice. That could potentially mean the salary cap ceiling would raise to somewhere between $100 million and $110 million.
This would be welcome news to teams such as the Broncos, Raiders and Washington Redskins, who were significantly over the $94.5 million threshold a week ago and struggled to get in compliance.
The Broncos cut Trevor Pryce, Mike Anderson and Jeb Putzier last week in part because of payroll restrictions and presently are only $2 million below the cap figure, leaving them little operating room in the free-agent market.
The Redskins, who led all NFL teams in 2004 with $287 million in annual revenues (the Broncos were seventh with $202 million), would also figure to benefit from salary cap spike. Sunday night, the Redskins and linebacker LaVar Arrington agreed to a contract buyout so that he could become a free agent, The Associated Press reported.
“For us, I’ve always looked at it as: In times of biggest change, if you can keep your head and be the smartest you may get a jump on everybody else,” Redskins coach Joe Gibbs said. “It’s a challenge, but it’s opportunities, too.”
The labor squabble essentially had two primary points of contention: One, how much of the NFL’s revenue pie should go to the players get; and, two, how much should the total revenue pie grow.
When talks broke off Sunday, the players wanted 60 percent of total revenues that included virtually all local revenues while the owners wanted to give them 56.2 percent of revenue that included only a portion of local revenues.
The biggest hurdle to negotiations, it seemed, was the internal disagreement between some large-market owners and small-market owners. Local revenues – such as stadium signage, luxury suites and local media contracts – now comprise roughly 20 percent of NFL’s total and is not included in the league’s money-sharing program.
Small-market teams such as Cincinnati and Jacksonville want local revenues to be shared. But a big-market owner such as New England’s Robert Kraft argues each team should receive what each team earns. He points out that when the league’s existing collective bargaining agreement began in 1993, the Patriots ranked 28th in the then 28-team NFL in local revenues. By 2004, the Patriots through their own built-in success that included the 2002 opening of Gillette Stadium, ranked second only to the Redskins in total revenues.
Why should the Patriots’ hard-earned dollars be split 32 ways? Then again, had New York Giants owner Wellington Mara not put the league’s best interests ahead of self-interests in the early 1960s, the NFL may have never enjoyed the competitive balance that helped the sport pass baseball as the most popular in the country.
Staff writer Mike Klis can be reached at 303-820-5440 or mklis@denverpost.com.
